Mendes Cohen (1831-1915) worked for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, chiefly in the Motive Power Department, from 1851 to 1855, where he adaptated wood-burning locomotives to coal-burning and devised the method for handling traffic on the 10% temporary grade over the Kingwood Tunnel. The report covers a series of tests and improvements conducted in 1853 and 1854 with the aim of reducing flue wear and tear and fuel consumption in the large coal-burning engines

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was the largest railroad in the United States in terms of corporate assets and traffic from the last quarter of the nineteenth century until the decline of the northeast's and midwest's dominance of manufacturing. This collection consists of two items. One is a copy of a report from 1959 by General Electric Company, Locomotive & Car Equipment Department containing an electric motive power study. The second item is a menu with a cover design by industrial designer Raymond Loewy (1893-1986).

The Pusey & Jones Corporation were shipbuilders, founders, and machinists of Wilmington, Delaware, which later expanded into papermaking machinery manufacturing. The Parsons Engineering Company was established for the manufacture of smoke-consuming devices and innovations with railroad technology. This collection includes papers from the Pusey & Jones Corporation and Parsons Engineering Company.

The Savery family of Chester County, Pennsylvania, produced two generations of eminent mechanical engineers. The Savery family papers consist primarily of those of Thomas H. Savery (1837-1910), his son William H. Savery (1865-1949), and William H. Savery's daughter Sara L. Savery (1897-1979) conerning the family papermaking machinery businesses, financial investments, and real estate activities documented through both personal and professional correspondence, business records, blueprints, and reports.

William H. Savery (1865-1949) was a paper manufacturer and president of the Harpers Ferry Paper Company, the Harpers Ferry Electic Light Company, and the Shenandoah Pulp Company. He was also president and general manager of the Parsons Engineering Company. The collection documents Savery's involvement with the Parsons Engineering Company, the York Haven and Harpers Ferry Paper Company from 1899 to 1920.

William McKinley Keller (1901-1974) was a railroad engineer and executive who worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Association of American Railroads. The collection of papers relate to his engineering career working for the two companies as well as a consultant to the railroad industry and some personal correspondence throughout his career.