The Hagley Vault

Selections from Hagley Museum and Library's archives and published collections on the history of American business, technology, and innovation.

May 30, 2023
Color glass negative of poppies.

Red poppies have been associated with Memorial Day since 1920, when the bloom became the official flower used by the American Legion to memorialize soldiers who fought and died in war. The organization launched a national program to distribute the flowers in 1924.


The poppy was chosen on account of the poem “In Flanders Fields”, written in 1915 by Canadian physician Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae (1872-1918) following the burial of a friend who was killed in the Second Battle of Ypres. The poem used the poppy, which thrived in World War I era regions where wartime rubble deposited lime into the soil, as a metaphor for the blood of fallen soldiers.

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Archive

For posts prior to October 2020, visit the Hagley Vault on Tumblr.

Color glass negative of poppies.
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Red poppies have been associated with Memorial Day since 1920 ...
Red poppies have been associated with Memorial Day since 1920, when the bloom became the official flower used by the American Legion to memorialize soldiers who fought and died in war. The organization launched a national program to distribute the flowers in 1924. The poppy was chosen on account of the poem “In Flanders Fields”, written in 1915 by...
Black and white image of a young woman holding a strange object up to her eyes.
Monday, May 22, 2023
We're presenting you with a little mystery this week ...
We're presenting you with a little mystery this week! May 22nd marks the birthdate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which seems like a fine opportunity to test our skills of deduction and detection. The invention shown here was featured in a February 1943 issue of Nation's Business. Can you guess what it was intended to do? Nation’s Business was a...
Two women holding hands and smiling. One is younger and kneeling, the other is older and standing.
Monday, May 15, 2023
We're back in the stacks this Monday and offering some belated Mother's Day wishes ....
We're back in the stacks this Monday and offering some belated Mother's Day wishes to all the moms out there. This 1943 photographic negative of two unidentified women was taken by Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972), likely as a reference photograph for an illustration project. Schoonover, a prolific commercial illustrator and artist, was also an...
Black and white image of a woman working in front of an array of spools being filled with Dacron fiber. A sign nearby reads 'Dacron'
Monday, May 8, 2023
This week marks a milestone in the history of textiles ...
This week marks a milestone in the history of textiles. On May 8, in 1951, the first world's first commercially marketed polyester fiber was introduced to consumers in the form of men's suits. The suits, which were sold by New York City's Hart, Schaffner & Marx Co., featured a fabric blend made by Deering, Milliken & Co. that was 45%...
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
We're posting this 1950 video promoting Bride Week at Strawbridge & Clothier's Philadelphia store as part of some exciting news ...
We're posting this 1950 video promoting Bride Week at Strawbridge & Clothier's Philadelphia store as part of some exciting news. While I will continue to be providing you and your +1 with weekly content on the Hagley Vault, starting on June 1st, Hagley Library's Twitter account will be uniting in a blissful matrimony with our beloved...
Photograph showing a collection of wooden signs bearing slogans related to workplace safety.
Monday, April 24, 2023
This coming Friday is Workers Memorial Day ...
This coming Friday is Workers Memorial Day, an international remembrance day for workers killed, injured, disabled, or otherwise made unwell by their work. The day of observance was established by the AFL-CIO in 1989. The organization chose this date to coincide with the date in 1970 on which the Occupational Safety and Health Act went into effect...
Two men standing near roadside signs declaring that roadwork is a WPA program paid for by taxes.
Monday, April 17, 2023
Hey there, procrastinators!
Hey there, procrastinators! Today's post in advance of tomorrow's tax filing deadline has us visiting Charles Krampf (left) and Walter O. Howe (right) of the Cattaraugus County (N.Y.) Taxpayers Association. Text associated with this ca. 1935 photograph says that the two are "show[ing] what they think the signs on public projects should say" as...
Sepia-tinged photograph of a family with small children, posed in a yard by a container garden
Friday, April 14, 2023
