Finding Aids

Inspired by the Chicago Board of Trade and the U.S. Corn Exchange, PIT is a fast-paced card game where players try to corner the market on a specific commodity. This collection is the bull and bear edition of the game.

The Pittsburgh Steel Company manufactured steel products. Early products included wire, barbed wire, nails, wire fence, and pipe. This item is an album containing photographs of birds-eye-views of the Monessen plant, an exterior of the office building, views in boiler houses, open hearth furnaces, soaking pits, power plants, engines, and an electric power plant.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a noted French Physiocrat and economic advisor to Jacques Necker and King Louis XVI. In 1784, Louis XVI made him a noble through the process of noblesse de lettres, which added the de Nemours suffix to his name. In the aftermath of the French Revolution he and his family emigrated to the United States where his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont established the gun powder manufacturer E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. These photographs show a close-up of the Place Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours metal plaque and the building on which it hangs in Nemours France, ancestral home of the du Pont family.

Victorine Elizabeth du Pont Foster (1849-1934), daughter of Henry du Pont (1812-1889) and Louisa Gerhard du Pont (1816-1900), grew up at Eleutherian Mills, near Wilmington, Delaware. The drawing is a detailed plan of the formal garden at Eleutherian Mills. Placement of trees, flowers, and vines, etc., are indicated on the drawing.

During World War II, the DuPont Company was contracted to produce smokeless powder, TNT and DNT explosives for the military. This panoramic photograph is a group portrait of uniformed guards at a military explosives plant in Memphis, Tennessee, 1941.

The Pleasant Valley Wine Company is a historic winery founded near Hammondsport, New York, on Lake Keuka in 1860. This brochure is illustrated with seven color lithographic views of wine production and three black-and-white illustrations of the company's wine bottles.

The Plymouth Cordage Company of North Plymouth, Massachusetts, was founded in 1824 and was involved, as their name implies, in the rope-making industry, particularly for use by the shipping and fishing industries. This album contains sixteen photographs of plant interiors showing machinery and manufacturing processes, and two exterior views of the building.

Plymouth was brand of automobiles produced by the manufacturing company the Chrysler Corporation. Plymouth's first appeared in 1928 as a low-priced option to compete with Chevrolet and Ford. This item is a television commercial film for a 1960 Plymouth Fury.

Polyacryl Iran Corporation (PIC) manufactured polyester and acrylic synthetic textiles in Iran. It was incorporated in August 1974 as a joint venture between E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, one of the largest U.S. chemical firms, and the Behshahr Industrial Development Corporation, a conglomerate run by the influential Lajevardian family. Because of political unrest within the country, DuPont shut the plant down in early 1979 with the hope of resuming operations at a later date. When Iran's textile industry was nationalized under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini following the Islamic Revolution, DuPont initiated legal action for claims against PIC and the Iranian government. An international court reviewed DuPont's claims and directed the Islamic Republic of Iran to reimburse DuPont for $42 million. The American records of the Polyacryl Iran Corporation document DuPont's role in the transfer of American technology to Iran, the fate of Western interests during the Iranian Revolution, and the subsequent expropriation and pursuit of damage claims. Because of the litigation surrounding the termination of DuPont's participation in the project, the records contain extensive plant design and managerial training documents that give a detailed picture of a state-of-the-art synthetic textile factory of the late 1970s.

Porta L. Young (1920-2015) was part owner of a mom-and-pop family furniture store, Kepner & Romich Furniture Store, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. The album was prepared by Young to document her family's activities between June 6, 1964 and April 2, 1965. Like a scrapbook, it contains a wide assortment of objects and ephemeral literature, including Christmas, birthday and valentine cards, snapshots, tourist literature and souvenirs, picture postcards, guide maps, programs, tickets, newspaper clippings, and pin-back buttons issued to visitors and in the 1964 presidential race, down to placemats, decorative sugar packets, cardboard badges and a dried magnolia leaf from Mount Vernon. Unlike many family scrapbooks, each object or group of objects is accompanied by substantial typed text describing the family's experiences and reactions.

The Hagley Portrait file is an artificial collection (e.g., created and assembled by the archivist) composed almost entirely of photographic reproductions and copy negatives, with very few original prints. The Portrait file is intended to be a resource to assist in locating images of individuals. The images are not always of high quality, nor does Hagley own the copyright or the originals of all the images. The portraits are primarily formal individual portraits; there are some informal snapshots or group portraits. More than half of the collection depicts du Pont family members or those associated with the du Pont family. The du Pont family is a prominent Delawarean family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), who founded E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company with his son, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), in 1802. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical research and manufacturing company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company.

