This collection contains audio-visual materials from Strawbridge & Clothier department store chain. It is valuable to those researching all aspects of retail: history, architecture, department stores, shopping malls, employment, operations, promotion, advertising, fashion, and merchandising. Other topics include family-owned businesses, distinguished Quaker families, business response on the homefront during World War II, the Gallery and Market East, and Philadelphia and its environs. Materials include photographs, negatives, transparencies, lantern slides, glass negatives, slides, audio tapes, videotapes, and films. There are also proposal albums from the Pavlik Design Team of store design for the Cherry Hill, King of Prussia, and Willow Grove stores and from Neil/Carter Design Associates for Heritage Hall in the Market Street store.

Of further note are some items not directly related to Strawbridge & Clothier: four etchings by miniature painter, Benjamin W. Crombie, from 1837 to 1847, labeled Modern Athenians show caricatures of Scottish academics. (These were later compiled as a book, Modern Athenians, published in 1882 with biographical sketches by William Scott Douglas.) There is also a reproduction of a sketch of the Zook House in West Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania.

The collection is organized into eighteen series. Most of these are topics relating to the people, activities, and stores of the company. The remainder are related to the medium of the materials: ephemera, lantern slides, glass negatives, audio, video, and film.

Series I is images of Strawbridge and Clothier family members who were is some way connected to the store. These include the co-founders, Justus C. Strawbridge (1838-1911) and Isaac H. Clothier (1837-1921), their sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons. Anna Estes Strawbridge (1880-1981), the wife of Francis R. Strawbridge (1877-1965) and mother of Francis R. Strawbridge, Jr. (1911-1966) and G. Stockton Strawbridge (1913-1997) has a substantial number of prints and images. There are also a significant number of group shots of G. Stockton Strawbridge's family.

Series II consists of upper level executives and boards of directors. Individual executives with multiple prints include Herbert Tily, Dwight Perkins, Dr. Rachel Williams, and Randall Copeland. Many of the board of directors photographs are oversized and show the mix of family and non-family executives involved in running the company.

Series III focuses on the main store at 8th and Market Streets in all its incarnations. The store had several different buildings on this site throughout its history. Most of the exterior shots are of the last store built on that property in the early 1930s. There are a number of shots of the laying of the cornerstone, which was a big ceremonial occasion. Also included are interiors of this store and it predecessor throughout the 20th century. Finally, the series consists of images of The Gallery and Market Street East redevelopment project. The Gallery was a multi-block shopping mall that connected to the main store on several levels. G. Stockton Strawbridge was a leader in the effort to build the Gallery and redevelop Market East.

Series IV contains images of the display windows of the main store on Market Street from the early 20th century to the late 1970s. Of special note are the windows of the early 1940s and how they related to the World War II effort and war-related events of that time. The display windows decorated for Christmas are also captured in the images.

Series V consists of items related to World War II, specifically, the Four Freedoms War Bond Exhibition. The exhibition took place at Strawbridge & Clothier's main store in Philadelphia and was held in lieu of the store's 75th anniversary. It focused on the Norman Rockwell paintings, The Four Freedoms, and was used as an event to sell war bonds. Included in this series are publications for the exhibition, prints of the four paintings, and a scrapbook with letters, photographs, and newspaper clippings.

Series VI concerns itself with the suburban branch stores. Images of the branch locations include architectural renderings and drawings, grand openings, laying of cornerstones, aerial views, construction, exteriors and interiors. Also included in this series is material on the Zook House and Willow Grove Amusement Park. The Zook House is an historical building near the Exton Square Mall and had some involvement by Anna Estes Strawbridge. The Willow Grove Amusement Park served as a venue for performances by the Strawbridge & Clothier chorus and was the site of the Willow Grove Park shopping mall after it's closure in the 1970s and where Strawbridge & Clothier opened a branch store in the 1980s. There are two folders of images of unidentified groundbreaking ceremonies.

Series VII is made up of images of delivery methods (horse-drawn wagons, early delivery trucks), the distribution center, the service building, the wholesale building and factory, and two warehouses.

