Abstract:

The Alan Wood Steel Company was a small, family-controlled integrated steel company. The Upper Merion & Plymouth Railroad connected all the elements of the Wood steel-making complex. The collection includes three blueprint maps showing the layout of industrial buildings at Alan Wood Steel Company and the track of the Upper Merion and Plymouth Railroad Company. Also in the collection is a stereograph featuring a blast furnace plant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Abstract:

The Alan Wood Steel Company was a small, family-controlled integrated steel company, producing primarily steel sheets. This small collection consists primarily of interiors and exteriors of the companys' facilities, equipment, and workers. There are also some images from various events related to the company.

Abstract:

The American Iron and Steel Institute is a trade association of North American steel producers. The group’s mission includes advocating for public policy, education and innovation for the Iron and Steel Industry. The Institute was established under the leadership of Elbert H. Gary (1846-1927) in 1908, after the Panic of 1907 brought an end to industry-wide consolidations. This collection consists of photographs, research notes, audio, film, and video which document the history of the steel industry. The images cover the entire scope of the steel industry from basic raw materials through the multiple aspects of steelmaking. In addition to images documenting the technical aspects of steel production, there are photographs showing steel in use. These include a variety of industrial and consumer applications and images related to the steel industry and environmental issues. The Albert T. Keller (1869-1940) photographs depict the sites or remains of early ironworks primarily in the mid-Atlantic states and New England states during the 1930s and there are over fifty blast furnace complexes pictured. The Walter C. Woodman (1903-1979) photographs and research notes document the history of iron furnaces and Saugus Iron Works becoming a national historic landmark.

Abstract:

The American Iron and Steel Institute is a trade association of North American steel producers. The group’s mission includes advocating for public policy, education and innovation for the Iron and Steel Industry. The Institute was established under the leadership of Elbert H. Gary (1846-1927) in 1908, after the Panic of 1907 brought an end to industry-wide consolidations. This small collection consists of a group of stereographs by the H.C. White Company of North Bennington, Vermont showing views (including interiors and workers) of the Homestead Steel Works near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania taken around 1907.

Abstract:

Archibald Johnston (1864-1948) was a mechanical engineer, who joined the Bethlehem Iron Company in 1889 where he was responsible for the erection of the gun forging and armor plate plant. In 1901 he was elected to the company's Board of Directors, and between 1906 and 1908 was president of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. The bulk of this collection is concerned with Johnston's work at Bethlehem Steel; a smaller portion consists of strictly personal papers.

Abstract:

At the turn of the century, under the direction of Charles Schwab and Eugene Grace, Bethlehem Steel Corporation became the second largest American steel company; combined with its other venture, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., it became a leading 20th century American business. This item is a viewbook which contains exterior views of the Bethlehem Steel Works. These include numerous images of both the plant and office, most of which were taken at street level.

Scope and Contents: The records of the Bethlehem Steel Company (operating company of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation) are arranged into eleven separate series by department or division. Much of the records remaining from these Departments and Divisions are fragmentary, and do not make up a complete corporate archive.The corporate records of the Bethlehem Steel Company consist of fragments from the office of Robert McMath, Vice President and Secretary, and from the Comptroller's office. The former include organization charts; printed copies of agreements and mortgages, and collected documents for the Pennsylvania Steel merger of 1916 and the absorption of Bethlehem Steel products Company, Beth-Mary Steel Corporation, and Bethlehem Iron Mines Company in 1936. The Comptroller's records consist of two auditor's reports. Board of Directors' minutes dating back to the incorporation of Bethlehem Steel in 1899 document the early inception of the company and Charles Schwab's initial involvement. There is also a small file from the President’s Office consisting of correspondence and other material related to a fraud case involving French Senator Charles Humbert and German agent and convicted French traitor Bolo Pasha during the First World War.Bethlehem Steel Company’s claims filed before the Mixed Claims Commission against Germany following the end of the World War I are documented through correspondence between the company and various law firms and financial organizations. The primary claims filed by Bethlehem Steel Co. include war risk insurance, loss of Scandinavian boat contracts, and loss of Swedish ore contracts. There is also a claim filed on account of the Black Tom Explosion that occurred on July 30, 1916, when German agents destroyed a shipment of American-made munitions destined for the Allies at Black Tom Island in Jersey City, New Jersey. Also of significance are letters of reimbursement sent to Charles Schwab for his financial role in the reorganization of the United States Shipbuilding Company into the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in 1904.Of particular interest are agreements and correspondence regarding the rights for the manufacture of Harvey armor and for the license to the Krupp process, both traditionally utilized in the production of armor plates for Navy warships throughout the 1890s. Correspondence between the then Carnegie Steel Company, Ltd. president Charles M. Schwab, Bethlehem Iron Company, and the Harvey Steel Company...

Abstract:

At the turn of the century, under the direction of Charles M. Schwab (1862-1939) and Eugene Grace (1876-1960), Bethlehem Steel Corporation became the second largest American steel company; combined with its other venture, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., it became a leading twentieth century American business. The collection includes a wide range of photography which documents the company’s long history and the breadth of its enterprises from east to west coasts and overseas. It contains eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century industrial and non-industrial images and of management and workers. As a research tool, its use will be as varied and extensive as the corporation itself was during its years as an American industrial giant.

