Digital Collections

The Otis Elevator Company manufactures, installs and maintains elevators, escalators and moving walkways. Elisha Otis (1811-1861) founded the company in 1853 in New York. In 1862, the company began selling elevators internationally, starting in Canada, then expanding to Mexico and Europe as early as 1873. Sales offices were established in London in 1884. The Underground Electric Railways Company of London purchased 140 electric elevators from the company and had them installed between 1905 and 1907. The Otis Elevator Company installation of electric lifts for the London Underground photographs (Accession 1970.176) album contains images of elevators and elevator equipment being installed at subway stations in London. Most of the images show the equipment used to raise, lower and brake the elevator, often already installed at the top of the elevator shaft or in a machine room. Other images feature workers installing or inspecting this equipment. Some photographs feature the completed elevator entrances' in the stations or images of Otis Elevator Company employees.

41 items.

Pierre Samuel "P.S." du Pont (1870-1954) was an industrialist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He was president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. from 1915 to 1919 and chairman of the board from 1919 to 1940. P.S. du Pont was the great grandson of Eleuthere Irenee du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and the great-great-grandson and namesake of the French economist, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817). Along with an active business career, du Pont was involved in social issues and philanthropic concerns. In the 1920s he was a pivotal member of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment. He was also concerned with issues in his native state of Delaware; these included improving education for Black children in the state and building better roads, especially on Kennett Pike. He also had horticultural interests which developed during his creation of the celebrated Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, where he lived. The P.S. du Pont photographs (Longwood) (Accession 1969.002) collection contains images of his large extended family, his many foreign and domestic journeys, his home at Longwood, and his personal and professional interests. It has not been digitized in its entirety.

6916 items.

The PQ Company is a manufacturer of silicate-based industrial chemicals. It was founded in 1831 as the Elkington Company, a Philadelphia candle and soap shop. In the 1840s, the company developed a synthetic detergent using a silicate base. By the end of the century, the firm had expanded and begun manufacturing lye, fertilizers, oils, greases, adhesives, fiber, and wall board. In 1888, the company name was changed to the Philadelphia Quartz Company. The name was changed again in 1973 following the relocation of the corporate headquarters to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The PQ Corporation photographic collection (Accession 1984.258) has not been digitized in its entirety. This digital collection is a sample of selected items, largely consisting of images of unidentified employees dating from approximately 1860 to 1940.

38 items.

Incorporated in 1882 as the Virginia Coal & Iron Company, the Penn Virginia Corporation began as a large south Appalachian coal and land company. From 1902 to 1966, the company was primarily a receiver of dividends, rents, and royalties. The company leased portions of its lands to other coal operators, sold timber, operated sawmills, and maintained a limestone quarry, owned the Interstate Railroad, created Cumberland Water Company, and built the First National Bank of Appalachia. It was renamed Penn Virginia Corporation in 1967. The Penn Virginia Corporation photograph collection (Accession 1993.261) cover a broad range of the company's activities, but has not been digitized in its entirety. This online collection is a curated selection of items dating from approximately the 1890s to the 1930s, and consisting largely of glass plate negatives which depict the McCorkle Lumber Co. and its activities, a limestone quarry, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, and the Interstate Railroad in Andover, Virginia.

43 items.

Incorporated in 1846, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company became the largest railroad in the United States in terms of corporate assets and traffic from the last quarter of the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company published The Pennsy for its active and retired employees. First published in June of 1952, the magazine contained updates about updates to equipment and news related to the railroad in addition to personal and professional news about employees, employee outings, cartoons, and educational essays about the company's history. Hagley Library's holdings of the publication are call number f TF1 .P4 in our collections; it consists of 162 copies of The Pennsy dating from volume 1 in 1952 to volume 13 in 1964.

162 items.

Incorporated in 1846, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company became the largest railroad in the United States in terms of corporate assets and traffic from the last quarter of the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company published The Pennsy for its active and retired employees. First published in June of 1952, the magazine contained updates about updates to equipment and news related to the railroad in addition to personal and professional news about employees, employee outings, cartoons, and educational essays about the company's history. The Pennsy magazine negatives (Accession 2017.206) collection consists of photographs, mostly negatives, that appear to have been taken for magazine. When possible, details about the issue associated with the photograph have been included in the metadata accompanying the image.

93 items.

