The papers in this collection consist of a combination of research notes and original documents collected by Dr. Ellsworth during his research on the American tanning and leather industries. The notes include a list of patents in the boot and shoe making industry (1865-1880); leather production statistics (1922-1966); notes on the Amalgamated Leather Companies (1967); and an outline of a paper on "The American Tanning Industry in the 19th century". There is also a speech by Norman B. Wilkinson of the Hagley Museum on the "Industrial Heritage of the Brandywine River Valley" (1965).

Original materials include data on leather equipment produced by the American Tool & Machine Company (1901-1968); the text of an interview with leather company executive J. Edgar Rhoads (undated); a valuation report, and 125th anniversary material on the William Amer Company (1951); bylaws and rules of the Keystone Glue Company (1927); a glossary of tanning terms (undated); an article on "Stream Pollution and the Leather Industry" by E. B. Thorstensen (1950); a speech by Mieth Maeser on "The Vacuum Drying of Leather" (1964); a copy of an 1812 leather patent awarded to W. Edwards; tear sheets from a trade catalog of the G.W. Baker Machine Company (undated); bylaws of the Tanners' Council of America (1962); and miscellaneous notes and information on the United Shoe Machinery Company, the Turner Tanning Machinery Company, the Allied Kid Company, and the Baker-Layton finishing machine. The notes include a list of patents in the boot and shoe making industry (1865-1880); leather production statistics (1922-1966); notes on the Amalgamated Leather Companies (1967); and an outline of a paper on "The American Tanning Industry in the 19th century". There is also a speech by Norman B. Wilkinson of the Hagley Museum on the "Industrial Heritage of the Brandywine River Valley" (1965).