Herbert James Tily (1866-1948) was bookkeeper, auditor, chief accountant, and then general manager of Strawbridge & Clothier. He organized the Strawbridge & Clothier Chorus of store employees. The miscellany collection contains news clippings and ephemera describing Tily's work at Strawbridge's, with the Chorus, and in civic affairs. Additionally, there is a copy of the sheet music for "The Slave's Dream," a musical setting for a Longfellow poem.

Kennard-Pyle Company was a department store known for its women's clothing. By the late twentieth century, it was one of Delaware's oldest independent clothing retailers.

Includes payroll records showing salaries of individual workers, and registers of employees, from executives to sales girls and "cash boys" who ran merchandise and money between the wrapping desks and the cashiers. There are also records of the Strawbridge & Clothier Athletic Association, the Strawbridge & Clothier Pension Fund Association, the Strawbridge & Clothier Relief Association, the Strawbridge & Clothier Chorus, the Christmas & Vacation Fund Association, the Noon Day Club (for women workers), and the Quarter Century Club, which document the Quaker-inspired welfare work programs aimed at all members of the "Store Family." There is a set of the employee magazine STORE CHAT (1906-1993), files and scrapbooks of biographical information on both executives and representative regular employees (1902-1952), employee rules and service codes, and clippings on a 1938 warehouse strike.

Strawbridge & Clothier was the last family-owned major department store chain in the Greater Philadelphia area. The store was founded as a partnership by Justus C. Strawbridge (1838-1911) and Isaac H. Clothier (1837-1921) on July 1, 1868 at 8th and Market Streets in Center City Philadelphia. This collection contains photographs, negatives, transparencies, lantern slides, glass negatives, slides, audio tapes, videotapes, and films from Strawbridge & Clothier. It is valuable to those researching all aspects of retail: history, architecture, department stores, shopping malls, employment, operations, promotion, advertising, fashion, and merchandising. Other topics include family-owned businesses, distinguished Quaker families, business response on the homefront during World War II, the Gallery and Market East, and Philadelphia and its environs. There are also proposal albums from the Pavlik Design Team of store design for the Cherry Hill, King of Prussia, and Willow Grove stores and from Neil/Carter Design Associates for Heritage Hall in the Market Street store.