The Pennsylvania Company for Banking and Trusts was a financial services company that was founded by Charles Lipshutz and Maurice L. Wurzel as a railroad and steamship ticket agency. In 1915, the firm shifted to banking and became People's Bank. Both the ticket agency and early bank catered to a client base that, like the company's founders, came from the region's Jewish-American and Jewish immigrant community. Multiple mergers and name changes followed; a 1923 merger with the People’s Trust Company to become People’s Bank and Trust, then a name change to the Colonial Trust Company after a 1927 merger with that company, followed by a 1930 merger with the The Pennsylvania Company for Insurance on Lives and Granting Annuities and a name change to The Pennsylvania Company for Banking and Trusts in 1947. In 1955, a merger with the First National Bank of Philadelphia eventually led to the new name of First Pennsylvania Banking and Trust Co, later abridged to First Pennsylvania Bank. This digital collection consists of annual reports issued by the company between 1947 and 1959.

12 items.

The Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. is an energy utility and transmission distributer based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Arising from a business merger, the company was founded on June 4, 1920, and soon after began providing energy to eastern and central Pennsylvania. Renamed PP&L Corporation circa 1995, the company continues to operate as an energy provider within northeastern Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Power & Light Company photographs (Accession 1983.246) collection consists primarily of photographs that depict sites of various PP&L subsidiaries and those directly operated by the company. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety. This digital collection is a selection of sound recordings from the collection; some of these recordings describe power generating plants and infrastructure, while others are records of supervisors' meetings about corporate management and policies.

35 items.

In preparation for its 1946 centennial, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company commissioned the engineering firm of Coverdale & Colpitts to prepare a comprehensive history of the company. The commission involved the creation of two products. The first was this detailed four-volume history of the PRR System as it existed in 1946 for the use of management only. The data collected was subsequently utilized to produce the second product, Centennial History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which was mass distributed. The former work was printed in a limited edition of 100 copies which were strictly controlled and issued only to certain corporate officers, making it an essential but extremely rare source for PRR history. As its title indicates, this is not a narrative history, but rather a statistical compilation which accounts for the construction, financing and corporate succession of every segment of the PRR System to 1946. As very little mileage was added after that date, it practically covers the entire railroad. The volumes are arranged in the form of a chart of corporate succession, with the successor company followed by all of its predecessors in chronological order. This publication is part of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company records (Accession 1807).

4 items.

Incorporated in 1846, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company became the largest railroad in the United States in terms of corporate assets and traffic from the last quarter of the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. The Pennsylvania Railroad negatives (Accession 1993.300) collection contains more than 5200 negatives from the official Pennsylvania Railroad files largely depict PRR trains, tracks, equipment, and facilities. The collection also contains numerous views of similar facilities and equipment on other railroads, of nearby buildings and properties, or of standardized equipment and accessories that were collected by the PRR for reference. The negatives in this digital collection were digitized to positives for online access. Most of the digital images seen here are black-and-white, low resolution copies produced from the original negatives.

5404 items.

Incorporated in 1846, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company became the largest railroad in the United States in terms of corporate assets and traffic from the last quarter of the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century, until the decline of the Northeast's and Midwest's dominance of manufacturing. The Pennsylvania Railroad photographs (Accession 1988.231) collection primarily depicts the Pennsylvania Railroad itself, but also includes numerous views of similar facilities and equipment on other railroads, of nearby buildings and properties, and of standardized equipment and accessories that were collected for reference. Almost all of the photographs are the work of commercial photographers hired on short term contract, but some are prints from the company's own negatives. The collection has been arranged by subject and organized into three series: Equipment, trains, and personnel; Structures and right of way; and Company magazine photographs. This collection has not been digitized in its entirety.

46 items.

The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) was chartered in 1846 to completing an all-rail road across the state. Between 1855 and 1874, the PRR underwent rapid expansion and emerged as one of the two largest railroad systems in the area east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio. The Pennsylvania Railroad women workers' oral histories (Accession 1998.234) collection consists of two interviews conducted in 1998 in West Chester, Pennsylvania with five women who worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad. They describe how they acquired their positions and their experiences working for the company. Topics discussed include wages, uniforms, sexism in the workplace, and the working environment during World War II.

3 items.

Pew Charitable Trusts is a major philanthropic organization based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Now America's second largest private foundation, Pew has traditionally concentrated their resources in the Philadelphia region, assisting secondary schools, libraries, seminaries and hospitals. In recent years, however, they have adopted a proactive approach to grant-making. They now initiate programs and identify agencies capable of implementing them. In the 1980s, Pew launched two new programs, the Health Policy and the Biomedical Scholar Programs. These initiatives have funded important work in medical education, biochemistry, AIDS research, dentistry, and veterinary medicine. This digital collection represents a small selection of materials from their records in the Hagley Library's Manuscripts and Archives Department.

