Finding Aids

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.

F.F. Slocomb Corporation was a manufacturer of special machinery and component parts. The Company was established as F.F. Slocomb & Company in 1898, in Wilmington, Delaware by Frank F. Slocomb (1860-1931). This collection consists largely of unidentified loose photographs of machinery produced by the company. There are six views taken on the shop floor; some of these show workers.

F.H. Dow & Company was a manufacturer of chocolates and candy. This album contains of photographs from F.H. Dow & Company of Boston, Massachusetts, showing various box designs for Utopian chocolates.

The DuPont Company is a chemical company which commercially produces synthetic fibers such as Kevlar. This collection consists of three pieces of artwork which were created for the DuPont Company Textile Fibers Department and hung in a shared work area. The artwork are photostats and are signed “ELF”. The three pictures show various small, cheerful animals making synthetic fiber by three different methods that are actually used (in slightly more sophisticated form) industrially.

Items with a specific and limited use, created with the intention of being discarded after serving their purpose, are called ephemera. This collection consists of mixed-format ephemera from various endeavors within American culture, primarily the manufacturing and selling of products or services.

Established in 1909, Finnesey & Kobler manufactured delivery wagons and carriages. This collection consists of thirteen builders photographs of wagons made by Finnesey & Kobler, N.E. corner Brown and 27th Streets, Philadelphia. Each wagon is posed in front of the office and warehouse.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. The company was established in 1802 and began with the production of gunpowder. Collection consists of five photographs, four of which are exterior views of historic structures in Wilmington. Two fire companies are pictured, the Friendship Firehouse in the late 1800s and the fire station of Company No. 1

World's Fairs, also known as International Expositions, are large-scale exhibitions that highlight technology, agriculture, and other innovations of national or cultural significance. The Century 21 Exposition, also known as the Seattle World's Fair, ran from April 21 to October 21, 1962. It began as an effort by Seattle city councilman Al Rochester (1895-1989) to revitalize the downtown core and recreate the success of the city's Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909. It evolved within a few years under the direction of general manager Ewen Dingwall (1914-1996). He changed the initial "Festival of the West" theme to "America's Space Age World's Fair." This item is a first edition souvenir commemorative album documenting the first transcontinental telephone call via the groundbreaking Telestar Satellite from U.S. Senator Warren G. Magnuson (1905-1989) and Senator Robert Kerr (1896-1963), calling Washington State Governor Albert Rosellini (1910-2011) and Ewen Dingwall from atop the newly constructed, 600-foot-high Space Needle.

The Fitz Water Wheel Company specialized in the manufacture of water wheels and small power plants, although it also manufactured grain dryers and blowers. John Fitz (1847-1914), who succeeded his father as head of the firm, developed the modern steel overshot water wheel. These photographic prints are transfers from the Fitz Water Wheel Company manuscript collection. They document different residential and commercial sites where Fitz Water wheels were installed.

This is a hand-colored lithograph by Thomas Sinclair (1807-1881) of Philadelphia showing the wharf area and in the background the town area of Florence, New Jersey, a nineteenth century leisure destination on the Delaware River in Burlington County.

Floyd Hamilton Fish Jr. (1923-2009) was a mechanical engineer and inventor at E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company between 1954 and 1986. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. Fish helped invent pneumacel, an inflated polyester foam. These records are a small group of documents relating to Fish's role in the pneumacel project and his attempt to revive it after his retirement, as well as the hiring process for engineers at DuPont and the activities of the Kennett Pike Association.

Floyd Hollenbeck (1920-2002) worked for Trimfit Hosiery, a distribution company for Hanes Hosiery Mills Company. Hanes Hosiery Mills Company was established in 1901. Hanes was an early adoptor of manufacturing nylon hosiery which was created in 1938. Hanes Hosiery Mills researched and developed seamless pantyhose by the mid-1960s. This collection contains twenty-four stereoviews of the Hanes Hosiery Mills Company Winston-Salem manufacturing plant and offices.

The Foote Concrete Machinery Co. manufactured road building machinery. Brothers, Chester T. Foote (1863-1918) and Charles E. Foote (1858-1938) were inventors and concrete contractors in Nunda, New York. They founded the Foote Concrete Machinery Co. in 1903. Foote Concrete Machinery Co. photographs is a small collection of images of road building machinery showing various angles, details of equipment, and pavers in use with workmen crews.

