Finding Aids

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.

At the turn of the century, under the direction of Charles M. Schwab (1862-1939) and Eugene Grace (1876-1960), Bethlehem Steel Corporation became the second largest American steel company; combined with its other venture, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., it became a leading twentieth century American business. The collection includes a wide range of photography which documents the company’s long history and the breadth of its enterprises from east to west coasts and overseas. It contains eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century industrial and non-industrial images and of management and workers. As a research tool, its use will be as varied and extensive as the corporation itself was during its years as an American industrial giant.

Lobdell Car Wheel Company was a producer of cast railroad car wheels in Wilmington, Delaware. This collection contains one photographic reproduction depicting employee Michael Munroe (1879-1969) pouring steel.

The Midvale Steel Company manufactured steel parts and was known for casting, forging, and machining high-quality steels, including alloy steels, and precision steel products for a wide array of industries. Their primary business came from work related to railroad and ordnance manufacturing. This small collection consists of five reels of film that document operations at the Midvale Steel Plant in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia. While the reels are not dated, they are believed to be from 1919. The films document the various stages of production at the plant with a focus on the precision steel making processes for which Midvale was known.

The Taylor-Wharton Iron & Steel Company produced frogs, switches and other railroad fittings including couplings, axles and wheels, as well as war material during both World Wars. The company was incorporated in 1912 as successor to the Taylor Iron & Steel Company. The collection contains photographs primarily of products such as dredging equipment, railroad tracks, rollers, crushers, and buckets. The films document dredge buckets in operation and were shot in the United States and at international locations. The collection has been organized into four series: Company history, Plant views, Products, and Films. Each series is arranged alphabetically.

Henry Disston & Sons, Inc. was a major manufacturer of saws and other woodworking tools and one of the largest industrial firms in Philadelphia. Henry Disston (1819-1878) founded the company in 1855. The firm remained in family control until 1955. This collection consists of a two-volume typescript "The Disston History," a genealogy of the Disston family, and a company history of Henry Disston and Sons, Inc., compiled by family members and genealogist Elizabeth B. Satterthwaite (1856-1948) in 1920. The copy images in the collection include portraits of Disston family members, board members, and employees and interior and exterior images of the Disston Saw Works in Tacony, a suburb of Philadelphia.