Finding Aids

The records of the American Iron and Steel Institute and its predecessors provide an overview of the American iron and steel industries from their roots in the mid-eighteenth century to the early 1980s. The bulk of the archive consists of the Institute's library. Most of the Institute's own publications, plus a large collection of steel industry annual reports, are cataloged individually and stored in the general Imprints Department stacks.

The Associated General Contractors of America formed in 1918 as a trade organization representing the interests of the construction industry. Initially organized as a response to the demands placed on contractors during the First World War, today the Association has over 26,000 member firms. The records of the Associated General Contractors of America consist of annual convention and board meeting reports; minutes, digests of action, and resolutions of the executive committee; an unpublished history of the organization, and general and internal policy statements.

The Edison Electric Institute is the trade association of the electric utility industry. The minutes of the Institute's Transmission and Distributing Committee (1935, 1941-1970) include both business transactions of the committee and professional papers of representatives of member utility companies on a variety of subjects related to the transmission and distribution of electricty.

Insurance Society of Philadelphia provided a forum for persons engaged in the fire insurance business. The records consist of two series culled from the society's library: vertical files and scrapbooks. The records document various aspects of the insurance industry, the society and its members.