World's Fairs or International Expositions are large-scale exhibitions that highlight technology, agriculture and other innovations of national or cultural significance. The New York World's Fair took place in Flushing Meadows, Queens from April 30, 1939 to October 31, 1940. The theme was "The World of Tomorrow." This item is the sheet music for the official song of the 1939/1940 New York's World's Fair.

Built in 1899, Fort DuPont was the headquarters for the Coastal Defense command area which included the Delaware River and Bay. This panoramic photograph shows an exterior view of buildings (including officers quarters) and parade grounds at Fort DuPont.

Francis Bannerman Son was a major purveyor of military goods to sportsmen and collectors in New York City over three generations. The collection consists of photographs of Francis Bannerman and his family, including his wife, Helen "Nellie" Boyce Bannerman (1852-1931), and his sons, Francis VII (1873-1946) and David (1875-1957). The collection also includes photographs of Bannerman's Island Arsenal, including images of the 1969 fire in full blaze and its destructive aftermath.

Francis Bannerman Son was a major purveyor of military goods to sportsmen and collectors in New York City over three generations. The collection consists of miscellaneous photographs, negatives, postcards and ephemera pertaining to the weapons and military memorabilia business run by Francis Bannerman and to Bannerman's philanthropic and leisure activities.

Francis I. du Pont (1873-1942) was a chemist, inventor, and stockbroker most celebrated for his involvement with the partnership of Francis I. du Pont and Company, stockbrokers in New York, and the Delaware Chemical Engineering Company in Wilmington. This collection contains a color photograph of a portrait of Francis I. du Pont painted by Gordon Stevenson (1892-1984).

Frank A. Weer (1932-2019) was an employee of the Reading Company and an enthusiastic photographer of all things related to railroads, specifically in Pennsylvania. Fascinated by trains from a young age, Weer spent time taking photographs of the passing rolling stock. He developed his own photographs, and over time, he established a vast collection of photographic prints of steam locomotives and other rolling stock, as well as the railroad tracks and structures with which the railroad was affiliated. The Reading Company, where Weer worked for thirteen years, was an influential railroad company that served the economic development of the Greater Philadelphia area for over 100 years. Before it became a booming passenger railroad, the Reading Company began transporting anthracite coal. The passenger "ridership" of the Reading Company reached its peak in the 1950s. The company went bankrupt in 1971, and the passenger services were taken over by the South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority by 1974. This collection documents the construction and expansion of the Reading Railroad and the company's tangible property and human resources throughout the twentieth century. The collection consists of negatives (glass plate and film), photographic prints, and color slide transparencies. The creator established a chronological order, which has been maintained. The collection is arranged into five series: Structures and objects, Passenger stations, Rolling stock, People, and Frank A. Weer's personal slides.

Based in Wilmington, Delaware, Frank Earle Schoonover (1877-1972) was a prolific commercial illustrator, artist, and avid photographer. Over the course of a six-decade career, he completed more than twenty-five hundred works, primarily illustrations for magazines and books but also landscapes, portraits, murals, book plates, sculpture, and stained-glass windows. This collection consists of negatives taken by Schoonover, largely for use as source material for his artwork. There are also images of his artwork, restoration projects, and him, his family, and friends.

Frank R. Zebley (1883-1960) was a Delaware native collector, photographer, author, and one-time speaker of the Delaware House of Representatives. He published Along the Brandywine and The Churches of Delaware. The Frank R. Zebley photograph albums includes nearly 1500 black and white photographs from the city of Wilmington, locations around Delaware, southeastern Pennsylvania, and other places of interest in the mid-Atlantic region.

Frank Siedel (1914-1988) was a writer, educator, and broadcaster. He founded the firm Storycraft, Inc., an industrial writing company, in 1947 and wrote scripts at Storycraft until his death in 1988. This small collection documents a sample Siedel's work. The two largest groups of materials relate to The Ohio Story television series and the "In the Ohio Heritage" educational series. The materials date from 1947 to 1967, with a few items dated 1988.