20 items.

The Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad was a rail line connecting Philadelphia with Pittsburgh via Harrisburg. It is still an important cross-state corridor, composed of Amtrak's Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line, SEPTA's Paoli/Thorndale Line and the Norfolk Southern Railway's Pittsburgh Line. The Philadelphia Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Main Line bridge photographs (Accession 2012.237) collection consists of photographs of thirty-nine bridges on the Philadelphia Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which ran from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. The photographs were taken by or for the company as a form of property documentation. The photographs show the Main Line suburbs before they were built up when the roads and streets were much more rudimentary. The original photographs were digitized and the scans donated to Hagley Museum and Library by Stephen J. Agostini, a former employee of Conrail and webmaster for the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society.

40 items.

Philadelphia Saving Fund Society (PSFS), the nation's first mutual savings bank, was founded in 1816. In 1927 the Society commissioned Howe and Lescaze, a local architectural firm that had previously designed traditional style banks for the institution, to draw up plans for a new building to be constructed at the corner of 12th and Market Streets. The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society (PSFS) photographs (Accession 1993.302) collection is composed of materials from two Philadelphia mutual savings banks which date from the first half of the nineteenth century. The collection has been divided into two series: Philadelphia Saving Fund Society (PSFS) and Western Savings Fund Society (WSFS) which was merged with PSFS in 1982. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety. This digital collection offers a small selection of materials from the collection associated with the construction of the PSFS building at 12th and Market Streets; images of the building's design, construction, and interiors, along with articles and promotional materials about the building.

878 items.

The Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company was the country's largest producer of anthracite coal from 1871 through the 1920s. At one time it controlled over 40 per cent of the country's anthracite reserves and owned the world's largest anthracite breaker. The Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company photographs (Accession 1980,318) collection consists of two volumes of photographs that portray in detail the process of mining and processing anthracite coal. The first concerns the mine interiors, miners, and their machinery. The second covers the coal once it reaches the breaker. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety. This selection of material primarily shows the company's operation in Locust Summit near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, and comprises 86 photographs that detail the steps of mining and processing anthracite coal.

86 items.

The Philadelphia railroad stations, Red Arrow Lines trolley track and bus photographs (Accession 1995.238) collection documents some of the activities of the various public and private transportation agencies that were active in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs in the years between 1927 and 1965. These include the Pennsylvania Railroad (1846-1968), the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company (1936-1970), the Passenger Service Improvement Corporation (1960-1965), the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Compact (1961-1965), and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA (1963- ). The majority of this small collections consists of photographic materials depicting transportation centers, buses and trains, and other mass transit infrastructure, including Philadelphia's Suburban Station, 30th Street Station, and the Penn Center complex. Other photographs document promotional activities conducted by transit agencies. There is also an undated rental brochure for the Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Building and promotional material from the Laclede Steel Company.

28 items.

Incorporated in 1884, the Phoenix Bridge Company specialized in railroad bridges, both long-span truss bridges and movable bridges of the swing, bascule and vertical lift type. The company also produced and erected structural iron and steel work. In the early 20th century, Phoenix built a number of very large bridges, the most notorious of which was the Quebec Bridge over the St. Lawrence (1900-1907). The company declined during and after World War II; the works closed in June 1949 and the company became a Barium Steel Corporation subsidiary until being shut down entirely in 1962. The Phoenix Bridge Company photographs (Accession 1971.916) collection is largely composed of 20th century photoprints of bridges and construction projects. There are numerous photographs of railroad bridges and of highway bridges, which composed the majority of the company's work in its last decades. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety.

30 items.

The Photographs of Du Pont Company exhibits at Atlantic City, Wilmington, and elsewhere (Accession 1972.270) collection documents DuPont Company exhibitions produced for a consumer audience and displayed at Atlantic City, New Jersey; Wilmington, Delaware; and other sites. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety. This is a selection of materials of images dating from 1946 to 1949 showing plastic product displays at the company’s Boardwalk site in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The company first placed the exhibit in the city in 1916 as a way of reaching the city’s large numbers of tourists and convention attendees, and the company viewed its presence as both an advertising opportunity and educational public service. During the years shown here, the exhibits were located in a large showroom at 1121-1125 Boardwalk under Chalfont-Haddon Hall. The products displayed consisted of a vast array of goods, from consumer goods at a variety of price points to products manufactured for industrial or medical use, like surgical polythene tubing and Lucite windows for aircraft.

19 items.

