The Hagley Vault

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

Archive

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

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This ca. 1940 photograph shows workers assembling Chrysler roofs ...
This ca. 1940 photograph shows workers assembling Chrysler roofs at the Charlevoix Plant once located on Detroit, Michigan's east side. The Charlevoix Plant was originally built for the Liberty Motor Car Company in 1919 on Conner Street between Charlevoix Street and Mack Avenue. After the Liberty Motor Car went into receivership in 1923, the…
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Today’s #TravelTuesday image takes us all the way to Jīzah, Egypt ...
Today’s #TravelTuesday image takes us all the way to Jīzah, Egypt. This lantern slide of the Great Sphinx and Pyramid of Chephren is undated, but was likely created after 1880 and before 1925, when French engineer Emile Baraize began excavating the Sphinx on behalf of the Egyptian Antiquities Service (initial excavation efforts were begun by…
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We’re starting off the work week today with a look at the "Tippencanoe" Harrison and Morton Club ...
We’re starting off the work week today with a look at the "Tippencanoe" Harrison and Morton Club of Du Pont's Bank. The Club was photographed on their way to Brandywine Springs, Delaware on this date, September 27, in 1888. This photographic print is part of Hagley Library’s collection of Pierre A. Gentieu Brandywine River Valley photographs (…
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It’s the first #FallFriday of the year ...
It’s the first #FallFriday of the year, and as the workweek wraps up, I’ve got my mind on sweater weather, leaf-peeping hikes, and spicy hot chocolate (that’s when there’s whisky in it). What are you looking forward to this Autumn? In honor of the equinox, here’s an Avon Outlook cover advertising the company’s September 1954 ‘Scarlet Leaves’ Fall…
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Du Pont has the best leg show at the fair ...
“Du Pont has the best leg show at the fair," according, at least, to one newspaper account reporting on Miss Chemistry's modeling of nylon stockings at the New York World's Fair in 1939. The photograph seen here is accompanied by a note from E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company’s Public Relations Department. The note reads “Yarn for demonstration…
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We’re traveling further than usual for today’s #WorkerWednesday ...
We’re traveling further than usual for today’s #WorkerWednesday post. This ca. 1900 lantern slide shows workers in the Imperial Chinese mint, located in Chengdu in the country’s Sichuan Province. The photographer, however, is a bit closer to home. Henry A. Janvier was an employee of the Ferracute Machine Company of Bridgeton, New Jersey, a press…
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I'd like to send this letter to the Prussian Consulate in Siam ...
I'd like to send this letter to the Prussian Consulate in Siam by aeromail. Am I too late for the 4:30 auto-gyro?* This image of an autogiro, photographed by the Aero Service Corporation around 1935, was used by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States for publication in Nation’s Business. The Chamber, a private lobbying group representing…
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Oh my stars! On this date in 1859 .....
Oh my stars! On this date in 1859, Washington, D.C. inventor George B. Simpson received U.S. patent #25532 for his "electroheater". The world's first patented electric range was battery-operated and could be used to (in Simpson's own words) “warm rooms, boil water, cook victuals…". If you'd like to celebrate Simpson's invention…
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We're feeling rather dapper this #FashionFriday ....
We're feeling rather dapper this #FashionFriday, thanks to a visit from Hoopes Brothers & Darlington company superintendent J.W. Bates. Bates is seated in the company's exhibit for the West Chester, Pennsylvania sesquicentennial celebration, held September 25 to October 2, 1949. The Hoopes Brothers & Darlington company exhibit was part of…
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Cocaine was first used as a local anesthetic on this date in 1884 ...
Cocaine was first used publicly as a local anesthetic on this date, September 16, in 1884 by the Austrian ophthalmologist Karl Koller (1857-1944). The surgical demonstration, conducted in front of peers in the medical community, ushered in a new era of surgical possibilities and his discovery was also adopted by professionals in the…
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This #WorkerWednesday excursion brings us to the floor of a textile mill ...
This #WorkerWednesday excursion brings us to the floor of a textile mill, where these employees of the Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company were photographed with alongside the company's bleaching machines. This photograph was probably taken around 1890. The company's namesake, Joseph Bancroft (1803-1874) began manufacturing cotton cloth using…
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We've chosen this 1963 negative for today's #TrainTuesday post ....
We've chosen this 1963 negative for today's #TrainTuesday post because, well, who doesn't love a well-cushioned caboose? (yes, I know this isn't a caboose, don't @ me). This X56 box car was photographed on January 4, 1963. The negative is part of Hagley Library's Pennsylvania Railroad negative collection (Accession 1993.300). Incorporated in 1846…
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Here's a little fun for a Monday morning ....
Here's a little fun for a Monday morning .... this photograph of a children's pie eating contest was taken on this date, September 13, in 1919. The contest was a part of a company picnic hosted by the South Philadelphia Works of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. The picnic, documented by staff photographer Charles Yessel (…
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We're feeling the burn this #FitnessFriday ....
We're feeling the burn this #FitnessFriday, but we're at least doing it in style. This ca. 1932 photograph of exercise equipment was taken in the fitness room of the SS Lurline, a luxury ocean liner built for the Matson Navigation Company's cruise lines running from the West Coast of the United States to destinations in Hawaii and Australasia…
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Happy birthday, California!
Happy birthday, California! America's Golden State was admitted to the Union as the 31st state on this date, September 9, in 1850. This ca. 1940s postcard from the Longshaw Card Company of Los Angeles shows a view of Hollywood Boulevard. The reverse of the card reads "The celebrated street of gala premieres, world fashions, movie stars and extras…
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Today's #WorkerWednesday post ....
Today's #WorkerWednesday post is of workers on assembly line in a Budd Company wheel factory in 1918. The company was a manufacturer of steel automobiles, passenger rail cars, and other transportation products. Founded in 1912 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company, the manufacturer began its life as a…