Clement S. Brinton collection on the early iron industry
Creation: 1889-1957Abstract
Clement S. Brinton (1875-1963) was a trained chemist who spent his entire career with the Food & Drug Administration designing and directing food inspection laboratories in the Philadelphia area. Brinton was also a local amateur historian and was particularly interested in the history of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century iron industry. The Brinton Collection is a useful source on the early iron industry in the northeastern states. The materials are, in many cases, not unique, including such items as postcards, newspaper clippings, souvenir booklets and brochures, and extracts from published articles. The collection focuses on old iron works in New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, and northeastern Maryland.
Dates
- Creation: 1889-1957
Creator
- Brinton, Clement S. (Clement Starr), 1875-1963 (Collector, Person)
Extent
2.8 Linear Feet
Biographical Note
Clement S. Brinton (1875-1963) was a trained chemist who spent his entire career with the Food & Drug Administration designing and directing food inspection laboratories in the Philadelphia area. Brinton was also a local amateur historian and was particularly interested in the history of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century iron industry.
Brinton was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on February 3, 1875. He was interested in the physical remains that dotted his native Chester County and the surrounding states. He was instrumental in having Hopewell Furnace restored as a National Park. Brinton photographed many of these sites and collected clippings, pamphlets, and other data on the industry. He donated this collection to the then Longwood Library in 1958.
He died in West Chester in July 1963.
Scope and Contents
The Brinton Collection is a useful source on the early iron industry in the northeastern states. The materials are, in many cases, not unique, including such items as postcards, newspaper clippings, souvenir booklets and brochures, and extracts from published articles. The collection also includes five looseleaf notebooks compiled by Brinton, as well as his correspondence with steel industry officials and fellow amateur historians.
The collection focuses on old iron works in New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, and northeastern Maryland. There are also notes and brochures on the restorations at Hopewell Furnace in Pennsylvania and the Saugus Iron Works in Massachusetts, as well as a series of maps prepared by Brinton showing the location of iron furnaces and forges in New Jersey. Other items of note include information on the Ringwood, New Jersey, iron mines and a twelve-page history of the Principio Company of Maryland.
The collection also contains several items not directly related to the iron industry. There is information on the American Nickel Works at Camden, New Jersey; phosphorus works in Texas and New Jersey; paper mills in Burlington County, New Jersey; and the New Jersey Zinc Company mines in Sussex County, New Jersey. There is a copy of a list of property transferred by Robert Morris to the Pennsylvania Population Company in 1797 and correspondence with the Chester County Historical Society from 1936 to 1957, of which Brinton was a member.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Language of Materials
English
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- Clement S. Brinton collection on the early iron industry
- Author:
- John Beverley Riggs
- Date:
- 1970
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2022: Laurie Sather
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