Pierre A. Gentieu (1842-1930) was a long-time employee of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. He began working for DuPont in 1877 and remained a loyal employee until his retirement in 1911. Drawing and photography were among Gentieu’s favorite pastimes. The du Pont’s allowed Gentieu to photograph the DuPont Co. plant, property, family members, and their homes, creating an invaluable photographic record of the company's Brandywine Mills at the turn of the century. The images in the Pierre A. Gentieu Brandywine River Valley photographs (Accession 1970.001) collection include the DuPont Powder Yards on Brandywine Creek and other company buildings on that site, du Pont Family homes (including Windmar, Rokeby, Pelleport, Swamp Hall, and Eleutherian Mills, which was converted to a workers' club during Gentieu's years of employment), DuPont Company workers and their homes and families, Delaware School Districts twenty-three and seventy-five, Wilmington-area churches (including Mt. Salem and St. Joseph's), and probably the only extant images of the aftermath of late nineteenth century black powder explosions on the Brandywine.

356 items.

Pierre A. Gentieu (1842-1930) was a long-term employee of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company who created an invaluable photographic record of the company's Brandywine Mills at the turn of the century. He was born in southwestern France in 1842, and emigrated to the United States around 1859. Gentieu began work in the Hagley Powder Yard in June, 1877. In 1881, he was appointed yard clerk by Francis Gurney du Pont, who took Gentieu with him when he established the smokeless powder plant at Carney's Point, N.J. in 1890. Gentieu also developed an amateur interest in photography, and between 1889 and 1910 he produced several hundred views of the Hagley Yards and their immediate surroundings. He was serving as the company's chief storekeeper at his retirement in 1925. The Pierre Gentieu papers (Accession 0503) collection offers correspondence with du Pont family members and coworkers, an account book of powder packed at the Hagley Yard (1858-1902); a record book with lists of explosions (1882-1909); time work sheets of powdermen during the 1890s; and a list of the principal events in the powder yards from 1882 to 1911. This document describes the work process to manufacture black powder at Hagley and several accidents that took place during this period.

10 items.

The Pierre S. du Pont papers are part of the Longwood Manuscripts collection (Accession LMSS) of family papers assembled by Pierre S. du Pont (1870-1954). Now held at Hagley Library, the Longwood Manuscripts collection is divided into ten collection groups. The Pierre S. du Pont papers (Accession LMSS.X) is the tenth of those groups. It consists of personal and business papers documenting Pierre S. "P.S." du Pont's business career and political activities. This collection has not been digitized in its entirety. This collection group includes a significant body of material describing the history of the Du Pont Company and the General Motors Corporation, and which trace the transformation of these two firms into modern, centrally administered corporations. The papers also include material regarding P.S. du Pont's involvement in the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, his work to reform Delaware's educational and highway systems, and other personal interests. The early years of Longwood Gardens are also well described.

2 items.

Pierre Samuel "P.S." du Pont acquisitions are part of the Longwood Manuscripts collection (Accession LMSS) of family papers assembled by Pierre S. du Pont (1870-1954)</a> for his Longwood Library collection. Now held at Hagley Library, the Longwood Manuscripts collection is divided into ten collection groups. The Pierre Samuel "P.S." du Pont acquisitions (Accession LMSS.VIII) collection is the eighth of those groups, and consists of manuscripts collected by P.S. du Pont. This collection has not been digitized in its entirety. These manuscripts in this collection are primarily concerned with Du Pont de Nemours, the Physiocrats, the French Revolution, and the antecedents of the Du Ponts and allied families in France. The collection also contains the Wilmington & Kennett Turnpike Co. records dating from 1811 to 1921 that were acquired by P.S. du Pont from 1919 to 1920 when he purchased the company's stock, widened the road, and turned over its administration to the Delaware State Highway Department.

3 items.

Pierre Samuel du Pont, IV (1935 -2021), known to many as "Pete," served as Delaware's lone Congressman from 1971 to 1977, and as the sixty-eighth governor of Delaware from 1977 to 1985. In 1987, du Pont started his campaign for president, running as a Republican candidate. After his withdrawal from the presidential race, Pete du Pont resigned from politics and became a partner at the Delaware law firm of Richards, Layton & Finger. Du Pont was also a published writer and member of several academic and political institutions throughout his life and professional career. the Pierre Samuel "Pete" du Pont, IV papers (Accession 2778) collection has not been digitized in its entirety. This digital collection is a curated assortment of writings, speeches, videos, and photographs from du Pont's career as a politician and a political journalist.

192 items.

