Henry Disston & Sons, Inc. was a major manufacturer of saws and other woodworking tools and one of the largest industrial firms in Philadelphia. The Henry Disston & Sons, Inc. had a number of subsidary companies, these records contain a small number of account books from only three of the firms subsidaries. There are accounts for: the Tacony Fuel Gas Company, the Henry Disston & Sons File Company, Limited, and the Henry Disston & Sons Iron & Steel Works, and an insurance ledger from the Estate of Henry Disston.

Paul W. Morgan (1911-1992) was a research chemist who spent his thirty-five-year career working in the DuPont Company's Pioneering Research Laboratory, part of the Textile Fibers Department (formerly the Rayon Department). His contributions include interfacial polycondensation reactions, a previously unexplored field of polymer chemistry. Morgan’s polymer condensation research ultimately yielded several commercially successful products. Among these were Nomex®, a high-temperature-resistant, thermally stable aramid fiber; Fiber B, a new tire reinforcing fiber that was twice as strong as ordinary synthetic tire yarns; and PRD-49, a high-modulus organic fiber marketed as Kevlar® aramid fiber. In addition to documenting Morgan’s career with DuPont, this collection also contains materials relating to the history of hand tools and tool manufacturers, amassed by Morgan following his retirement.

Richards, London & Kelley manufactured pattern-making machinery for woodworking. The firm founded, The Atlantic Works in 1869 for the manufacture of machines especially directed to railway car manufacturing, and Band Sawing Machinery. This collection consists of illustrations of woodworking machinery and descriptions from trade catalogs that are pasted into an album. The machinery was produced in Philadelphia by The Atlantic Works (also DBA Richards, London and Kelley).

Henry Disston & Sons, Inc. was a major manufacturer of saws and other woodworking tools and one of the largest industrial firms in Philadelphia. Henry Disston (1819-1878) founded the company in 1855. The firm remained in family control until 1955. This collection consists of a two-volume typescript "The Disston History," a genealogy of the Disston family, and a company history of Henry Disston and Sons, Inc., compiled by family members and genealogist Elizabeth B. Satterthwaite (1856-1948) in 1920. The copy images in the collection include portraits of Disston family members, board members, and employees and interior and exterior images of the Disston Saw Works in Tacony, a suburb of Philadelphia.