Photograph of President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), Governor John G. Townsend, Jr. (1871-1964) of Delaware, Senator Lewis Heisler Ball (1861-1932) of Delaware and a group of unidentified women standing infront of the White House.

Anthony C.F. Wallace (1923-2015) was an anthropology professor at the University of Pennsylvania between 1951 and 1988. The Eddystone Manufacturing Company operated a cotton prints factory in Eddystone, Pennsylvania. The company was founded, owned, and operated by the Simpson family until 1929. This small collection consists of student papers written for the course Anthropology 703 Cultural Change in the Industrial Revolution. The papers all focus on the history of the Eddystone Manufacturing Company or the Simpson family and were written in the spring of 1986.

Domenico Mortellito (1906-1994) was a muralist, sculptor, and designer noted for his work in plastics and other synthetic materials. He worked with E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company from 1945 to 1979. The 1964, the New York World's Fair was held in Flushing Meadows, New York, from April 22, 1964 to October 18, 1964, and then again from April 25, 1965 to October 17, 1965. The theme was "Peace through Understanding." This item is Mortellito's designer presentation book of the proposed DuPont Company pavilion for the 1964 New York World's Fair.

The Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company was organized by a group of Philadelphia Quakers in 1865, and by World War I it had become one of the largest life insurance companies in the country with a strong presence in the New York and Boston markets. The records of the Provident Mutual Insurance Company of Philadelphia are a collection of fragments assembled by the Advertising Department in connection with the company's centennial history.

P.S. du Pont (1870-1954) and Louise du Pont Crowninshield (1877-1958) were second counsins and both had an interest in preservation. In the letter, du Pont suggests Eleutherian Mills and Hagley property be preserved as a historic site.

Pierre Samuel "P.S." du Pont (1870-1954) was president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (more commonly known as the DuPont Company or simply DuPont) from 1915 to 1919 and chairman of the board from 1919 to 1940. P.S. du Pont was the great grandson of Eleuthere Irenee du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. He was also an avid collector of documents on the early history of the du Pont family and the DuPont Company. This collection contains elements which were selected from both company and family papers. The material was lodged in du Pont's Wilmington office for a number of years prior to his death in 1954.

Pierre Samuel "P.S." du Pont (1870-1954) was an industrialist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He was president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. from 1915 to 1919 and chairman of the board from 1919 to 1940. P.S. du Pont was the great grandson of Eleuthere Irenee du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and the great-great-grandson and namesake of the French economist, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817). du Pont's personal life is well documented by the photographic collection he left, and it followed certain themes. The greatest of these may be horticultural interests which developed during his creation of the celebrated Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, where he lived. du Pont made many foreign and domestic journeys and recorded his travels. His large extended family is included in this collection. This collection is organized into seven series: Longwood Gardens; Individuals and families; Groups and organizations; E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company; Trips and vacations; Places; and Culture, society, and service.

The pulp keg mill was built around 1904 to manufacture an experimental design of black and smokeless powder container made essentially from paper. This album contains photographic prints of the construction of the pulp keg mill in the Hagley Yard of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. near Wilmington, Delaware around 1902 through 1905.

The Purchasing Management Association of Central Pennsylvania was a regional chapter of the national trade organization the Institute for Supply Management from 1959 until 2016. The mission and vision of the regional chapter was to educate, develop, and advance the purchasing and supply management profession within Central Pennsylvania. This collection consists of thirty-two bound volumes of original documents from the Purchasing Management Association of Central Pennsylvania, primarily meeting minutes and correspondence between 1959 and 2004.

The Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company operated cotton textile mills in Wilmington, Delaware, where they manufactured, bleached, dyed, and finished a variety of cotton-made goods. The Pusey & Jones Corporation were shipbuilders, founders, and machinists of Wilmington, Delaware, which later expanded into papermaking machinery manufacturing. This collection consists of eleven small notebooks from the two companies regarding their work.

The Pusey & Jones Corporation were shipbuilders, founders, and machinists of Wilmington, Delaware, which later expanded into papermaking machinery manufacturing. The Parsons Engineering Company was established for the manufacture of smoke-consuming devices and innovations with railroad technology. This collection includes papers from the Pusey & Jones Corporation and Parsons Engineering Company.

The Pusey & Jones Corporation were shipbuilders, founders, and machinists of Wilmington, Delaware, which later expanded into papermaking machinery manufacturing. This collection includes the files of John Biggs III (1927-), attorney, who oversaw the bankruptcy proceedings and dissolvement of the company.

The Pusey & Jones Corporation were shipbuilders, founders, and machinists of Wilmington, Delaware, which later expanded into papermaking machinery manufacturing. This collection includes nine letters of correspondence to the Pusey & Jones Company and Horace H. Thayer (1878-1959), from J.N. Davis, and from the Pulp and Paper Magazine.