The papers of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his wives, Nicole-Charlotte Marie-Louise le Dée de Rencourt (1743-1784) and Marie Françoise Robin de Poivre (1741-1841) are part of the Winterthur Manuscripts collection</a> of family papers assembled by Colonel Henry Algernon du Pont (1838-1926) and his son, Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969) of Winterthur. Now held at Hagley Library, the Winterthur collection is divided into ten collection groups. The Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and family papers (Accession WMSS.II) collection is the second of those groups, and consists of the papers documenting the personal and professional life of Du Pont de Nemours, including his early political and diplomatic career in pre-​revolutionary France and his emigration to the United States. This collection has not been digitized in its entirety. The papers contain considerable correspondence with notable political figures and economic theorists in France and the United States. Of the seven series in this collection group, only the last two contain the papers of Du Pont de Nemours' wives; these last two series primarily consist of correspondence, mostly personal in nature.

13 items.

The papers of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) are part of the Longwood Manuscripts collection (Accession LMSS) of family papers assembled by Pierre S. du Pont (1870-1954)</a> for his Longwood Library collection. Now held at Hagley Library, the Longwood Manuscripts collection is divided into ten collection groups. The Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours papers (Accession LMSS.I) collection is the first of those groups, and consists of the papers of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and the correspondence of his second wife, Marie Françoise (Robin) de Poivre (1741-1841). This collection has not been digitized in its entirety. The papers address his work as a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator, as well as his advocacy for a national educational system and promotion of Franco-American trade relations.

1 items.

The Plymouth Cordage Company of North Plymouth, Massachusetts, was founded in 1824 by Bourne Spooner (1790-1870), an ardent abolitionist whose commitment to free labor ideology led the company to implement generous employee benefits and facilities for its workers. By the late 19th century, the company had become a major international manufacturer of rope and twine. Its products were in heavy use within shipping and fishing industries, though its binder twine was also in widespread use on farms. After serving as the largest employer in Plymouth for over 100 years, the company went out of business in 1964. Its assets were purchased by the Columbian Rope Company in 1965. The Plymouth Cordage Company album (Accession 1982.231) documents the company's operations in the years around 1900. It contains sixteen photographs of plant interiors showing machinery and manufacturing processes, and two exterior views of the building.

16 items.

Hagley Library's Portrait file (Accession 1970.182) is an artificial collection composed almost entirely of photographic reproductions and copy negatives, with very few original prints. The vast majority of the images are copies made from portraits in various collections, primarily from the Hagley Museum and Library holdings. Some photographs are copies made from original sources not in Hagley's holdings. The Portrait file is intended to be a resource to assist in locating images of individuals. The collection contains photographic reproductions and negatives that are useful as biographical reference tools. More than half of the collection depicts du Pont family members or those associated with the du Pont family.

216 items.

Hagley Library's Postcards of motels, roadside attractions, restaurants, etc. in the United States (Accession 2007.214) collection comprises 130 postcards dating from approximately 1930 to 1960. The postcards depict motels (including motor courts and cabins), restaurants, roadside attractions, and scenic views from thirty-ones states across the United States. The postcards depict famous and notable destinations like Hollywood Boulevard and the Lincoln Memorial as well as well as regional attractions and small tourism-based businesses.

130 items.

This collection features nearly 500 aerial photographs of the Brandywine valley taken in 1970 in a project conceived and sponsored by Ellice and Rosa McDonald. A project dedication states that the photographs are "for all of the people who have lived or worked on the Brandywine and for those who have loved it." These images feature aerial views of Brandywine River valley locations in southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware including factories, cities and towns, historical sites, natural landmarks, bridges, neighborhoods, and other places of importance.

495 items.

The items in this collection offer a selection of the promotional comic books held in the Hagley Library's collection. These works were generally, though not always, produced by corporations and other business entities for the purposes of advertising a product, managing a company's public image, or providing consumer education. A number of these works were also produced with the goal of influencing public opinion regarding socioeconomic political issues such as organized labor and government regulation of businesses. This digital collection does not include all of the Hagley's holdings of promotional comic books. New items may be added periodically.

78 items.

This digital collection of twenty-five pamphlets dating from 1936 to 1956 contains the Hagley Library’s holdings of the publications of the Public Affairs Committee. Founded in 1936, the Committee’s editorial and publishing mission was to synthesize and summarize contemporary research on social and economic problems in the United States for popular public consumption in the form of accessible, affordable pamphlets. Between 1936 and 1986, the Committee published over two hundred pamphlets on topics ranging from industrial policy, war and society, medical science, income distribution, consumer protection, economic policy, gender inequality, the social sciences, and more. While its approach to these topics sometimes led to accusations of socialist or un-American sympathies, its most controversial publications addressed race relations, particularly ‘The Races of Mankind’ (1946), which was banned from use in the U.S. Army for its rejection of biological theories about racial hierarchy.

