The Hagley Vault

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

September 2, 2024
Photograph of a protest. June Croll is speaking to the crowd of people. There is a sign in front of her that reads, "All war funds for the unemployed."

Hagley Library is closed for the Labor Day holiday, so we're posting today to celebrate the efforts and achievements of workers and the American labor movement today with this July 7, 1931 photograph of June Croll (1901-1967), a representative of the Communist-affiliated National Textile Workers Union, speaking at a Jobless March in New York City.


The march, organized by members of the American Workers' Communist Party and the Unemployment Council of Greater New York, as well as other representatives of the Popular Front coalition, were calling for unemployment relief and united action in the face of America’s Great Depression, which had begun in August 1929.

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Archive

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

View of wreckage after a wheel mill explosion in Hagley Yard, with man standing in foreground.
Monday, January 22, 2024
This week's Hagley Vault image is from a series of photographs taken on January 22, 1921 documenting the aftermath of a wheel mill explosion ...
This week's Hagley Vault image is from a series of photographs taken on January 22, 1921 documenting the aftermath of a wheel mill explosion in Hagley Yard. This industrial accident marked the 288th explosion to occur onsite since the  DuPont Company's early founding on the Brandywine Creek in 1802. The company closed the Brandywine powder yards...
Design drawing for a futuristic, aerodynamic automobile.
Monday, January 15, 2024
Hagley Library is bringing you the car of tomorrow today ...
Hagley Library is bringing you the car of tomorrow today with this advertisement featuring a concept drawing for a futuristic car model. This is one of six photomechanical prints from the company’s “Cars of Tomorrow” series in Hagley Library’s collection of Strother MacMinn “Cars of Tommorrow” prints (Accession 1997.268). Strother MacMinn (1918-...
Cartoon collage.
Monday, January 8, 2024
This undated collage based on a cartoon by Frederick Burr Opper ...
This undated collage based on a cartoon by Frederick Burr Opper (1857-1937) is part of Hagley Library's William Liseter Austin papers (Accession 1879). Austin (1852-1932) was an executive of the famed Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, which manufactured railroad locomotives from 1825 until 1972, and the collection offers a rich resource on...
Cover of Philco magazine, showing a black and white photograph of a woman blowing into a noisemaker.
Monday, January 1, 2024
Let's make some noise for 2024!
Let's make some noise for 2024! We're ringing in the new year today with the January 1951 cover of Philco News. The publication was the monthly employee newsletter of the Philco Corporation, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania firm that was a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. This item is part of Hagley Library’s John Okolowicz...
Black and white photograph of a Christmas themed store window display with the phrase 'Just for you darling' painted on the window.
Monday, December 25, 2023
Just for you, darling ...
Today's Hagley Vault post is just for you, darling. We're celebrating the holiday season this week with a photograph from a folder of material documenting Strawbridge & Clothier department store windows, taken at the company's flagship store on Market Street in Philadelphia from 1957 to 1963 (this particular display dates to 1957). This...
Black and white glass negative showing the interior of a boiler house, likely at Carney's Point
Monday, December 18, 2023
This glass negative showing the interior of a E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company boiler house ...
This glass negative showing the interior of a E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company boiler house, likely taken at the company's Carney's Point Works, was taken on this date (December 18th) in 1899. The Carney's Point plant produced smokeless powder for the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, who built the facility across the Delaware River from...
Glass negative image of a snow-covered, unidentified section of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park system.
Monday, December 11, 2023
After a relatively snowless winter last year, we're hoping for some scenic winter wonderland days ...
After a relatively snowless winter last year, we're hoping for some scenic winter wonderland days at Hagley this year. But until then, we just have to flake it 'til we make it with this undated (ca. 1908?) glass negative image of a snowy vista in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park system. This item is part of Hagley Library's collection of Fairmount...
