Teaching children about money and finances can be a way to equip young people with tools for adult life and decision making. Financial literacy initiatives can also be a way for interested business parties to shape the consumers and financial actors of tomorrow to their liking. During the period 1960 to 2010 the emphasis of children’s financial education in the USA and UK shifted from the former to the latter, reflecting changes in the political and economic environments.

Toddler in a clown costume

Whether you're creepin' it real or too much of a cutie to be spooky, it's time to eat, drink, and be scary. Hagley is going trick-or-treating this week with a young Thomas C. Marshall, Jr., seen here in a 1925 photograph.

This glass plate negative is from Hagley Library's Thomas C. Marshall photographs collection (Accession 1990.270). The Marshall family settled in the area now known as Yorklyn, Delaware in the mid-1700s. They became prominent members of the region after 1890, when Israel W. Marshall formed a partnership with his brother, T. Elwood Marshall, and Franklin Ewart to purchase the former Garrett paper mill in Yorklyn, renaming it the Marshall Brothers Paper Mill. 

The endeavor was profitable, and it allowed Isreal to build his family a Victorian mansion in 1897, now known as Auburn Heights, on a hill overlooking the paper mill. This mansion has remained in the family, belonging first to Israel's son, T. (Thomas) Clarence Marshall, and later to his son, Thomas C. Marshall, Jr. 

Hagley Library recently acquired a new collection of published and archival materials pertaining to the history of American hotels. The acquisition is a gift from collector Larry R. Paul. Mr. Paul has gifted materials to Hagley in the past, adding a rich assortment of business history publications to the collection and providing access to a database he created with historical information on over 20,000 U.S. hotels, from the 18th century to the early 21st century.

Pierre Samuel du Pont (January 15, 1870 – April 4, 1954) founded the Hagley Library (originally the Eleutherian Mills Library). Pierre and his brothers attended Phillips Academy and MIT, and Pierre graduated from MIT in 1890. During their time in school, the brothers documented the grounds, their friends, and their living spaces. Photographs of the dorm rooms show walls fully covered in mementos. Banners, framed and unframed photographs, flags, magazines, broadsides advertising sporting events, and newspaper pages were all used to adorn the spaces and showcase the brothers’ interests.

October is the season of mystery, and this year one turned up at my workplace. Tucked away on our shelves, I found an obscure publication that no one could account for. We call these “found on property” items, or FOPs: objects in our collection with no paperwork to explain where they came from. That origin story, known as an item’s provenance, is usually the first thing we record when we receive something, but some material, especially from the early days of Hagley, lack this important information.

Photograph of Westinghouse employees receiving influenza A (H2N2) shots at the dispensary

This week's Hagley Vault post is a little poke in the arm for all you procrastinators out there. This photograph, taken on November 7, 1957 shows employees of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's South Philadelphia Works lining up for flu shots at the company's dispensary. This photograph was taken by staff photographer Charles Yessel (1877-1953) for publication in the company’s newsletter, Machine News.

The Westinghouse Machine Company, which became the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1945, manufactured gas and steam engines, turbines and mechanical stokers for use in railway systems, fire service pumping stations, the shipping industry, and other large scale industrial purposes. The South Philadelphia Works was constructed from 1917 to 1919 as a steam turbine manufacturing plant.

Close up view of a Campbell's Tomato Soup vending machine

Soup season has arrived, so this week in the Hagley Vault, we're grilling a cheese and hitting up our local Auto-Snak. 

This ca. 1955 photograph of a soup vending machine is from Hagley Library's Automatic Merchandising Company album (Accession 2017.202). The Automatic Merchandising Company operated and installed vending machines, and was best known for the Auto-Snak, a combined set of food vending machines which dispensed soda, coffee, milk, sandwiches, soup, salads, pastries and ice cream. These automat style vending machines emerged in America after the invention of the first coffee vendors in 1946 that allowed for the use of vending machines for coffee breaks, cutting needed catering staffs in large factories. 

Pay: $16.00 per hour

Part-time
15 hours per week, 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM.

Hagley Museum and Library is a unique place to work, where history, education, and community come together on a beautiful 235-acre campus along the Brandywine River. We are seeking a dependable and energetic Part-Time Custodian to help maintain our facilities and support the many visitors, staff, and events that make Hagley a special destination.

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