25 items.

The Pusey & Jones Corporation built ships and machinery in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1848, Joshua L. Pusey (1820-1891) and John Jones (1818-1897) formed the partnership of Pusey & Jones, with machine shops and a factory for the building of engines. In its initial operations, the firm built general machinery and steam engines and did a variety of repair work. In 1853, it entered the field of shipbuilding. In 1867, the firm expanded into the manufacture of papermaking machinery; by the 1890s the company was one of the largest manufacturers of such machinery in the world. This digital collection includes more than 2,100 of the approximately 6,700 images in the Pusey & Jones photograph collection; it has not been digitized in its entirety.

2233 items.

The RCA Camden plant was originally established under the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1907. In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America acquired the Victor Talking Machine Company and soon made Camden the center of its own research, development, and manufacturing. Camden remained the company's primary advanced development site until GE acquired RCA in 1986. The RCA Camden records (Accession 2462.76) collection documents RCA’s work in the space program, electron microscopy, nuclear fusion, and other fields through research records, correspondence, reports, photographs and films. It has not been digitized in its entirety. This collection is part of the David Sarnoff Library collections (Accession 2464). These collections were the holdings of the David Sarnoff Library, founded in 1967 as part of the David Sarnoff Research Center. When the library closed in 2009, its archival collections were donated to Hagley Library.

2 items.

For over fifty years the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was one of the country's leading manufacturers and vendors of radios, phonographs, televisions, and a wide array of consumer and military electronics products. The RCA Corporation collection of television and company history photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 2464.78) is primarily made up of moving images and sound recordings collected by the David Sarnoff Research Library relating to RCA dating from 1953 to 2009. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety. This collection is part of the David Sarnoff Library collections (Accession 2464). These collections were the holdings of the David Sarnoff Library, founded in 1967 as part of the David Sarnoff Research Center. When the library closed in 2009, its archival collections were donated to Hagley Library.

13 items.

The RCA News and Information Department served a public affairs role for RCA corporate headquarters at Rockefeller Center in New York City. The RCA News and Information Department photographs (Accession 2462.68) collection contains photographs and negatives created or commissioned by RCA that document much of RCA’s history and activities. Many of the photographs were organized by the News and Information Department into subjects that cover the history of radio, television, communications, and consumer electronics, with a particular emphasis on RCA's role in that history. It has not been digitized in its entirety This collection is part of the David Sarnoff Library collections (Accession 2464). These collections were the holdings of the David Sarnoff Library, founded in 1967 as part of the David Sarnoff Research Center. When the library closed in 2009, its archival collections were donated to Hagley Library.

7 items.

The RCA Solid State Division (SSD) was established under William C. Hittinger in March 1970 from a merger of the solid state units of RCA Electronic Components with the Integrated Circuit Technology Center of Research and Engineering. The division was responsible for leading RCA’s research, development, and manufacturing in semiconductors, integrated circuits, and optoelectronics. The RCA Solid State Division records (Accession 2464.75) collection consists of the papers of scientists and administrators from the division’s facilities in Somerville, New Jersey and Findlay, Ohio. It has not been digitized in its entirety. This collection is part of the David Sarnoff Library collections (Accession 2464). These collections were the holdings of the David Sarnoff Library, founded in 1967 as part of the David Sarnoff Research Center. When the library closed in 2009, its archival collections were donated to Hagley Library.

14 items.

The Radio Corporation of America was incorporated in Delaware on October 17, 1919, and changed its name to RCA Corporation on May 9, 1969. For over fifty years it was one of the country’s leading manufacturers and vendors of radios, phonographs, televisions, and a wide array of consumer and military electronics products. The RCA Victor Camden/Frederick O. Barnum III records (Accession 2069) collection consists of three series: Secretary's files; B.L. Aldridge files; and the Camden Technical Library files. The collection is largely RCA technical reports, standards, engineering notebooks, manuals and miscellaneous publications. These records were salvaged by company historian Frederick O. Barnum III from the RCA Camden Plant's photo lab after the plant had been vacated by successor company Martin Marietta Corporation in April 1993. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety.

3 items.

The Radio Corporation of America (renamed RCA Corporation in 1969) was best known for its pioneering radio and television development and manufacturing. In addition to consumer electronics, RCA was a major player in the development of electronics for industrial and military applications. The RCA product information (Accession 2462.77) collection contains extensive documentation of RCA’s consumer and industrial products and components. Files include manuals, technical data, advertisements, technical bulletins, catalogs, and training materials. It has not been digitized in its entirety.</ol> This collection is part of the David Sarnoff Library collections (Accession 2464). These collections were the holdings of the David Sarnoff Library, founded in 1967 as part of the David Sarnoff Research Center. When the library closed in 2009, its archival collections were donated to Hagley Library.

