Finding Aids

The Alan Wood Steel Company was a small, family-controlled integrated steel company. The Upper Merion & Plymouth Railroad connected all the elements of the Wood steel-making complex. The collection includes three blueprint maps showing the layout of industrial buildings at Alan Wood Steel Company and the track of the Upper Merion and Plymouth Railroad Company. Also in the collection is a stereograph featuring a blast furnace plant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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.

The American Iron and Steel Institute is a trade association of North American steel producers. The group’s mission includes advocating for public policy, education and innovation for the Iron and Steel Industry. The Institute was established under the leadership of Elbert H. Gary (1846-1927) in 1908, after the Panic of 1907 brought an end to industry-wide consolidations. This collection consists of photographs, research notes, audio, film, and video which document the history of the steel industry. The images cover the entire scope of the steel industry from basic raw materials through the multiple aspects of steelmaking. In addition to images documenting the technical aspects of steel production, there are photographs showing steel in use. These include a variety of industrial and consumer applications and images related to the steel industry and environmental issues. The Albert T. Keller (1869-1940) photographs depict the sites or remains of early ironworks primarily in the mid-Atlantic states and New England states during the 1930s and there are over fifty blast furnace complexes pictured. The Walter C. Woodman (1903-1979) photographs and research notes document the history of iron furnaces and Saugus Iron Works becoming a national historic landmark.

Augustus Smith (1868-1932) was a civil engineer and contractor. He held several patents for coaling machinery, such as hoists. These photographs show construction progress and completed buildings, bridges, and coaling stations. There are images of projects Smith worked on or contributed to either as a contractor or engineer. The materials are arranged by company name: Augustus Smith & Co., Bergen Point Iron Works, and Groton Bridge and Manufacturing Co.

At the turn of the century, under the direction of Charles Schwab and Eugene Grace, Bethlehem Steel Corporation became the second largest American steel company; combined with its other venture, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., it became a leading 20th century American business. This item is a viewbook which contains exterior views of the Bethlehem Steel Works. These include numerous images of both the plant and office, most of which were taken at street level.

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.

Falls Manufacturing Company manufactured fire-door hardware. The company was founded by John C. Kortick (1870-1933), who served as general manager and president. Falls Manufacturing Company's product line included post caps, bases, and joist hangers. This presentation album showcases the fireproofing protection provided by the San Francisco-based Falls Manufacturing Company in the years following the disastrous 1906 earthquake. The photographs include exterior views of buildings in which Falls fire-doors and other equipment were installed.

Frederick William Wood (1857-1943) was an executive and engineer in the steel and shipbuilding industries. The Frederick W. Wood photographs document the career of Frederick W. Wood in the steel and shipbuilding industries, most notably his time working for Pennsylvania Steel Company at Steelton, Pennsylvania, Maryland Steel Company and Bethlehem Steel Company at Sparrows Point, Maryland, and the American International Shipbuilding Corporation at Hog Island Shipyard, located in Pennsylvania on the Delaware River. Researchers interested in the steel and iron industries, the shipbuilding industry, company towns, and the regional history of the greater Philadelphia and Baltimore areas would find this collection useful.

George A. Richardson (1886-1976) was an engineer with an expertise in metallurgy, he spent his career primarily involved in technical publicity and sales for major steel manufacturers such as the Midvale Steel & Ordnance Company and the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. This collection of photographs and negatives was primarily taken by George Atwell Richardson throughout the course of his career while working for Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company and the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. The images document views of steel plants and operations, as well as steel products mostly taken between 1913 and 1929. The collection has been organized into five series: Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company; Cambrian Steel Company; Bethlehem Steel Corporation; Exhibits, and Other steel and coal companies.

Hill-Chase & Co., also know as the Hill-Chase Steel Company, was formed in February 1929 by Charles H. Chase (1884-1967), John J. Hill, Jr. (1891-1978), and several other employees of Edgar T. Ward Steel Service Center in Philadelphia. The company was well known for its innovations in steel. This is a small collection of copy photographs of the facilities and employees.

James Henry Yeager (1911-1986) was the industrial photographer for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation for thirty years, between 1946 and 1976. The first half of this collection contains photographs taken by James H. Yeager during his tenure at Bethlehem Steel as industrial photographer. The second half the this collection consists of photos and slides taken by Yeager while traveling in Pennsylvania, New York, and New England, and to a lesser degree Washington, DC and the southern United States.

John Trageser Steam Copper Works manufactured galvanized and copper range boilers, expansion tanks, hot water tanks, as well as; sinks, drainboards and bathtubs. This item is a page (March 1926) from a calendar of the John Trageser Steam Copper Works of New York. A humorous color illustration by Tony Sarg shows four men golfers "Limbering up at the first tee."

Maryland Steel Company was a steel-works and shipyard operated from 1891 until 1916, when Bethlehem Steel acquired the Pennsylvania Steel Company and its subsidiary, Maryland Steel. This collection consists of 3 albums containing 204 cyanotype photographs taken at the Maryland Steel Company's steel plant and shipyard between 1890 and 1894. The photographs show steel buildings, steel workers, shipyard buildings, ship construction, tugs and steamships.

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 Midvale Steel Company manufactured steel parts for the railroad industry and the armaments industry. The company was known for casting, forging, and machining high-quality steels, including alloy steels. This album contains photographs showing exteriors and interiors of Midvale Steel facilities in the Nicetown area of Germantown.

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.

'Sponsored film' defines a variety of motion picture productions funded by businesses, organizations, or governments that dictate the film's point of view, audience, and intent. Industrial or business films are a subgenre of sponsored films with content that markets products and ideas, touts a particular company or industry, trains employees, and explains manufacturing or transactional processes around creating and selling products and ideas. The Sponsored and Industrial Motion Picture Film Collection at Hagley is an artificial collection compiled by curators that includes single motion picture films or small sets of films acquired via purchase or donation.

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.

William E. Mullestein (1911-2005) was president of the Lukens Steel Company from 1969 to 1974 and chairman from 1974 to 1978. These seven photographs relate to his career at Lukens Steel.