Alan Wood Steel Company photographs
Creation: circa 1900s-1968 Creation: bulk 1940s-1960sAbstract
The Alan Wood Steel Company was a small, family-controlled integrated steel company, producing primarily steel sheets. This small collection consists primarily of interiors and exteriors of the companys' facilities, equipment, and workers. There are also some images from various events related to the company.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1900s-1968
- Creation: bulk 1940s-1960s
Creator
- Wood, Harleston R., 1913-1995 (Collector, Person)
- Alan Wood Steel Company (Organization)
Extent
2 Linear Feet
General Physical Description
50 photographic prints: b&w ; 8 x 10 in. 1 album : black leather ; 12.25 x 16.5 in. (closed) containing 62 photographic prints : b&w ; various sizes. 1 album : 10.5 x 16.5 in. (closed) containing 28 photographic prints : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. 4 negatives : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. 1 photographic print : color ; 12 x 14 in. 1 newspaper clipping.
Historical Note
The Alan Wood Steel Company was a small, family-controlled integrated steel company, producing primarily steel sheets. The company was incorporated in Pennsylvania as the Alan Wood Company on January 23, 1929, and was renamed the Alan Wood Steel Company on February 16, 1929. It represented a reorganization and recapitalization of an earlier firm, the Alan Wood Iron and Steel Company. The Upper Merion & Plymouth Railroad, organized in 1907, connected all the elements of the Wood steel-making complex.
As a small producer, Alan Wood Steel was particularly vulnerable to the competitive pressure that hit the American steel industry in the 1970s. The firm went into receivership and steel operations were shut down on August 1, 1977. The company was reorganized as the Vesper Corporation and continues in the steel shelving business. Part of the rolling mill complex was sold to Lukens Steel of Coatesville, and the rest of the works was razed in late 1990.
Scope and Content
This small collection consists primarily of interiors and exteriors of the companys' facilities, equipment, and workers. There are two albums, one dating around 1926 and includes images of the Blast Furnace Department, Steel Works Department, the Schuylkill Iron Works and some aerial views. The second album dates from 1940, however, the photographs are not identified. There is a negative of an engraving of Alan Wood and a newspaper clipping about Harleston R. Wood succeeding his father as president of the company.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Language of Materials
English
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- Alan Wood Steel Company photographs
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Audiovisual Collections Repository
