Cover of a 1954 issue of Lukens Life featuring majorettes and drum major of the Scott High School band

Summer vacation time is wrapping up for the year, and we're getting into the school spirit with a back to school season issue of Lukens Life from September 1954.

This issue's cover celebrated the "crowded football stadiums and snappy bands" of Scott High School with the school band's majorettes and drum major (also drum major of the Lukens band). 

Lukens Steel Company was a medium-sized producer of specialty steel products and one of the top three producers of steel plate in the United States. The company operated continuously out of its Coatesville, Pennsylvania site since 1810 and was one of the few successful survivors of the many nineteenth-​​century iron works that once dotted Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Do you have concerns about family treasures under your care? On November 19th, join Hagley conservation staff to learn how they combat ten common foes—the agents of deterioration—and how you can apply their approaches to increase the longevity of cherished photographs, books, works of art on paper, and ephemera at home.

Prevention is at the heart of preservation. Be it a library book, a historic manuscript, or a cherished family photo, conservators at Hagley know they must identify and arrest ten common agents of deterioration. Every historic artifact or piece of artwork has different vulnerabilities, but almost nothing will remain in pristine condition without proper handling, display, and storage. 

Black and white photograph of a worker coating cast iron pipes with bitumen (Birmingham, Ala.)

This week's Hagley Vault is visiting an iron-works in Birmingham, Alabama, where a metalworker is coating cast-iron pipes with bitumen. Bitumen was, and still is, used to coat pipes intended for water and sewage lines as well as seawater intake and outflow pipes, as it is resistant to microbial activity, as well as corrosion from rust and other chemicals found in soil and water. 

This undated photograph was probably taken some time between 1910 and 1940, and is part of Hagley Library's collection of American Iron and Steel Institute photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession: 1986.268), which consists of photographs, research notes, audio, film, and video documenting the Institute and the history of the North American iron and steel industry.

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines .... Hagley Museum and Library has invited you to buckle up for pure 1970s adrenaline and the countdown is ON.

On August 20th, the Library will be offering a screening of three rare automotive documentaries on the big screen. Freewheelin' plunges you into the 1975 Van-In in Bowling Green, Kentucky, a counterculture carnival of custom vans, wild events, and live music from the JTS Band. Penned by Brock Yates, the screenwriter behind Cannonball Run, this film takes you inside the most outrageous rigs of the era to hear their stories from the vanners themselves.

Then, shift gears to watch The Mint 400 Desert Race! Follow a dune buggy team as they battle heat, terrain, and each other for glory during the 1978 run of America’s most grueling off-road race. Filmed in the scorching desert outside Reno, Nevada, this film captures the realities of the Mint 400 as made legendary by Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Both films were sponsored by B.F. Goodrich and offer a window into the golden age of American cars and the art of industrial and sponsored filmmaking.

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