Abstract:

Carnegie Steel Company was a large steel manufacturer primarily founded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) in 1892, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Lucy Furnaces were blast furnaces that initially produced iron, but switched to steel. This item is a time book registering the hours worked by Carnegie Steel Company Lucy Furnaces employees in 1904.

Abstract:

Clement S. Brinton (1875-1963) was a trained chemist who spent his entire career with the Food & Drug Administration designing and directing food inspection laboratories in the Philadelphia area. Brinton was also a local amateur historian and was particularly interested in the history of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century iron industry. The Brinton Collection is a useful source on the early iron industry in the northeastern states. The materials are, in many cases, not unique, including such items as postcards, newspaper clippings, souvenir booklets and brochures, and extracts from published articles. The collection focuses on old iron works in New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, and northeastern Maryland.

Abstract:

This collection represents materials collected by Cyrus J. Sharer for his research on the iron and steel industry and particularly the world iron ore trade. The main emphasis is on the iron ore trade of the Great Lakes. The period covered, mid-1960s to mid-1980s, was one of crisis and reorganization in the American steel industry and in the lake ore trade, and this is reflected in the records.

Abstract:

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.

Abstract:

George A. Richardson (1886-1976) was an engineer with an expertise in metallurgy. He spent his career primarily involved in technical publicity and sales for major steel manufacturers such as the Midvale Steel & Ordnance Company and the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. The papers consist primarily of materials collected by Richardson during the performance of his official duties with the steel companies, in preparing technical lectures and papers, and in teaching courses in metallurgy.

Abstract:

George A. Richardson (1886-1976) was an engineer with an expertise in metallurgy, he spent his career primarily involved in technical publicity and sales for major steel manufacturers such as the Midvale Steel & Ordnance Company and the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. This collection of photographs and negatives was primarily taken by George Atwell Richardson throughout the course of his career while working for Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company and the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. The images document views of steel plants and operations, as well as steel products mostly taken between 1913 and 1929. The collection has been organized into five series: Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company; Cambrian Steel Company; Bethlehem Steel Corporation; Exhibits, and Other steel and coal companies.

Abstract:

The Grubb family were ironmasters in Lancaster, York, and Dauphin Counties, Pennsylvania, for a period of over 150 years. The records include account books and letters relating to the family's various iron enterprises, including the Codorus, Mananda, Mount Hope, Mount Vernon, and Henry Clay.

Abstract:

The records consist of materials collected by John B. Lovis (1935-2015) for the writing of his book on the history of the Sparrows Point Plant, plus original Bethlehem Steel documents from his tenure in the Corporate Planning Department.

Abstract:

His business records consist of four time and board books and one day book from the Greenwood Iron Works and a single day book from the District Forge.

Abstract:

Lukens Steel Company was a medium-sized producer of specialty steel products and one of the top three U.S. producers of steel plate. The Lukens Steel Company records documents all aspects of the business from the early nineteenth century through the 1970s.

Abstract:

Martha Furnace was an iron plantation built in 1793 by the Pennsylvania ironmaster Isaac Potts (1750-1803) on a branch of the Wading River two miles above Harrisville in eastern Burlington County, New Jersey. The volume is a combined daybook and diary, containing a comprehensive account of the operation of a Pine Barrens iron plantation during the early 1800s.

Abstract:

Maryland Steel Company was a steel-works and shipyard operated from 1891 until 1916, when Bethlehem Steel acquired the Pennsylvania Steel Company and its subsidiary, Maryland Steel. This collection consists of 3 albums containing 204 cyanotype photographs taken at the Maryland Steel Company's steel plant and shipyard between 1890 and 1894. The photographs show steel buildings, steel workers, shipyard buildings, ship construction, tugs and steamships.

Abstract:

The Oxford Furnace in Warren County, New Jersey, was one of the oldest blast-furnaces in the state. The records consist of two drafts in ozalid copy of a typescript collection of letters and articles on the history of Oxford Furnace.

Abstract:

The Phoenix Steel Company began in the late 18th century as a manufacturer of cut nails. It later became a major producer of railroad rails and iron and steel structural members. Claymont Division of the Phoenix Steel Corporation was established in 1960 when the company purchased the Claymont, Delaware steel plant from the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. This small collection of materials originating from the Claymont steel plant includes miscellaneous plant announcements, catalogs, labor agreements, photographs, company-issued newsletters, and brief historical essays on the Phoenix Steel Corporation and its predecessors.

Abstract:

The Phoenix 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. Their records include minutes (1856-1929); stock ledgers; brief of title papers and property maps; legal and financial correspondence and tax papers; account books; and a works diary.

Scope and Content:

The Pennsylvania Steel Company is represented by engineering notes and sketches, agreements, correspondence and reports. The development of the Cuban ore deposits by the Juragua Iron Company, Ltd., the Spanish-​American Iron Company and the Moa Bay Iron Company are described in some detail, as is the work leading up to the construction of the Sparrows Point plant. There are also reports and correspondence on the Steelton company store.