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.

701098.JPG
Today's #WorkerWednesday post introduces Moses Campbell ...
Today's #WorkerWednesday post introduces Moses Campbell, seen here in the Hagley Yard with a glazing barrel, which was used by the workers of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours Powder Company for rounding the edges of gunpowder grains. Campbell was born in Dunfanaghy, Ireland on June 16, 1852. He emigrated to the United States in 1870. Ten years later,…
2009213_332.jpg
According to some accounts, Benjamin Franklin conducted his now famous, possibly apocryphal, electrical experiment with a kite in a lightning storm on this date, June 15, in 1752.
According to some accounts, Benjamin Franklin conducted his now famous, possibly apocryphal, electrical experiment with a kite in a lightning storm on this date, June 15, in 1752. Modern accounts of Franklin’s experiment are based primarily on a 1767 publication by Franklin’s friend and colleague, Reverend Joseph Priestly. Franklin himself left no…
2270365_013.JPG
The internet says that today is Strawberry Shortcake Day, so it must be true ...
The internet says that today is Strawberry Shortcake Day, so it must be true. Newspaper references to Strawberry Shortcake Day date back to at least 1901, when the restaurant of New York's Exchange for Woman's Work on April 18th of that year. The Exchange, part of a nationwide system of philanthropic institutions established by the Woman's…
1984217_004.JPG
It's a lovely day to get outside for a stroll in the gardens (so long as you bring an umbrella) ...
It's a lovely day to get outside for a stroll in the gardens (so long as you bring an umbrella), and the grounds of the Hagley Museum and Library are calling. But until we can get outdoors ourselves, we'll just have to make do with this 1922 hand-colored lantern slide depicting the Upper Gardens at Longwood, then the estate of Mr. and Mrs.…
69170_g15951.jpg
Girls of summer #OTD
We’re getting a visit from the girls of summer today. The women’s baseball league at the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company’s South Philadelphia Works in Lester, Pennsylvania played a game on this day, June 10, in 1921. Company photographer Charles Yessel (1877-1953) was there to capture the action. Based on other…
2004255_0177.jpg
Today’s #WetNoseWednesday is going to the dogs ...
Today’s #WetNoseWednesday is going to the dogs. This woman and pup were photographed outside the Manoir de la Cense, the country home of French-born American industrial designer Raymond Loewy (1893-1986). The photograph is undated, but was probably taken around the year 1935, and is probably of Loewy’s first wife Jean Thompson Loewy (nee…
nationsbiz_081945_115.jpg
We're taking flight this #TravelTuesday and brushing up on our airline etiquette after a long year on the ground ...
We're taking flight this #TravelTuesday and brushing up on our airline etiquette after a long year on the ground. This magazine advertisement was made by the Curtiss-Wright company to promote its Commando airliner. The Commando, a 36-seat twin-engine transport plane that the company began developing in 1936, was expected to be a passenger aircraft…
PC20110413_236.jpg
Take your pick of early autos this #MotorMonday with a visit to the Atlas Automobile Company ...
Take your pick of early autos this #MotorMonday with a visit to the Atlas Automobile Company. The Atlas Automobile Company was founded by Andrew Kirkpatrick and William H. La Fountain, who became the sole owner after Kirkpatrick left the company on July 31, 1904. The dealership and machine shop operated out of a storefront at 6235 Penn Avenue in…
TC_08051884_1924_005.jpg
We're welcoming the return of tomato season today with this illustration of "three luscious tomatoes" ...
We're welcoming the return of tomato season today with this illustration of "three luscious tomatoes", sourced from the 1924 issue of Burpee’s Farm Annual (also known as Burpee’s Annual, Burpee’s Annual Garden Book, Burpee’s Seeds, and Burpee Gardens), published by W. Atlee Burpee & Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia became an…
AVD_1969002_047_022.jpg
No, I'm totally not daydreaming about a beach vacation during work hours, why do you ask?
No, I'm totally not daydreaming about a beach vacation during work hours, why do you ask? This ca. 1887 glass negative is from the Hagley Library’s P.S. du Pont photographs (Longwood) collection (Accession 1969.002) and is part of a subseries documenting vacations spent at a Cape May, New Jersey summer home associated with the family of Lammot du…
70_200_13007.jpg
On this date, June 2, in 1940, over 160,000 people gathered in Philadelphia’s Municipal Stadium for Cardinal Dennis Joseph Dougherty’s Golden Jubilee Mass...
On this date, June 2, in 1940, over 160,000 people gathered in Philadelphia’s Municipal Stadium for Cardinal Dennis Joseph Dougherty’s Golden Jubilee Mass. The gathering, the city’s largest assembly of Catholics since the 1926 Solemn Pontifical Mass for the Sesquicentennial of the Declaration of Independence, was documented in this aerial…
PAM_2008_383.jpg
On this date, June 1, in 1494, John Cor, a Tironensian monk at Lindores Abbey in Fife, Scotland, recorded the first known written reference to scotch whisky ...
On this date, June 1, in 1494, John Cor, a Tironensian monk at Lindores Abbey in Fife, Scotland, recorded the first known written reference to scotch whisky. Cor recorded the reference in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, a government record maintained by the exchequer, which oversaw royal finances. We’re offering a toast to Cor’s contribution to…
2020209_11_11-1.jpg
The Hagley Library will be closed on Monday, May 31, in observance of Memorial Day. As we head out the door on this holiday weekend, we’re leaving you with this May 26, 1944 Memorial Day issue of Lukens Plate, a newsletter of the Lukens Steel Company.
The Hagley Library will be closed on Monday, May 31, in observance of Memorial Day. As we head out the door on this holiday weekend, we’re leaving you with this May 26, 1944 Memorial Day issue of Lukens Plate, a newsletter of the Lukens Steel Company. Lukens Steel is located in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. First established in 1793, it is the oldest…
VinsonTC_20110825_00265-1.jpg
On this date, May 27, in 1927, the Ford Motor Company ceased manufacturing its iconic Ford Model T automobile ...
On this date, May 27, in 1927, the Ford Motor Company ceased manufacturing its iconic Ford Model T automobile. The Model T, which had been a staple of Ford’s line of vehicles since it first rolled off the production line on October 1, 1908, was the first automobile whose price tag put it within reach of middle-class American families. Plants that…
1943_37_01.jpg
Today's #WorkerWednesday post features Helen Anderson, a crane operator at DuPont's Wilmington Shops
Today's #WorkerWednesday post features Helen Anderson, a crane operator at DuPont's Wilmington Shops. Mrs. Anderson was photographed for the February/March 1943 cover of DuPont Magazine as part of a short inside cover article looking at women in war work at the company, where “one in every five Du Pont employees today, is a woman”. Established in…
MSS_1699_028_02_011.JPG
teacher tuesday
We're making a #TeacherTuesday stop today to visit the faculty of Kentucky's Lincoln Institute, seen here with their spouses in a photograph published in the April 1920 issue of The Lincoln Institute Worker. This quarterly publication was issued by the school to provide alumni and supporters with news about student activities, recent…