The Hagley Vault

Selections from Hagley Museum and Library's archives and published collections on the history of American business, technology, and innovation.

May 12, 2025
A black and white photograph of a group of people boarding a bus.

Here's to making falling asleep on the bus look classy.


This ca. 1930s photograph of the inaugural run of the New York City to Chicago sleeping coach operated by the Great Lakes Stages company is from Hagley Library's collection of Chamber of Commerce of the United States photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 1993.230). The Chamber of Commerce of the United States is the world’s largest business organization, representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions. Chamber members range from small businesses and local chambers to leading industry associations and large corporations.

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Archive

For posts prior to October 2020, visit the Hagley Vault on Tumblr.

Wednesday, January 27, 2021
We're taking a #WWIIWednesday trip to the Ballistics Labof...
We're taking a #WWIIWednesday trip to the Ballistics Labof the Indiana Ordnance Workstoday with this 1941 photograph. The Indiana Ordnance Works was built near Charlestown, Indiana by DuPont for the U.S. government. Construction began in 1940, and by 1941, the Works was manufacturing military explosives, propellants, and smokeless powder. The...
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Next stop, #TransitTuesday. This photograph shows New York...
Next stop, #TransitTuesday. This photograph shows New York City's 14th St. elevated line station, and was taken to document the work of Ward and Gow, a New York advertising agency credited as being among the first firms to systematize advertising in New York's transit network stations and trains. This photograph was included in an album compiled...
Monday, January 25, 2021
On this date, January 25, in 1915, Alexander Graham Bell...
On this date, January 25, in 1915, Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) made the first American transcontinental telephone call, reaching his assistant Thomas Watson (1854-1934) at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco from Bell's Telephone Building at 15 Dey Street in New York City. Watson would later leave Bell's service. He resigned in 1881 at the...
Friday, January 22, 2021
We could all use a bit of #FridayFun this week, so I was tickled...
We could all use a bit of #FridayFun this week, so I was tickled to come across this affectionate photograph from 1891 of Elenora Lammont Churchman (1876-1913) and Pierre S. du Pont (1870u20131954)with Pierre's aunt, Paulina du Pont(1827-1914), on the veranda of Goodstay, a du Pont family estate in Wilmington, Delaware purchased by Pierre's...
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Happy National Squirrel Appreciation Day! This bushy-tailed...
Happy National Squirrel Appreciation Day! This bushy-tailed holiday is a recent one, having been created in 2001 by Christy Hargrove, a wildlife rehabilitator in Asheville, North Carolina. And, while it's a little a corny, we'd be nuts not to take this perfect opportunity to post this small news item from the July 1953 issue of Newport News,...
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
When President Richard Nixon resigned from office in disgrace in...
When President Richard Nixon resigned from office in disgrace in 1974, he left behind a complicated and tarnished legacy. But one thing was certain; the man loved his dogs. We're welcoming the return of the tradition of presidential pets in the White House today, and what we hope is a will become a new tradition of welcoming rescue dogs (from...
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
On this date in 1883, the first electric lighting system used...
On this date in 1883, the first electric lighting system used overhead wires began service in Roselle, New Jersey. The system was built by Thomas Edison as part of an experiment; he wanted to see whether he could light an entire neighborhood with electricity using a shared central generating station. Thirty-two years later to the day, in 1915,...
Monday, January 18, 2021
In recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, today...
In recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, today we're sharing this 2008 interview by Dr. Jeanne Nutter with Dr. Eugene McGowan, one of Delaware's leading Black educators. In this film, McGowan reflects on the impact of segregation and desegregation on Black children and recounts Black political empowerment efforts in the 1960s and 1970s. Dr....
Friday, January 15, 2021
A tip of the hat today to theHeadwear Institute of America, the...
A tip of the hat today to theHeadwear Institute of America, the trade association who, around 1982, staked their claim on January 15th as National Hat Day. The "holiday" was part of a campaign to combat a slump in hat sales that began in the 1960s. The Institute's director, Susan Bunnell, blamed the haberdasher's disaster on President John F....
Thursday, January 14, 2021
On this date in 1954, the Hudson Motor Car Company merged with...
On this date in 1954, the Hudson Motor Car Company merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form the American Motors Corporation. The merger of the companies, who manufactured the Nash, Hudson, Studebaker, and Packard automobile lines, was intended to help these two corporations better compete against the "Big Three" major American automobile...
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
I'm feeling udderly delighted to have this bucolic duo stop by...
I'm feeling udderly delighted to have this bucolic duo stop by for today's #WetNoseWednesday. This 1931 photograph of a young woman and her bull was taken by photographer Frank R. Zebley (1883-1960) and is part of Hagley Library's Zebley-Hoffecker collection of Frank R. Zebley photograph albums (Accession 1968.012).Zebley was a photographer,...
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Today's #TradeCardTuesday brings us this ca. 1880? advertisement...
Today's #TradeCardTuesday brings us this ca. 1880? advertisement for Dobbins' Electric Soap, manufactured by Philadelphia's Isaiah L. Cragin & Company (est'd 1867). The brand's name was bestowed upon it by its original manufacturer, John B. Dobbins, a Philadelphia soapmaker who presumably appended the u2018Electric' to his product to...
Monday, January 11, 2021
The second Monday in January is National Clean Off Your...
The second Monday in January is National Clean Off Your DeskDay, a chore assigned to you in 1982 by Anne Moeller, the daughter of William D. Chase, who, along with his brother Harrison V. Chase, founded Chase's Calendar of Events, an annual publication first released in 1958 to celebrate fake internet holidays since before there even was an...
Friday, January 8, 2021
Winter is here, and that means trading in #FloralFriday for...
Winter is here, and that means trading in #FloralFriday for u2026 #RootVegetableFriday? Doesn't quite have the same ring to it, though they probably said the same about Burpee's "Improved Blood Beet", and look how that turned out. Everyone loves those now. These hardy winter veggies were found in the 1924 issue of Burpee's Farm Annual (also known...
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Come visit the house of tomorrow today. It's got no bedrooms,...
Come visit the house of tomorrow today. It's got no bedrooms, dining rooms, or living rooms, but it does have a kitchen and three bathrooms. Also, it fits inside the now-demolished Houston Astrohall and it's full of chemicals. This ca. 1970 film documents a display home created by DuPont's Building Products Division to showcaseapplications of...
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
This #WorkerWednesday, we're stopping in to visitMarie...
This #WorkerWednesday, we're stopping in to visitMarie Wychunus, who worked as an operator on a gear cutting machineat the South Philadelphia Works of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. This photograph of her was taken by staff photographer Charles Yessel (1877-1953) on May 6, 1919 for publication in the company's newspaper,...

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