The Pusey & Jones Corporation were shipbuilders, founders, and machinists of Wilmington, Delaware, which later expanded into papermaking machinery manufacturing. The collection primarily contains correspondence between Horace H. Thayer Jr. (1878-1959) and Thomas H. Savery (1837-1910) regarding matters of importance to the company.

The Pusey & Jones Corporation were shipbuilders, founders, and machinists of Wilmington, Delaware, which later expanded into papermaking machinery manufacturing. This collection contains miscellaneous material from the company including financial statements, calling cards, memoranda, and correspondence from Thomas H. Savery (Sr. and Jr.), Eugen Fullner, and A.G. Paine.

The Pusey & Jones Corporation were shipbuilders, founders, and machinists of Wilmington, Delaware, which later expanded into papermaking machinery manufacturing. This collection contains a minute book and account book of the Trustees of the Pusey & Jones Corporation employees' retirement plan trust fund. It also includes other material kept by Warren D. Walker (1894-1969), one of the last executives for the company.

The Pusey & Jones Corporation were shipbuilders, founders, and machinists of Wilmington, Delaware, which later expanded into papermaking machinery manufacturing. The collection is a plat of the property around Pusey and Jones Company plant in Wilmington, Delaware.

J. Marsh Music, Fancy and Variety store was located on 117 Market Street in Wilmington, Delaware during the 1850s. The store sold, repaired and tuned instruments, as well as selling sheet music. This sheet music cover contains a black and white lithograph of the J. Marsh Wilmington, Delaware storefront, with people on the side walk, also showing musical instruments in the windows.

Quaker Lace Company was founded by Joseph H. Bromley (1800-1883) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1894. The firm was well known for manufacturing fine lace tablecloths, and during the 1950s, the White House was a customer. Various independent New England silversmiths came together and formed the International Silver Company in 1898. This collection includes three photographs of Quaker Lace tablecloths with one of them accompanied by a letter from the White House. Another photograph is of silverplate and stainless forks along with a press release from the International Silver Company.

The Quaker Lace Company manufactured Nottingham lace and was one of the textile firms founded by John Bromley (1800-1883) and his seven sons. The records represent a fraction of the total Quaker Lace archive which was salvaged from the 4th and Lehigh mill during the liquidation of the company. The collection is arranged into seven series: General administrative files and correspondence; Sale literature; Advertising and promotional materials; Production records; Legal records; Financial records; and Tax records.

Quarrying is the act of extracting natural stones to use in building materials. Throughout the 1920s quarries were the largest employers of African Americans. This collection consists of two panoramic photographs of unidentified quarries, one with workers, one without.

Richard Douglas Caney (1918-1994) was a chemical engineer with E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, working in the Explosives Department on the Manhattan Project. To remember his participation in the Manhattan Project, Caney prepared a scapbook of newspaper clippings of articles that flooded the media after the atomic bombs were dropped and the secrecy around the project ended.

Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was, for more than fifty years, one of the country's leading manufacturers and vendors of radios, phonographs, televisions, and a wide array of consumer and military electronics products. This small collection consists of an employee invention agreement, a certificate of insurance, a parking facilities map, and an employee guide. All of the materials belonged to Philip Segal (1913-1998) of Waltham, Massachusetts, who began working for RCA on October 4, 1955, as a laboratory technician. According to the 1940 U.S. Census, Segal had previous experience working as a radio repairman.

Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was incorporated in 1919, entered the broadcasting field in July 1921 and shortly thereafter began to sell home broadcasting equipment manufactured by GE and Westinghouse. The collection consists of photographs and negatives relating to Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the Victor Talking Machine Company, which was purchased by RCA in 1929, and the RCA-Victor Division of Radio Corporation of America.

For over fifty years the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was one of the country's leading manufacturers and vendors of radios, phonographs, televisions, and a wide array of consumer and military electronics products. This collection contains the records from the Secretary's Office of the Victor Talking Machine Company and its successors RCA Victor Company, Inc., and Radio Corporation of America's RCA Victor Division. They consist of minutes of the Executive and Management Committees, an internal annual report and two contract files for supplying sound equipment to movie studios.

The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) was chartered in 1846 to completing an all-rail road across the state. Collection consists of three unidentified photographs of stone arched railroad bridges, probably on the Pennsylvania railroad.

Collectors of railroad memorabilia often also collected postcards. Railroad postcards generally picture stations, engines, bridges, route scenery, railcar interiors, and accidents. Some collectors sought specific railroads. This collection is over a thousand postcards related to railroads. The collection has been arranged into two series: Railroad stations and Railroad cars and trains. This is an artificial collection assembled from various donors.