Picketers (mostly women) outside of saloon or bar
Monday, December 4, 2023
This coming week will include Repeal Day, an annual event celebrating the repeal of thirteen years of Prohibition ...
This coming week will include Repeal Day, an annual event celebrating the repeal of thirteen years of Prohibition in the United States. The repeal was accomplished with the passage of the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 5, 1933. Many members of the du Pont family were active in the Repeal Movement. For example, Alice...
Paper showing a collection of Wedge-Lock Handles technical drawings.
Monday, November 27, 2023
These industrial design drawings were created on November 29, 1949 ...
These industrial design drawings were created on November 29, 1949 by Thomas Lamb (1896-1988), the "Handle Man", an industrial designer most noted for his creations of physiologically efficient handles like the ones depicted here. Lamb's start in the field was inauspicious; he dropped out of high school to help financially support his family, but...
Cover of a November 1954 issue of Philco News featuring a turkey.
Monday, November 20, 2023
We're starting off what's going to be a short work-week for Hagley staff with this seasonally-themed cover ...
We're starting off what's going to be a short work-week for Hagley staff with this seasonally-themed cover from a November 1954 issue of Philco News. The publication was once the monthly employee newsletter of the Philco Corporation, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania firm that was a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. This item is...
Horse-drawn car for Chester Street Railway.
Monday, November 13, 2023
The New York and Harlem, the world's first street-railroad, began rolling this week in ...
The New York and Harlem, the world's first street-railroad, began rolling this week in 1832. The horse-drawn car 'John Mason', named after the prominent banker who funded its creation, carried New York City municipal officials down Fourth Street from Prince St. to the Harlem Bridge at 14th St. on November 14, 1832. The inaugural ride also marked...
Image of a cat posed in front of an acoustimeter.
Monday, November 6, 2023
On November 6, 1899, the Packard Brothers debuted the Packard Model A in Warren, Ohio. ...
On November 6, 1899, the Packard Brothers debuted the Packard Model A in Warren, Ohio. Brothers James Ward and William partnered with George Lewis Weiss to create an automobile factory after complaints and suggestions for improvement that James noted about Weiss's Winton automobile went ignored by Winton Motor Carriage Company owner, Alexander...
Black and white photograph of a group of workers - some of the men appear transparent as a result of an error in the photographic process.
Monday, October 30, 2023
It's time to celebrate the creepiest, crawliest, eeriest week of the year ...
It's time to celebrate the creepiest, crawliest, eeriest week of the year! To help you get into the spirit, here's a December 1905 photograph of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company pipefitters at the company's powder yards in Wilmington, Delaware. While the photographic process that turned workers into ghostly apparitions in this photograph was...
Open pages of a catalog of novelties, featuring incenses, lucky oil, and occult and magic books.
Monday, October 23, 2023
We're getting in the spooky season mood with a 1938 catalog from the King Novelty Company ...
We're getting in the spooky season mood with a 1938 catalog from the King Novelty Company, which features a variety of occult goods, supernatural accoutrements, and magical paraphernalia. The Chicago-based company was founded in the 1920s alongside its sister company, Valmor Products Company, by Morton Neumann (1898-1985), a young chemist working...
Black and white photograph of a woman wearing roller skates.
Monday, October 16, 2023
According to the internet, we'll be celebrating International Roller Skating Day this week ...
According to the internet, we'll be celebrating International Roller Skating Day this week. The holiday, which falls on October 17th, seems to be organized around the Roller Skating Association International, a a trade association representing commercial and nonprofit skating center owners and operators, having declared October to be National...
Pages from an open cookbook, showing three dishes and part of a recipe for 'Sombrero Salad'.
Monday, October 9, 2023
These early Tex-Mex recipes come from 'Mexican Cookery for American Homes' ...
These early Tex-Mex recipes come from Mexican Cookery for American Homes. This 1949 pamphlet published by the Gebhardt Chili Powder Company, a company that was founded by the German immigrant William Gebhardt (1875–1956). Gebhart got his start in the food industry in 1892 when he opened up a cafe in New Braunfels, Texas, a town that had been a...

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