Franklin “Frank” T. Matthias (1908-1933) served as commanding officer and area engineer of Hanford Engineer Works from 1943 to 1945. He oversaw production of plutonium at Hanford to create the world’s first nuclear weapon, the atomic bomb. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs taken during the construction of the nuclear facilities at Hanford and the village of Richland in Washington state. Researchers interested in World War II, the Manhattan Project, industrial chemistry, nuclear energy, and company towns would find this collection useful.

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. The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and the Victor Talking Machine Company merged in 1929 becoming the RCA Victor Company in 1930. This merger allowed RCA to consolidate the research, engineering, manufacturing and sales of RCA products. This collection consists of negatives, a majority of which feature sound and television equipment manufactured by RCA. These images include phonographs, radios, radio-phonograph combinations, records, speakers, amplifiers, microphones, facsimile machines, televisions, equipment involved in the transmission and reception of television and radio waves, radio equipment created for use by government agencies and motion picture equipment.

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.

The Exposicion Internacional del Centenario commemorated the centennial of the May Revolution in Argentina and its consequent independence from Spain. It was an international exhibition that was held in 1910 between May and November in the capital of Buenos Aires. The photographs in the album consist of views of France's exhibit and include the exterior and interior of the pavilion.

Frigidaire Corporation manufactures and distributes major appliances for domestic and industrial use. Gilead Elijah Turner (1903-1929) worked for the company's Advertising Stock Department from 1928 until his death in 1929. The scrapbook was assembled by Turner and dedicated to his co-worker, Dean M. Livingston (1903-1963), who worked in the same department. The album contains sales catalogs, sales forms, and pitches for the company refrigerators focusing on food preservation and avoiding food spoilage due to mold, yeast, and bacteria. Numerous newspaper clippings are about sales executives and company founders, developments in food safety, and the importance of hard work for company success.

G.C. Murphy Co. was a chain of discount variety stores. George Clinton Murphy (1868-1909) founded the G.C. Murphy Co. in 1906 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. it grew to more than 500 stores before its acquisition by Ames Department Stores Inc. in 1985. These photographs document window displays at a G.C. Murphy store in Washington, D.C. In 1906.

Alfred Irénée du Pont (1864-1935) was the eldest son of E.I. du Pont (1829-1877). He joined the family gunpowder firm in 1884. Gabrielle Shubrick Crofton (1835-1894) was the daughter of Alfred I. du Pont's first cousin, Julia Sophia du Pont (1806-1882) and Irvine Shubrick (1797-1849). This collection consists of two individual portraits, one of Gabrielle Shubrick Crofton and the other of Alfred I. Du Pont.

Games of chance such as poker, blackjack, roulette, and craps are common table games played at casinos. This is a small collection of photographs and ephemera related to casino equipment. There are professional photographs and prints of blackjack, craps, and roulette tables, although it cannot be determined who the manufacturers are of these tables. None of the images is dated; the range is likely between the 1930s and 1940s.

The Gardner Machine Works specialized in manufacturing woodworking machinery, specifically those used to make chairs. This collection consists mainly of images of tools and machinery manufactured and sold by the Gardner Machine Works company. This collection has been organized into four series: Tools and machinery photographs and negatives; Trade catalogs and advertisements; Notebooks, drawings, and patents; and Scrapbooks. This collection would be of interest to those researching woodworking machinery, equipment, marketing, and design.

Gayle Porter Hoskins (1887-1962) was an artist and illustrator active between the 1910s through the 1960s. This collection consists of two prints of Hoskins artwork related to rifles.

General Railway Signal Company supplied railway signaling equipment, systems, and services. In 1904, it was formed by the merger of three companies and was headquartered in Rochester, New York. This small collection of photographs showcases the company's work installing centralized traffic control systems, light signals, and car retarder systems.

World's Fairs or International Expositions are large-scale exhibitions that highlight technology, agriculture and other innovations of national or cultural significance. The New York World's Fair took place in Flushing Meadows, Queens from April 30, 1939 to October 31, 1940. The collection consists of ten photographs of the New York World's Fair.

