My name is Murat Iplikci, and I am a Visiting Scholar in the Department of History at Tufts University. I received my undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering and later completed both my M.A. and Ph.D. in History at Bilkent University in Turkey. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University’s Sakıp Sabancı Center for Turkish Studies in 2023–2024, I am now continuing my research at Tufts.

It is not often that great works of art lost for 70 years can be seen again in some form approximating their original appearance. Yet, that is now the case for several long-destroyed paintings by master Surrealist Salvador Dalí. An artist who certainly needs no introduction, Dalí was one of the most creative figures of the 20th century and left an indelible impression on every medium he touched. Beyond his world-renowned ability as a painter, the Catalan polymath practiced in fashion, cinema, opera, ballet, and writing.

Cover for Store Chat magazine, featuring illustration of falling autumn leaves.

Falling into autumn with a cover from Store Chat magazine this week. Store Chat was the employee magazine of Strawbridge & Clothier, a department store founded by Justus C. Strawbridge (1838-1911) and Isaac H. Clothier (1837-1921) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In 1906, the company begin publishing and distributing Store Chat to its employees in order to disseminate communications from management, share news about workers' lives, report on company-sponsored activities, issue instructions to employees about fashion trends and consumer preferences, and offer light commentary on matters of local and national import. As the operation grew into a major regional retail chain, the magazine added dispatches from its growing number of suburban branch stores.

You can find the library's 475 issues of Store Chat, including this November 1963 issue, online in our Digital Archives. Just click here!

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.

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