This material represents the career of Frederick W. Wood (1857-1943) in the steel and shipbuilding industries - the Pennsylvania Steel Co., the Maryland Steel Co., later Bethlehem Steel Co., Maryland Shipbuilding Plant, and the American International Shipbuilding Corp. The balance of the papers is personal and miscellaneous.

Drawings and blueprints depict the physical plant of iron mines, steel mills and coke ovens, the layout and buildings of Sparrow's Point, and various steel products, particularly steel ships and a chart on the evolution of railroad rails. There is also a list of ships built at Sparrow's Point between 1892 and 1931.

The Pennsylvania Steel Company series is represented by engineering notes and sketches, agreements, correspondence and reports. The development of the Cuban ore deposits by the Juragua Iron Company, Ltd., the Spanish-American Iron Company and the Moa Bay Iron Company are described in some detail, as is the work leading up to the construction of the Sparrow's Point plant. There are also reports and correspondence on the Steelton company store.

The Maryland Steel Company series is the largest portion of the records and deals with the Sparrow's Point plant when operated by the Maryland Steel Company. It includes organization and title papers, organization charts, maps and drawings and financial and operating statements. The records give considerable information on Wood's technical contributions, including patents for mill improvements, notebooks covering production and tests and descriptions of the organizaton of work. There is also correspondence with salesmen and customers, notes on wages and working conditions and comparative reports on other British and American iron and steel works. There is particularly rich documentation on the construction and functioning of the company town.

Bethlehem Steel Company, Maryland Shipbuilding Plant (Sparrow's Point, Md.) consists of records on the Sparrow's Point shipbuilding plant is primarily concerned with its sale to Bethlehem Steel.

Frederick W. Wood series documents Wood's involvement in the Hog Island project and covers his involvement in the Eastern Rolling Mill Company, local civic affairs and consulting work for several metal mining companies in Latin America, as well as domestic miscellany including letters from his wife Caroline and household bills. Wood's diaries primarily concern business matters.

The Miscellany series Consists of news clippings and tear sheets on the iron, steel and shipbuilding industries.