Series VIII is a catch-all of things related to the employees, the store, and Philadelphia. The employee-related topics include extracurricular activities like athletics, chorus, band, and glee club; banquets and events, like the Quarter Century Club, 50 years of service awards, and the cash boys picnic. There are some groups of employees included, like the switchboard employees, elevator operators, and holly girls (women who directed customers around the store at Christmas time). There is a section on store-related efforts during World War II. It includes employees who served in the armed forces as well as store windows decorated to show support for the war.

Included in this series are other activities and events related to the store, most notably store anniversaries, pageants, and Christmas time festivities and decorations. There is also material on fashions and fashion merchandising from the 19th and 20th centuries. There is a series of slides on the computer inventory system. And there are slides of Strawbridge & Clothier customers. Some of them are from the closing sale at the Wilmington store. This series wraps up with scenes and cityscapes of Philadelphia as well as some images of Strawbridge & Clothier executives with several Philadelphia mayors.

Series IX consists of advertisements, coupons, trade cards, and miscellaneous items with the name or logo of Strawbridge & Clothier. One interesting group is the postcards from an International event the store sponsored. Each card gives demographic and political information about a specific country along with the goods imported and sold by the store. There are several iterations of the Seal of Confidence, which was adopted by the store as a symbol that fair business would be transacted. There are a small group of photographs that depict different shoplifting scenarios. Also included are some materials related to the radio station, WFI, that started in the store. Some seemingly unrelated images are included in this series concerning art deco design, mattress manufacturing, and the Modern Athenians prints.

Series X contains images from the Clover Store division and those used in the two volumes of the publication, Family Business. The Clover Store sections are ribbon-cutting and groundbreaking ceremonies as well as images of executives. Family Business was a publication that traced the history of the company. There was a volume in 1968 and another in 1981 subtitled The Momentous Seventies. Many of the images for these publications are duplicates of images found elsewhere in the collection. Their value here is that they show some of what they thought important enough to include in a history of the company. Also, a copy of Family Business: The Momentous Seventies can be found here. This series also includes a miscellaneous folder. Prints range from 19th century portraits (unidentified persons) through the 1970s.

Series XI is a collection of prints that were used in the Strawbridge & Clothier employee publication, Store Chat. Many of the prints are of employees and of departments of employees from around the company, especially at winter holiday time. Also included are sales rallies, fashion shows, athletics, and other store events. Many of the folders from the mid-1950s have a copy of the publication in the folder.

Series XII comprises lantern slides that give an overview of the company from the store properties, business and merchandising departments, the the co-founders and their sons, employees, employee-related activities, and business-related activities. There is an editorial by the sons of the founders on taking the business forward.

Series XIII consists of glass negatives of people (founders, sons, employees, others), store exteriors and interiors, employee activities, and business-related subjects (delivery, paperwork, advertisements, logos and symbols). The same editorial that is in the lantern slides is also in the glass negatives. There are also several glass negatives of Philadelphia scenes.

Series XIV is made up of slides and transparencies. They are of employees throughout the organization. In some instances employees are broken up by store location, in others by job function. Many are parts of management recruitment presentations and many others were likely taken for other Strawbridge & Clothier productions and presentations.

Series XV is the audio series. They include recordings of jingles, speakers at banquets, and interviews with associates. There are two recordings about the closing of a branch store (Wilmington, Jenkintown) because they were opening a bigger, newer store in a nearby location (Concord, Willow Grove, respectively). There is also an oversized record album on the opening of the Wilmington store in the Merchandise Mart.

Series XVI is the video series. It is a small series with videotapes of a generic Christmas advertisement, multi-image presentations about store openings (including the Concord and Willow Grove openings), and presentations at Quarter Century Club dinners.

Series XVII consists of interior and store design presentations by The Pavlik Design Team of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The stores concerned include Concord, Cherry Hill, King of Prussia, and Willow Grove.

Series XVIII is the film series. The highlight is a silent movie, A Modern Store, about the building and opening of the store at 8th and Market Streets in Philadelphia in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The film has been transferred to videotape for easier access as the film itself is brittle and in fragile condition. There are several short films (100 ft) that are generally of ceremonial events. The more moderate length films (400 ft) have to do with store events around fashion except for A Modern Store. The longest film (500 ft) is about travel to Philadelphia for which Strawbridge & Clothier supplied the set furnishings. This is the store's copy from the producer.