Augustus Smith (1868-1932) was a civil engineer and contractor. He held several patents for coaling machinery, such as hoists. These photographs show construction progress and completed buildings, bridges, and coaling stations. There are images of projects Smith worked on or contributed to either as a contractor or engineer. The materials are arranged by company name: Augustus Smith & Co., Bergen Point Iron Works, and Groton Bridge and Manufacturing Co.

The Joy Manufacturing Company was a major manufacturer of underground mining and materials handling machinery. The photographs were collected by retired corporate secretary James Packer (1920-2008) in 1985 for the purpose of writing a company history. This small collection consists of photographs, mostly group portraits of staff. The collection dates range from the 1921 to 1988. The materials are so sporadic that there is no bulk date.

The Joy Manufacturing Company was a major manufacturer of mining and materials handling machinery built upon the invention of the first practical coal loading machine by Joseph F. Joy (1883-1957). It is a somewhat random collection of documents assembled and preserved by the former corporate secretary James Packer (1920-2008) for the purpose of writing a never-completed company history. They include the sorts of documents normally in possession of a corporate secretary, such as copies of meeting minutes, corporate family tree information, historical notes, and promotional publications.

Penn Virginia Corporation was an oil and gas company, incorporated as the Virginia Coal & Iron Company on January 6, 1882. It was one of many firms established by a group of interrelated entrepreneurs headed by John Leisenring (1819-1884), a Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, civil and mining engineer. The name changed to Penn Virigina Corporation in 1967. The records of Penn Virginia Corporation cover the development and operations of the Virginia Coal & Iron Company, a large southern Appalachian land company, with some information on its immediate neighbors and local support facilities.