Fire insurance map showing a textile mill

Here's a Vault post for all the savvy shoppers out there. The history of this 1932 fire insurance map for the Interlaken Mills textile factory dates back to 1835, when Zachariah Allen (1795-1882), owner of a woolen mill in Providence, Rhode Island, got fed up with his insurance premiums.

Rates had been rising for all mill owners during the economic depression of 1835, regardless of their individual history of losses or potential for future risk. In an attempt to reduce his burden, Allen appealed to his insurer, pointing out a number of innovative safety features he had implemented to reduce risk at his mills, which were some of the first in the nation to incorporate fire doors, sprinkler systems, and other built-in fire suppression devices. But to no avail.

By the time this article is published, my internship will be over. I learned a lot during my 10 weeks at Hagley—especially the importance of careful, extensive research. Each day, I used online resources to research inventors and their patents. This article describes my most challenging research assignment and my process for uncovering its secrets.

This summer, three tightly folded pieces of parchment arrived in Hagley's Library Conservation lab, each one a land document connected to the Penn family and Colonial Pennsylvania. Folded down to the size of a notecard and stiffened by three centuries of storage, none of them could be opened without risking damage to the parchment or the ink. Over the course of the summer, I had the chance to treat all three by relaxing their folds, stabilizing fragile ink, and finally letting them lie flat for the first time in generations.

Illustration of various sea creatures arranged around a quote from The Ancient Mariner.

We're gonna need a bigger Vault ... Hagley is observing Shark Week today (and a happy, healthy one to those who celebrate). This 1895 illustration is from "Wonders of the Deep”, an pamphlet issued. by the New York City patent medicine firm of Scott and Bowne, founded by Samuel W. Bowne (1842–1910) and Alfred B. Scott (1946–1908).

The pamphlet advertised Scott’s Emulsion cod liver oil, the company's flagship product and details a great variety of “slimy things did crawl with legs upon the slimy sea” off American coastlines. It was illustrated by Daniel Carter Beard (1850-1941), an American illustrator, author, and social reformer.

The pamphlet is part of the Hagley Library’s collection of Carter Litchfield Collection on the History of Fatty Materials (Accession 2413). As an organic chemist, Carter Litchfield (1932-2007) studied and specialized in edible fats. Over the course of his career, Litchfield built an important collection about the history of fats and fatty materials. 

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