Finding Aids

American Car and Foundry Company is a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock and railcar parts, founded in 1899. In 1901, the company began leasing the facilities of a railroad rolling stock and shipbuilding manufacturer the Jackson and Sharp Company. From the end of World War One to 1938, the plant built small pleasure boats. These photographs document different activities at the American Car and Foundry Company Jackson and Sharp Plant shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware, during World War II. There are several photos taken on the occasion of the presentation of the Army-Navy "E" award in 1942.

Captain C.E. (Clarence Edward) "Bim" Argyle (1927-2006) was a riverboat captain for Consolidation Coal and a World War II Navy veteran. He worked primarily on steamers and coal barges along the Monongahela River in Western Pennsylvania. These two albums record Argyle's river experience between 1943 and 1950. There are portraits of his co-workers as well as many photographs of numerous commercial boats.

Edward Henry Kemp (1868-1948) and Josephine A. Kemp (1868-1941) were commercial photographers and traveling lecturers. The Kemps were best known for their photographic and motion picture travelogues, as well as their work in Camera Craft magazine. In 1912, the Chamber of Commerce invited its members to join an excursion to the Isthmus of Panama, with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce being the guide in charge of the trip and planning. The San Francisco Chamber chartered the SS Sonoma of the Oceanic Steamship Company from April 25, 1912, to return on May 21, 1912. The album is a travelogue of the SS Sonoma voyage from San Francisco to the construction site of the Panama Canal locks. The images show views of railroad construction, dredges, street views of Balboa, Panama la Vieja, bull fights, and Old Panama City. The album itself does not contain either Kemp's name or other identifying information, however, three of the photographs in the album match photographs that have been positively identified as being taken by the Kemps.

Edward “Ned” A. Hodge (1896-1978) was the Vice-President of the Pusey & Jones Corp. in charge of engineering and shipbuilding. This small collection consists primarily of photographs showing the exteriors of ships. There are two books which document ship voyages showing photographs alongside text.

Elmer A. Sperry (1860-1930) was an electrical engineer who established the Electric Light, Motor, and Car Brake Company in 1883 and then founded the Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company in 1886. After selling his patents to General Electric, he went to work for the company as a consultant. This collection includes original materials, as well as copy work from other sources and images which show Sperry's inventions; there is some ephemera, family photos, employees, and views of the Sperry Company's Brooklyn drafting rooms.

James Crosby Brown, Jr., was born in Hartford, Conn., in 1929 and spent most of his life in Philadelphia, where he pursued a career in business. After retiring in 1981, he turned full-time to his life-long avocation of maritime history. This collection consists of copy photographs of steamboats, many on the Schuylkill River.

John Farrell Metten (1873-1968) was a marine engineer and shipbuilding industry executive. This collection contains photographic prints, postcards, documents, drawings, and an identification card pertaining to the career of John Farrell Metten and views of Naval ships built at the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey.

Major Reybold was an iron excursion steamer, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This collection contains a photographic copy print of a painting of the steamship.

The Metropolitan Steamship Co. was a steamship line which provided service between Boston and New York and later between San Francisco and Los Angeles. This item is a prnt of the steamship "General Whitney" from the Metropolitan Steamship Co.'s Outside Line between New York and Boston.

A Liberty ship was a World War II EC2 type cargo ship designed for the emergency ship building program. Over 2,700 of these ships were built. This item is a photograph which shows a stern of EC-2 Liberty ship.

The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard occupied two different locations. The second site at League Island was the larger of the two sites and saw the greatest amount of shipbuilding activity. The Dravo Wellman Company was a pioneer manufacturer of steel plant equipment with an international reputation for engineering some of the largest material-handling projects ever built. Photographs show tests of a revolving crane ship (perhaps manufactured by Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Company) in the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

In the ninteenth century, steamboats revolutionized river transportation of people and goods because they could swiftly traverse rivers regardless of current. A mystique was created by the dangers they faced: explosions, sinkings, Indian attacks and daring races. This is a pane of commemorative stamps showing four steamboats: Sylvan Dell, Robert E. Lee, Rebecca Everingham, Bailey Gatzert.

Samuel Francis du Pont (1803-1865) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and fought in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. At the start of the Civil War du Pont was appointed a senior member of the Commission of Conference to establish naval operations for the North. du Pont was put in charge of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and broke his flag on the U.S.S. Wabash. This item is a hand-colored lithograph of the U.S.S. Wabash at sea.

At the time of his death, William G. Ramsay (1866-1916) was chief engineer, a director and vice president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. This is a small collection of mostly unidentified snapshots possibly taken in the Pacific Northwest showing boats and logging subjects.

The Wilson Lines was a steamboat company that was popular for traveling between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wilmington, Delaware and Riverview Beach, New Jersey. This small collection of copy photographs contains mostly exterior views of several Wilson Lines steamboats between 1890 and 1955.