From Pierre S. and Alice Belin du Pont's famed gardens at Longwood, to Henry Francis and Ruth Wales du Pont's gardens ...
From Pierre S. and Alice Belin du Pont's famed gardens at Longwood, to Henry Francis and Ruth Wales du Pont's gardens at Winterthur, to Alfred I.E. and wife, Mary Heyward Bradford du Pont's gardens at Nemours, to Louise du Pont Crowninshield and Francis Boardman Crowninshield's Crowninshield Garden here at Hagley, and others, the du Pont family...
Drawing of a peacock feather, skull, and snake. Text reads 'Vanity, Treachery & Death - Secession Emblems'
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
The American Civil War began on this date, April 12, in 1861 when Confederate forces ...
The American Civil War began on this date, April 12, in 1861 when Union soldiers returned fire on Confederate forces that began shelling the garrison of Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. This image is from an envelope manufactured during the Civil War by the printing firm of D. Murphy's Son, who produced a number of runs of...
Black and white image of a man with an axe standing in a forest of massive Giant Douglas Fir trees.
Monday, April 10, 2023
Today, Arbor Day is recognized on the last Friday of April ....
Today, Arbor Day is recognized on the last Friday of April. But the first Arbor Day celebration was held on this date, April 10, in 1872. The holiday was the work of Julius Sterling Morton, the editor of the Nebraska News and an advocate for reforestation. In January of 1872, Morton began working with the Nebraska state Board of Agriculture to...
Black and white image of an Easter themed department store show window; bunnies with musical instruments.
Friday, April 7, 2023
In anticipation of this weekend's Easter holiday, here's a 1926 department store window display ....
In anticipation of this weekend's Easter holiday, here's a 1926 department store window display from the Toy Department of Strawbridge & Clothier.  This item is part of Hagley Library's collection of Strawbridge and Clothier photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 1995.250). The collection documents the history of Strawbridge...
Black and white image of man standing in front of a large array of chemical laboratory apparatus.
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Our guest this #WorkerWednesday is an employee of the Jackson Lab at the DuPont company's plant ...
Our guest this #WorkerWednesday is an employee of the Jackson Lab at the DuPont company's plant in Deepwater Point, New Jersey. This ca. 1945 photograph shows the worker with one of the laboratory's apparatus assemblies. The plant that the lab serviced was established by the DuPont Company in 1892 for the purpose of manufacturing gunpowder....
Black and white photograph of a woman christening the hull of a large ship
Monday, April 3, 2023
This photograph shows the christening of the freighter Cape Race ...
This photograph shows the christening of the freighter Cape Race, which took place on this date, April 3, in 1944. The C1-A freighter was one of a number of similar ships built by the Pusey & Jones Corporation for the for U.S. Maritime Commission. Honors for christening this ship went to Mary Railey Evans (nee Boyd), wife of Elwyn Evans, then...
Hand colored lantern slide of a rose garden with shrubs and a floral arch.
Friday, March 31, 2023
April is just one day away and we're looking forward ...
April is just one day away and we're looking forward to a week of Springtime weather on the grounds of Hagley. This calls for some #FridayFlowers! This lantern slide shows a hand-colored lantern slide, created from a black and white photograph taken on June 10, 1922, of the hybrid perpetual rose garden at Longwood, the garden estate of Alice Belin...
People working in a corridor of a storage room or warehouse of a Strawbridge & Clothier store.
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Today's #WorkerWednesday has us joining the employees of ....
Today's #WorkerWednesday has us joining the employees of the Strawbridge & Clothier department store. This undated image comes from a group of photographs, dating from 1907 to 1974, sent to the company by Dolores Beiriger, a former elevator operator for the store. These photographs are now part of Hagley Library's collection of Strawbridge and...
Advertisement for portable radios; illustrations of four radios and a man and woman.
Monday, March 27, 2023
It's starting to feel like Springtime here at Hagley ...
It's starting to feel like Springtime here at Hagley, so we're celebrating a pleasant day with this 1950 advertisement for portable radios from Motorola. This version was sourced from a June 17th issue of the Saturday Evening Post, but the advertisement also ran in a May 5th issue of Life Magazine and a June issue of Better Homes and Gardens that...

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