Pennsylvania Power & Light traces its origins to the various water and gas light companies that began operating in the eastern part of the state during the mid-nineteenth century. The records of the Pennsylvania Power & Light Company predecessor and subsidiary companies document the history of the gas and electric utility industry in eastern Pennsylvania in the years between 1853 and 1957. The collection includes both the administrative and operating records of more than 1100 companies that merged to form the PP&L system.

Pennsylvania Power & Light Company formed in 1920 through the consolidation of eight electric utilities companies serving central and eastern Pennsylvania. The collection primarily includes corporate papers documenting the company’s acquisition of various competing electric companies in the early-to-mid twentieth century by way of franchise building, market research and corporate communications, hydroelectric development through studies and surveys on Pennsylvania’s waterways, and material documenting the company’s various power plants in central eastern Pennsylvania. Financial and accounting records of the Pennsylvania Water & Power Company, which PP&L acquired in 1955, are also included.