Finding Aids

The American Insulation Company was a manufacturer of asbestos tape, tubing, gloves, and other asbestos products. The company was founded in 1914 by John W. Latchum (1884-1953) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Beginning in the 1920s, it began manufacturing its patented and trademarked product, "Eternit" Asbestos Shingles. This album of photographs consists of exterior views of buildings, mostly residential homes, showcasing the new roofs. The captions of each image list the city, state, name of the head of residence or builder, color/type of shingle method used, and a brief sentence about the choice of roof color for the type of house. The estimated date range of the images is from the 1940s; however, it is possible that some date to a bit earlier or later.

The Dayton Display Fixture Company manufactured and sold grocery store display equipment. Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, the firm operated between 1919 and World War II, selling metal shelving and refrigerated and electrified fruit and vegetable displays. This collection consists of a single album containing sales sample photographs that show product and floor displays for grocery store fruits and vegetables and dry goods in the 1930s.

The Disposor Corporation was the sales agent for the General Fan Corporation of New York City in the 1930s. This collection consists of fourteen photographs of the General Fan Corporation's various mechanical products (ventilation and cooling units) on display at exhibits or installed in businesses, including a ship and restaurants. The album was put together by the Disposor Corporation for sales purposes.

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.

Kelvinator was founded in Detroit in 1916. Nathaniel B. Wales (1883-1974) was the founding engineer, and he had been developing home refrigeration units. By 1923, Kelvinator had the lion’s share of the electric refrigerator market at eighty percent. This album appears to be a wholesaler's catalog showing sketched illustrations of the exteriors and interiors of Kelvinator refrigerator models.

The Tel-Gas Corporation manufactured, sold, and leased remote-control self-service gasoline station pumps and other allied equipment. Herbert W. Timms (1929-2014) was an oil industry specialist and inventor. One of his inventions was gas pumps that could be activated by an attendant inside a convenience store and automatically reset. This item is an album containing a sales sample promotional catalog and photographs dating from 1965 to 1966.

The Trundle Engineering Company was an industrial engineering management consulting company based in Cleveland, Ohio. Clients would hire Trundle Engineering Company to perform studies on their organization or operating methods. One aspect of the business was the design and manufacture of custom machinery for increased efficiency. This album is a salesman sample photograph album providing an overview of inventions and technology developed by the Trundle Engineering Company. Machinery represented here includes spiral meat-cutting machine, matchbook cover book-cutting machine, traffic signal control boxes, spinning machine for making artificial silk, ice cream freezing machinery, remote control spotlight, and a golf ball center compression test machine.

The Warren-Ehret Company was a Philadelphia roofing company founded in 1883. This collection consists of 259 images from three unbound albums which were used as sales portfolios to show the variety and extent of Warren-Ehret's roofing jobs on a variety of buildings.