Industrial site with large structures and chimneys.

What's this? Can it be? IT IS! We're thrilled to announce that the first new digital collection to be Hagley Library's Digital Archive since our relaunch project began last winter has arrived.

The Pennsylvania Railroad exhibit photographs, World's Columbian Exposition (Accession 2022.226) collection contains a selection of photographs that were once featured in the Pennsylvania Railroad Company pavilion at the World's Columbian Exposition. This specific photograph shows the grounds of the Great Western Pipe Line Co. of Toronto, Ohio.

The World's Columbian Exposition, named in celebration of the 400th anniversary Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, was a World's Fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893. The Fair covered 690 acres, and featured cultural, industrial, horticultural, architectural, and scientific exhibitions from across the United States as well as forty-five other nations.

Black and white image of a young man playing a banjo

It's back to school season, and the Hagley Vault is going way, way back to school this week. All the way back to ca. 1890, to join John Augustus Fisher (1890-1944), a classmate of Henry Belin du Pont (1873-1902) at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

This glass negative portrait is part of Hagley Library's collection of P.S. du Pont photographs (Accession 1969.002). Pierre Samuel "P.S." du Pont (1870-1954) was Henry Belin du Pont's brother, as well being the president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. from 1915 to 1919 and chairman of the board from 1919 to 1940. 

The  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. Click here to view it now in the Hagley Digital Archives.

Panoramic photograph of women from DuPont Village at the community's bathing beach.

The long holiday weekend may be over, but let's sneak in just a little more time at the beach. This ca. 1916 panoramic photograph shows residents of DuPont Village at the community's bathing beach in Carney's Point, New Jersey. 

The DuPont Company purchased the land for a smokeless powder plant at Carney's Point, New Jersey in 1890. In 1892, it began producing guncotton and the first smokeless powder. The plant grew in response to demand from the Spanish-American War, but really boomed during World War I. The thousands of workers employed there at the time were provided with company housing in a workers' village. The plant continued production into the early 1970s, when it was abandoned and dismantled.

Sometimes, when processing archival collections, you open a box and discover a delightful surprise! I recently had that fortunate experience while working with some new acquisitions. Several albums given to Hagley Library contained an array of illustrated envelopes covered with colorful stamps that were immediately intriguing.

Sears began in 1886 when Richard Warren Sears started a mail order watch business. By 1887, he had partnered with Alvah Curtis Roebuck, a watch repairman, to form Sears and Roebuck. Their first mail order catalog was issued in 1888. Over the years, the Sears “Big Book” catalogs grew to be over 1,000 pages, selling everything from tools to appliances to home goods, farm equipment, and even mail order houses.

As we head into fall (and hopefully cooler weather), perhaps you're thinking of adding a few new items to your wardrobe. If we were living in 1970, you could take a hint from the following DuPont film and consider one of the fall-inspired designs made from Qiana fabric:

Welcome back to another Hagley Staff Favorites article! Every quarter, we share stories from our collections staff, giving you the opportunity to hear from the experts, the people who first lay hands on our archives and objects, about the items that made a mark. Maybe you'll find something new to investigate.

This quarter's Staff Favorites interviewee is Doug McQuirter, Reference Archivist at the Hagley Library, speaking about the David Sarnoff Library collections.

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