Scope and Content: The records of the Bethlehem Steel Archives consist of six subseries, all of which represent synthetic collections created or assembled by the archivist.Vertical File The Vertical File is a collection of newsclippings, tear sheets, and brochures covering the history of Bethlehem Steel and its predecessors along with general historical information on various aspects of the steel and shipbuilding industries. Of particular note are ship lists for most of the Bethlehem ship yards, yard and plant histories, and articles on ships built by Bethlehem. There are broadsides for company clambakes (ca. 1910), from the 1910 Bethlehem steel strike, and work rules from Cambria Steel. Another item of note is a manuscript history of the Electric Boat Company of Bayonne, New Jersey, and Groton, Connecticut, a predecessor of General Dynamics.Manuscript CollectionThe Manuscript Collection is a group of non-Bethlehem items collected by the Archives, most pertaining to the early Pennsylvania iron industry. These include journals from the New Market Forge in Lebanon County and the Warwick Furnace and Forge near Pottstown.Potts-Rutter Papers The most comprehensive manuscript collection is the Potts-Rutter Papers (ca. 1714-1839). These Papers are the record of five generations of one of the most successful families of ironmasters in Colonial Pennsylvania. The numerous descendants of Thomas Rutter (d. 1730) and Thomas Potts, Sr. (1660-1762) frequently intermarried and thus retained control of their business within a small family group until the decline of the charcoal iron industry in the mid-nineteenth century.Thomas Rutter, an English blacksmith who had first settled near Germantown, established his first forge on Manatawny Creek in Berks County in 1716. Around 1720, he also constructed the Colebroo,dale Furnace on nearby Ironstone Creek. Pine Forge followed in 1725. Rutter secured the services of Thomas Potts, Sr., as ironmaster, and he had assumed the active management of the enterprises well before Rutter's death in 1730. The family alliance was cemented by the marriages of each of Potts' three sons. John (1710-1768), Thomas (1720-1762), and David (1722-1762) to Rutter's granddaughters.Thomas Potts (1720-1762), the second son of Thomas Potts, Sr., owned shares in the Mount Pleasant Furnace and Forge on...

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:

Cooper & Hewitt partners were iron businessmen who purchased ironworks, property, and iron mines. In 1845, a rolling mill complex was incorporated as the Trenton Iron Company, and in 1847 iron mines at Andover, New Jersey, were purchased. The records consist of two payroll sheets from 1848, as well as eighty-two inbound letters, mostly from 1849 to 1850. The letters are primarily operating reports from the superintendent of the Andover mine.

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:

The Erie City Iron Works in Erie, Pennsylvania, was a major manufacturer of boilers, stationary and portable engines, and machinery for sawmills and steam riveting. These are five reproductions of nineteenth century photographs from the Erie City Iron Works. One is an exterior of the plant. The four others are posed photographs of employee groups.

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:

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:

The Phoenix Iron 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. This small collection of records includes incoming correspondence chiefly relating to orders for and deliveries of iron for railroads.

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.

Abstract:

Charles William Feil Sust (1885-1947) and his son Carl William Sust (1914-1996) were employees at William Sellers & Co. Both worked as sheet metal workers in the 1930s and 1940s. William Sellers & Co. was an iron works that manufactured machine tools used for turning, planing, shaping, drilling, boring, or cutting metal or wood. This small collection is primarily photographs of machine tools manufactured by the William Sellers & Co. in the 1930s and 1940s. There are several photographs of various rooms and shops at the company, three include Charles Sust. There are a few publications and blueprints, as well as employee pins.

Abstract:

The Taylor-Wharton Iron & Steel Company produced frogs, switches and other railroad fittings including couplings, axles and wheels, as well as war material during both World Wars. The company was incorporated in 1912 as successor to the Taylor Iron & Steel Company. The collection contains photographs primarily of products such as dredging equipment, railroad tracks, rollers, crushers, and buckets. The films document dredge buckets in operation and were shot in the United States and at international locations. The collection has been organized into four series: Company history, Plant views, Products, and Films. Each series is arranged alphabetically.