Ralph Mosser Barnes (1900-1984) was an American industrial engineer who was a pioneer in motion and time study applications. This collection consists of four films showing a selection of studies that were managed or designed by Barnes.

William Gouverneur Ramsay (1866-1916) was a civil engineer for railroads and explosives corporations, including Repauno Chemical Company, Great Northern, and DuPont Company. His wife, Caroline “Lena” Johnston Canby (1872-1958) was interested in cultural and educational institutions and traveled extensively. The Ramsay family papers primarily consist of William G. Ramsay's personal and business papers, as well as his family's personal papers which primarily consist of correspondence, much of it between William Ramsay and Lena Ramsay prior to and after their marriage. the letters describe social life in Wilmington, literature, courtship and marriage, household administration, family life, child rearing and health.

Ransome Airlines, Pan Am Express (PAE), and Trans World Express (TWE) are predecessor and successor domestic airline companies. Ransome Airlines was a regional commuter service that operated between 1967 and 1986. Pan American World Airways acquired Ransome Airlines in April 1986 and renamed the company Pan Am Express. It operated domestic routes for the first time in the parent company's history. When Pan American World Airways went bankrupt in 1991, their wholly owned subsidiary was purchased by Trans World Airlines and became Trans World Express. It continued to fly domestic routes until 1995. This collection of Ransome Airlines, Pan Am Express, and Trans World Express records documents the three airlines from the initial establishment, through each transition, to the final dissolution. While not a complete company archive, the records provide a representative and detailed view of high-level operations at Ransome Airlines, PAE, and TWE through the activities of various executives. The collection contains the papers of five company presidents, three directors of finance, two directors of public relations, one director of personnel, one director of planning and administration, and one member of the accounting department. It will be of high research value to aviation historians interested in the effects of deregulation, aircraft acquisitions, financial planning, company mergers and transitions, and bankruptcy. The collection will also interest labor historians involved in collective bargaining research.

Raymond Loewy (1893–1986) was one of the most well know industrial designers during the middle decades of the twentieth century. This collections consist of the Loewy's personal papers, business records, and materials generated and maintained by Loewy's New York Public Relations Department.

Raymond Loewy (1893–1986) was one of the most well known industrial designers during the middle decades of the twentieth century. In 1934, he signed a contract with the Pennsylvania Railroad that launched a two-decade relationship with the "Standard Railroad of the World." Loewy's work for the Pennsy did much to establish his reputation as the leading figure in the century's most noteworthy American design style: streamlining. This collection consists of twelve presentation renderings executed in tempera on illustration board. The mats bear Loewy's signature, although the work was actually executed by others. The renderings generally conform, with slight variations, to photographs that show the work as actually built.

Raymond Loewy (1893–1986) was one of the most well know industrial designers during the middle decades of the twentieth century. This collection is composed of images of design work Loewy and his firm conducted for corporate American and foreign clients; Loewy's personal photographs; and his speeches and interviews.

Raymond Lowey (1893–1986) began his career in America as a fashion illustrator before moving into industrial design. These are reproductions of advertisements copied from Vogue magazine for Bonwit Teller, Saks Fifth Avenue, Delman Shoe Salon and I. Miller shoe stores, and Kayser textiles and hosiery.

Raymond Loewy (1893–1986) was one of the most well known industrial designers during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Transportation, particularly automobiles, was always one of Loewy's passions. This is an interior design rendering for a Greyhound bus. The drawing was produced by an unidentified artist in Raymond Loewy's office, not by Loewy himself.

Raymond Loewy (1893–1986) was one of the most well know industrial designers during the middle decades of the twentieth century. This collection consists of two sets of eight lithographs and one serigraph designed by Raymond Loewy, and printed at The American Atelier in New York City. Prints are generally transportation-themed, and show products created by Loewy's design firm.

Raymond Loewy (1893–1986) was one of the most well know industrial designers during the middle decades of the twentieth century. The collection documents Loewy's product designs and includes advertisements, postcards, product brochures, publications, photographs, and artifacts.

The RCA Astro-Electronics Division (AED) led RCA’s research and development efforts in space technology from the beginning of the space race to the acquisition of RCA by GE in 1986. The records consist primarily of the papers of scientists Bert Sheffield, Max Mesner, and Charles Vose documenting RCA’s pioneering research. In addition, the Art Gompper Astro Print Shop collection provides insight into the administrative and promotional side of AED.

The RCA Camden plant was originally established under the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1907. In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America acquired the Victor Talking Machine Company and soon made Camden the center of its own research, development, and manufacturing. Camden remained the company's primary advanced development site until GE acquired RCA in 1986. The records document RCA’s work in the space program, electron microscopy, nuclear fusion, and other fields through research records, correspondence, reports, photographs and films.