In the years after World War II, as women were being pushed from wartime jobs for returning soldiers, government and business leaders—and women themselves—saw small business ownership as a viable economic solution. In just five years, US women owned nearly a million of the nation’s businesses.

Street scene of a protest with women wearing signs reading "Strike Now - Live Later" and "We all must change."

This week's Hagley Vault post is sourced from our collection of National Association of Manufacturers photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 1973.418) and documents a November 1962 protest against the trade association.

In the years after World War II, NAM encouraged its membership to participate in the growing military-industrial complex through initiatives like the National Defense Committee. By the 1960s, as public opposition to the Vietnam War and Cold War interventionism grew, anti-war protesters like the ones shown in this photograph criticized this position, and encouraged boycotts of major manufacturers with substantial public contracts with the Department of Defense, like General Electric, DuPont, Kodak, Eveready, Pyrex, and others.

Black and white photograph of a group of workers posed inside a large dredge dipper.

There's always room for one more at the Hagley Vault! This week, we're cozying up with workers inside a 5 cu. yard dipper being used on one of the big dipper dredges during the construction of the Panama Canal.

This photograph, taken between 1904 and 1914, is part of Hagley Library's collection of Chamber of Commerce of the United States photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 1993.230). The Chamber of Commerce of the United States is the world’s largest business organization, representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions. Chamber members range from small businesses and local chambers to leading industry associations and large corporations.

The Chamber traces its origins to an April 22, 1912, conference of commercial and trade organizations called by President William Howard Taft. The goal was to form a national group to advise the government on issues facing industry and business throughout the country.​​

A black and white photograph depicts a group of men and women on the beach in 1920s swimwear

Hagley's staff may be at work today, but the Hagley Vault can go to the beach whenever it wants. This week, it's traveling to 1930 to join the employees of Joseph Bancroft & Sons' Eddystone Print Works Division in Wildwood, New Jersey.

The Eddystone Manufacturing Company began its corporate life in 1877, when William Simpson and John Halliday began operating a textile mill built at the Falls of Schuylkill near Philadelphia. The company, which manufactured dyed and printed cotton textiles, later relocated to Eddystone, Pennsylvania. 

The year before this photograph was taken, the company was bought by the Joseph Bancroft & Sons textile company; this photograph and many others are now part of Hagley Library's collection of Joseph Bancroft and Sons Company photographs (Accession 1969.025).

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