3 items.

The Radio Corporation of America (RCA)’s Picture Tube Division, later known as the Video Component and Display Division, was headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1987, the French firm Thomson Consumer Electronics acquired RCA’s consumer electronics business, including the Lancaster plant, and operated the facility until Thomson shut down its consumer electronics operations in 2005. The RCA/Thomson Lancaster records (Accession 2462.74) collection documents a diverse array of activities at the RCA/Thomson Lancaster plant between the facility’s early days of operation and its closure. It has not been digitized in its entirety. This collection is part of the David Sarnoff Library collections (Accession 2464). These collections were the holdings of the David Sarnoff Library, founded in 1967 as part of the David Sarnoff Research Center. When the library closed in 2009, its archival collections were donated to Hagley Library.

4 items.

The Victor Talking Machine Company was a Camden, New Jersey company founded in 1901 by Eldridge Reeves Johnson (1867-1945), a former machinist for the Berliner Gramophone Company. It quickly became a leading U.S. manufacturer of phonographs and phonograph records by many of the leading musical artists of the day.. In 1926, Johnson sold controlling interests in the company to a banking firm, who, in 1929, sold the company to the Radio Corporation of America. Successive name and management changes would include the Radio-Victor Division of the Radio Corporation of America, the RCA Manufacturing Company, the RCA Victor Division and, in 1968, RCA Records. The records in the Radio Corporation of America, RCA Victor Division secretary's records (Accession 2658) collection come from the Camden administration building. There are ten volumes of corporation committee minutes dating from 1912 to 1931, which cover a wide range of corporate activities. Additional volumes consist of reports from the President to the Board of Directors and production contracts from 1945-1946.

16 items.

While postcards were in existence as early as 1840, postcard collecting became popular in the early twentieth century. It was an accessible and inexpensive hobby, as postcards were plentiful. Collectors of railroad memorabilia often also collected postcards. Railroad postcards generally picture stations, engines, bridges, route scenery, railcar interiors, and accidents. Some collectors sought specific railroads. The Railroad postcards collection (Accession 1995.299) is an artificial collection assembled from a variety of donors and contains over a thousand postcards related to railroads. It has not been digitized in its entirety. Most of the postcards from this collection date from 1900 to 1940 and depict railroad station exteriors, although some show waiting rooms, lobbies, or terminals. Many of the postcards identify the railroads serving the station depicted as well as the station itself.

1036 items.

This collection consists of four films showing a selection of motion and time studies that were managed or designed by Ralph Mosser Barnes (1900-1984). These experiments measured and rated an employee's efficiency while performing a repetitive task. After the study was complete, recommendations were made to management staff on what could be improved to increase productivity, such as employee body movement or position, equipment design, or time allowances. The Ralph Mosser Barnes motion and time study films (Accession 2022.203) collection consists of four films showing a selection of studies that were managed or designed by Barnes. Three films are specific studies that Barnes conducted in 1949 showing people performing various tasks at different speeds. The fourth film, The Ratings of Time Studies, shows the machine operator performance of three manufacturing jobs: forming rug cups, cutting cork tube, and deburring.

4 items.

Ralph S. Yourison (1898-1988) worked as the Power Consultant at E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's Spruance Plant in Richmond, Virginia, from the 1940s through the early 1960s. The Spruance Plant had been in operation since 1927, when it was established to produce rayon. In 1935, it was renamed the Spruance Plant in honor of rayon pioneer and Dupont executive, William C. Spruance. Over the decades, it continued to expand. By the 1950s and 1960s, it was producing cellophane as well as new products such as Tyvek, Nomex, and Teflon. During this time, Yourison was named the Spruance Plant's Power Consultant, largely spearheading an effort to reduce energy use through the evaluation of coal by utilization cost. His efforts led to the modernization of the plant's power facilities. Yourison retired from the Dupont Company on March 31, 1963. The Ralph Yourison Dupont Company retirement scrapbook (Accession 2729) contains photographs of the Spruance Plant, Yourison, and other employees. It also includes congratulatory retirement letters, a program outline, and a list of attendees for Yourison's retirement party, as well as a signature list of friends, acquaintances, and coworkers.

17 items.