Genevieve Pittner (1917-2007) of Monroe, Michigan, collected roller skating rink stickers between 1941 and 1942, amassing a large collection by exchanging stickers by mail with other collectors. This collection consists primarily of roller skating rink stickers during the World War II era. A large album contains most of the stickers in the collection; stickers are attached to album pages and arranged alphabetically by state.

The Geo D. Whitcomb Company was a manufacturer of coal mining machinery and industrial locomotives. The album is a factory salesman sample photograph album for the gasoline powered Whitcomb mining and switching engines. There are two Whitcomb catalogs and an original offprint from the 1932 Railway Age.

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.

George J. Frebert (1929-2002) was a pilot and aviation enthusiast who served in the Air Force during the Korean War, operated the Dover Litho Printing Company in Dover, DE, published "Delaware Aviation History," and restored vintage airplanes as a hobby. This collection contains both materials used in the preparation of "Delaware Aviation History" and other items that Frebert collected dealing with Delaware aviation, aviators and airports.

Coatesville is a city along the Brandywine River in Chester County, Pennsylvania. This item is a booklet containing 16 postcards with images of sites in and around Coatesville, Pennsylvania.

Gordon M. Kline (1903-1981), earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from University of Maryland in 1934, served as a technical investigator for the U.S. Army in Germany in 1945. These are three snapshot photographs of Dr. G. M. Kline and research team in Troisdorf, Germany, June 1945.

The oil fields in Burkburnett Texas are well-known for being an abundant source of petroleum. This item is a panoramic photograph which shows oil wells and buildings.

Rare documentation of wooden 2-story house in Greenville, Delaware (New Castle County).

The Greenwood Book Shop was an independent bookseller founded by Alice Steinlein (1880-1965) in 1920 after her husband died from tuberculosis. That same year, she hired Gertrude Kruse (1900-1981) as a clerk. Steinlein retired in 1945 and the business was eventually bought by Kruse. These photographs document the interior of the Greenwood Book Shop in the Delaware Trust Building, 917 Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware.

Greta Brown Layton (1924-2014) was a descendant of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) who founded the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company with his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) in 1802. The E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. This collection consists of family portraits and group photographs of ancestors of Greta Brown Layton. The bulk of the collection are portrait engravings of individual members of the du Pont, Hounsfield, Pelleport, Van Dyke, Barksdale, and related families.

Numerous United States Federal agencies issued posters throughout World War II in order to support the war effort. The Railway Labor Executives' Association (RLEA) was founded in 1926 as a lobbist group for railroad labor unions. This item is a poster issued by the RLEA titled "Guard the Homefront" and is designed to encourage people to vote.

H. Ledyard Towle (1890-1973) was a commercial artist, portrait painter, and color consultant to various industries. This collection consists of a matted photographic portrait of H. Ledyard Towle.

H. Ray Warren (1921-2011) was a physicist, engineer, and inventor at the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) for thirty-one years, working primarily on magnetic tape recording innovations. Warren's papers and audiovisual materials form a small collection that documents developments in magnetic recording for audio and video tape, primarily related to magnetic heads and low crosstalk processing signals. This collection is arranged into eight series: Personal files; Patent files; Proposals; Reports and technical data/information; SelectaVision files; Publications and reprints; Work meeting notes and photographs; and Audio and video recordings. The documentation is fragmentary; none of the sets of papers is complete.

Henry A. Weldy and members of the Shindel family purchased the small Huhn Powder mill outside Tamaqua, Pennsylvania on the banks of the Little Schuylkill River. They operated it as the H. A. Weldy Powder Company. Illustrations on the lithograph depict Tunnel Mills and Edgeworth Mills, which comprised the H. A. Weldy Powder Company.

Charles Copeland (1867-1944) was Secretary of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company from 1921 to 1935. He also served on the Board of Directors from 1921 to 1942. This small collection primarily consists of scenic views of the Hagley property. The collection has been organized into three series: Brandywine and Hagley areas of Copeland estate; Rolling wheels, and Pierre Gentieu prints.

This small collection of John W. Macklem (1867-1948) contains photographs of structures in the Hagley Yards after they closed in 1921, DuPont Company office staff in Equitable Building, Wilmington, Delaware, and gunpowder labels for A.F. & Co. FF gunpowder and DuPont superfine HFg gun powder.