William Gray Purcell (1880-1965) was an architect who was hired by Alexander Brother's Leather Belting Company. In addition to architectural duties, Purcell acted as their advertising manager from 1916 to 1918. These colorful items in this collection were possibly covers designed for trade catalogs or publications. They are all copyrighted 1917, designed in a modern style, and may have been commissioned for the company's commemorative fiftieth anniversary that year.

The American Leather Belting Association (ALBA) (now the National Industrial Leather Association) is a trade organization for distributors, fabricators, and manufacturers of leather belting, conveyor belting, and flat power transmission belting. The records of ALBA include meeting minutes of the board of directors from 1937 to 1947 and the association's certificate of incorporation, charter, and by-laws. There are meeting minutes and sales reports from two membership divisions: the Textile Leather Division and the Mechanical Leather Packing Division.

The leather manufacturing firm of J.E. Rhoads & Sons grew out of an eighteenth-century tanning operation on the Rhoads family homestead in Marple, Chester County (now Delaware County), Pa. Records cover the entire history of the firm from the 1720s through the 1960s. There is also substantial information on trade organizations in the leather industry and on members of the Rhoads family.