This digital collection offers a small sample of the approximately 8,000 rare books, catalogs, pamphlets, and other materials held at Hagley Library. In addition to works from our general collections of rare books and pamphlets, this digital collection also features a number of works collected or written by various members of the du Pont family over generations. These include our Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours books and pamphlets, selected from the nearly 300 works in our collections that have been identified as having been brought to the United States by the family during their emigration from France in 1799. Other du Pont family collections include the du Pont family published collections and the Lammot du Pont, Jr. Collection of Aeronautics. Other materials in this digital collection have been selected from our John Margolies Collection of Travel Ephemera and Penrose R. Hoopes collections.

38 items.

Raymond Loewy (1893–1986) was a French-born American industrial designer that became one of the most well know industrial designers during the middle decades of the 20th century. His work included logos and packaging design for major corporations like Exxon, Coca-Cola, and Lucky Strike, as well as product design for corporations like Studebaker and International Harvester, and the redesign of Air Force One for the John F. Kennedy administration. This digital collection offers selections from two physical collections at Hagley Library. The Raymond Loewy archive (Accession 2251) contains personal papers, business records, and materials generated and maintained by Loewy's New York Public Relations Department. The Raymond Loewy collection of photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 2004.255) contains images of design work Loewy and his firm conducted for corporate American and foreign clients, Loewy's personal photographs, and his speeches and interviews.

303 items.

Chartered in 1871, Reading Company was the holding company for the system of railroads, canals and coal mines assembled by the predecessor Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company between 1833 and 1896. The Reading Company records (Accession 1520) collection consists of the corporate records of the Reading Company (1871-1976), the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company (1833-1896), the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company (1896-1923), and 159 predecessors and subsidiaries. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety. The materials here are a selection of records generated by Pinkerton detectives employed by Franklin B. Gowen, president of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, on three different missions. This includes the Molly Maguire materials in Hagley Library’s collection of Reading Company records (with the exception of 8 volumes of stenographic reports of trial proceedings)

104 items.

Red Arrow Lines was a division of the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, a company formed in 1936 by the merger of two transportation companies, the Philadelphia & West Chester Traction Company and the Philadelphia & Garrettford Street Railway Company, both owned by Merritt H. Taylor, Jr. (1922-2010). Over the 1960s, Taylor's unwillingness to allow the company to join competing companies in public-private regional transportation compacts that consolidated services or accepted public regulation in exchange for public subsidies and other benefits led to increased expenses, revenue losses, and reduced ridership. In 1970, the Red Arrow division was sold to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The Red Arrow Lines photographs (Accession 1972.438) collection contains photographs dating from 1899 to 1970 that document transit vehicles, infrastructure, and routes for the Red Arrow Lines and its predecessor transit lines. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety.

73 items.

Chartered in 1869, the Wilmington & Western Rail Road Company formed to create a rail line connecting Wilmington, Delaware, with Landenberg, Pennsylvania. Over time, however, its footprint shrank. Passenger service was discontinued in 1930, and the company abandoned much of its track in the 1940s and 1950s. A non-profit organization, Historic Red Clay Valley, Inc. (HRCV)., formed in 1960 and today operates the line as a heritage railroad. The Robert E. Wilhelm, Jr. collection of Red Clay Valley materials (Accession 2017.238) includes digital access copies of eight valuation maps created by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1918 for the Wilmington & Western Railroad, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Landenberg Branch. The V-8.3 sheets cover the railroad from the Delaware-Pennsylvania state line to Landenberg, Pennsylvania. The V-9.4 sheets cover the railroad from the west end of Wilsmere Yard (Route 141) to the Delaware-Pennsylvania state line. Also included in the collection are two publications authored or edited by Robert E. Wilhelm, Jr., concerning the history of both the Wilmington & Western Railroad line and Historic Red Clay Valley, Inc. (HRCV). Wilhelm was been a member of Historic Red Clay Valley Inc. since the mid-1980s, serving at times as a board member and as the organization's Director of Administration.

10 items.

The Robert K. Austin picture file on the history of the automobile in America (Accession 1979.262) This collection consists of a picture reference file of American automobiles built between 1877 and 1979. Most pictures are illustrations clipped from magazines and other publications, but there are also some postcards, photographs, and ephemera items. More than 300 American auto-makers are represented in the collection, with particularly good coverage of early automobiles manufactured in the first decades of the twentieth century. The collection is arranged alphabetically by auto-maker; most files contain only one or two images of a single car model, though the files of larger firms such as Ford and Pontiac contain dozens of images of many different vehicle models. Some files contain brief company histories, presumably researched and written by Robert K. Austin. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety.

41 items.