The Hagley Vault

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

October 4, 2022
Black and white photograph of two women in a laboratory testing strands of Lycra fiber.

The DuPont employees in this photograph were part of the company's Lycra production and testing staff. This ca. 1962 photograph shows Jean Craun (foreground) and Florence Clark as testing Lycra fiber as it came off the production line at the company's Waynesboro plant in Virginia.


Photographed for inclusion in the company's magazine, Better Living (where it appeared in this March/April 1962 issue), this image is now part of Hagley Library's DuPont Company Product Information Collection (Accession 1972.371).

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Archive

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

'Patriotic and Practical' ad for fat rationing during the war. Photograph of Mary Pickford holding a can labeled "Used Fats".
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Got some extra fat lying around? Feeling patriotic and practical?
Got some extra fat lying around? Feeling patriotic and practical? If so, this ca. 1943 advertisement from the office of Fat Salvage Information is for you! This call for wartime salvaging of inedible fats for military use during wartime is part of Hagley Library's collection of National Association of Manufacturers Records (Accession 1411). The...
Advertising card for soap with an illustration based on a scene from Gilbert and Sullivan's H. M. S. Pinafore, shows children as a sailor (Ralph Rackstraw) with a young maiden (Josephine) on board ship.
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Today's #TradeCardTuesday is inspired by Gilbert and Sullivan ...
Today's #TradeCardTuesday is inspired by Gilbert and Sullivan's H. M. S. Pinafore. This undated (ca. 1885?) advertisement promoted Higgin's German Laundry Soap. The product was manufactured by the New York City soapmaker Charles S. Higgins beginning in 1880, who sold the rights to the brand and trademark to the Amalga Soap Company in 1890. This...
Gif showing black and white footage of men and women demonstrating ENIAC
Monday, July 25, 2022
On this date, July 25, in 1946 the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering completed work on ....
On this date, July 25, in 1946 the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering completed work on Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the world's first successful, all electronic, general digital computer. The date marks the occasion on which the title to the completed ENIAC machine was transferred to the U...
Double spread ad for RCA air conditioners with illustrations of a family in various household rooms
Friday, July 22, 2022
I know what my weekend plans are ...
I know what my weekend plans are. Try to stay safe and cool everyone, and we'll see you again on Monday! This advertisement for RCA room air conditioners from the company's RCA Victor Division was the first installment of the company's first advertising campaign for it's debut into the air conditioner market. The "tune in" campaign launched with...
Gif of a woman recieving a beauty treatment that involves a cage over her head.
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Who couldn't use a little mid-week glow-up?
Who couldn't use a little mid-week glow-up?  This gif was sourced from E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's The DuPont Show of the Week, in an episode titled "The Beauty of Woman". This anthology series aired on NBC between 1961 and 1964. This show featured guest stars presenting music, variety acts, drama, documentaries, and special themes,...
Black and white group photograph of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing's No.2 Shop baseball team
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Today's #WorkerWednesday photograph is a real catch ...
Today's #WorkerWednesday photograph is a real catch - this image from May 6, 1919 shows the Westinghouse Athletic Association's No.2 Shop baseball team. The photograph was taken by staff photographer Charles Yessel (1877-1953) for publication in the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's South Philadelphia Works newsletter, Machine...
Pamphlet titled "Gilbert Electric Eye Instruction Manual", drawing of an eye beaming electricity
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
We're bringing the "mysteries of electrical action" to light ...
We're bringing the "mysteries of electrical action" to light this #TechTuesday with the cover of the Gilbert Electric Eye Instruction Manual. This pamphlet was created in 1935 by the A.C. Gilbert Company of New Haven, Connecticut, and outlined various uses for the company's photodetectors, which included turning household electronics on and off,...
Black and white photograph taken inside an office inside the Hagley Library building. Left to right: Miss Betty Foster, Mr. Edward Ezell.
Monday, July 18, 2022
