Finding Aids

A small body of letters and fragments recovered from the Graystone mansion property at Coatesville, Pennsylvania, relating to the Brandywine Iron Works and Nail Factory during the time when Rebecca Webb Pennock Lukens (1794-1854) was proprietor after the death of her husband.

Cooper & Hewitt partners were iron businessmen who purchased ironworks, property, and iron mines. In 1845, a rolling mill complex was incorporated as the Trenton Iron Company, and in 1847 iron mines at Andover, New Jersey, were purchased. The records consist of two payroll sheets from 1848, as well as eighty-two inbound letters, mostly from 1849 to 1850. The letters are primarily operating reports from the superintendent of the Andover mine.

David Thomas (1794-1882) was a Pennsylvania iron manufacturer who introduced into the United States the use of anthracite coal in the manufacture of pig iron. The papers consist of twenty-eight letters received by Thomas between May 1839 and 1842. They contain important new information on one of the textbook examples of nineteenth century technology transfer.

David Thomas (1794-1882) was a Pennsylvania iron manufacturer who introduced into the United States the use of anthracite coal in the manufacture of pig iron. The papers consist of typed transcripts twelve letters, the bulk of which were sent by David Thomas to his niece, Jane Harris Bowen, and nephew, David Harris, in Wales. The letters deal primarily with family news, but Thomas also writes about general business conditions, the level of prices and wages and the Civil War.

Frederick William Wood (1857-1943) was an executive and engineer in the steel and shipbuilding industries. His papers constitute a major source on the history of the American steel industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The papers are primarily official records of the various companies with which Wood was associated.

The Millerstown Iron Company, organized in 1873, constructed the Macungie Furnace in Macungie, Pennsylvania, and was a small anthracite iron company. The microfilmed letterbook documents the business correspondence of the company and includes outgoing correspondence from the Macungie furnace's superintendents.

The firm of Orrick, Grubbs & Parker, iron merchants, was formed in Philadelphia around 1839, succeeding the firm of Samuel D. Orrick & Co. The records consist of 26 letters addressed to Orrick & Fox, Samuel D. Orrick & Co., Orrick, Grubbs & Parker and E. B. & C. B. Grubb concerning shipments of iron from the Grubb furnaces and its resale to manufacturers along the east coast.

The Phoenix Iron and Steel Company began in the late eighteenth century as a manufacturer of cut nails. It later became a major producer of railroad rails and iron and steel structural members. It operated as the Phoenix Iron and Steel Company from 1950 to 1959, when it was reorganized as the Phoenix Steel Corporation. This small collection primarily consists of a sample of letters received by president Samuel J. Reeves (1872-1878), primarily concerned with the Girard Avenue Bridge contract. There is also a volume of annual reports by the superintendent and a company history written by Catherine S. Sisto in 1950.

The Phoenix Iron Company began in the late eighteenth century as a manufacturer of cut nails. It later became a major producer of railroad rails and iron and steel structural members. This small collection of records includes incoming correspondence chiefly relating to orders for and deliveries of iron for railroads.

Robert Coleman (1748-1825) was one of the most important ironmasters in Pennsylvania and acquired Elizabeth Furnance near Manheim, Pennsylvania. His papers consists of correspondence, receipts, and miscellany, mostly involving land purchase.

Samuel Gardiner Wright (1781-1845) was a West Jersey Quaker merchant and ironmaster who conducted a wide-ranging mercantile business based in Philadelphia, iron furnaces in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and in southern Delaware and maintained a country house and farm in Monmouth County, N.J. The papers document his varied business interests, especially iron manufacture and sales. There are smaller quantities of papers from his wife, sons and grandson.