Today's featured photo hits close to home ...
Today's featured photo hits close to home ... on this date, July 18, in 1961, the collections of the Longwood Library completed their move to the newly constructed Eleutherian Mills Historical Library (later renamed Hagley Library in 1984). Movement of the collections took four days to complete. The Longwood Library was located in the Peirce-du...
Advertisement for "Parker's Ginger Tonic" showing a woman in a yellow bonnet holding a flower.
Friday, July 15, 2022
Let's head out for the weekend, rescued from our bed of suffering and with a bloom of health ...
Let's head out for the weekend, rescued from our bed of suffering and with a bloom of health to our cheeks and delight in our hearts. This trade card for Parker's Ginger Tonic is undated, but was created by the New York City firm of Hiscox & Co., which was doing business in the city by 1877 and continued to operate for at least a decade after...
Catalog titled "Restful Bedrooms", with a color illustration of a restful bedroom.
Thursday, July 14, 2022
We're posting this 1930 catalog for bedroom furniture today on account of Sarah Elisabeth Goode ...
We're posting this 1930 catalog for bedroom furniture today on account of Sarah Elisabeth Goode (1850-1905), one of the first Black women to be issued a U.S. Patent in her own name on this date, July 14, in 1885. Goode's patent, No. 322,177, was for a cabinet with a fold out bed that could be used during the day as a desk, a precursor to the...
Cover for pamphlet titled "This is where we work", color illustration of a man and woman in front of an automobile plant.
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Your hosts this #WorkerWednesday are the men and women of New Zealand Ford ...
Your hosts this #WorkerWednesday are the men and women of New Zealand Ford. This ca. 1944 pamphlet produced by the Ford Motor Company of New Zealand took readers for a tour of activities in the plant during World War II, when production shifted to support the war effort. Billed as a "tribute to New Zealand Ford ‘ workers", the pamphlet offered...
Illustration advertising glue shows a silhouette of a family, with the father stuck to a chair.
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
It's #TradeCardTuesday and we're stuck on this advertisement for cement glue ...
It's #TradeCardTuesday and we're stuck on this advertisement for cement glue from Van Stan's Stratena Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company was founded 1876, when the compound's inventor, the English glue merchant Frederick Van Stan, sold his rights to the name and manufacture to Philadelphia resident John A. Keenan. Keenan would...
Black and white image of two men and a woman standing in front of a stratosphere gondola balloon.
Monday, July 11, 2022
This photograph shows Maj. William Kepner, Lorena Berry ....
This photograph shows Maj. William Kepner, Lorena Berry (wife of the governor of South Dakota), and Capt. Albert Stevens christening the stratosphere gondola 'Explorer', on this date, July 11th, in 1934. The balloon, which launched on July 28th from Rapid City, South Dakota, was part of a project sponsored by the National Geographic Society and...
Page of a 1925 department store catalog featuring illustrations of women's summer dresses.
Friday, July 8, 2022
Today's #FashionFriday brings us some delightful frocks for informal wear ...
Today's #FashionFriday brings us some delightful frocks for informal wear through summer's sunny hours, courtesy of John Wanamaker's summer 1925 edition of its store catalog, Store and Home. Opened by marketing pioneer John Wanamaker (1838-1922) at 13th and Market Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in April, 1876, Wanamaker’s department store...
This photograph shows June Croll, a representative of the Communist-affiliated National Textile Workers Union, speaking at a Jobless March that occurred in New York City on July 7, 1931
Thursday, July 7, 2022
This photograph, taken #OTD in 1931, shows June Croll ...
This photograph shows June Croll (1901-1967), a representative of the Communist-affiliated National Textile Workers Union, speaking at a Jobless March that occurred in New York City #OTD, July 7, in 1931.  The march, organized by members of the American Workers' Communist Party and the Unemployment Council of Greater New York, as well as other...
Cover of a pamphlet; photograph of women using a timeclock, title "American Women at War"
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
This #WW2Wednesday post features the pamphlet "American Women at War"...
This #WW2Wednesday post features the pamphlet "American Women at War". This 1942 booklet was sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Industrial Information Committee as part of a campaign to confront wartime labor shortages by promoting the temporary employment of women into occupations traditionally held by...

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