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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On this day, October 14, in 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King,...
On this day, October 14, 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy and leadership in using nonviolent civil disobedience to protest racial segregation in America. At 35, King was the youngest person to have been honored with the award to that date. The prize money, amounting to $54,000, was re-distributed…
The second Tuesday in October is Ada Lovelace Day...
The second Tuesday in October is Ada Lovelace Day, a day of recognition launched in 2009, when the British tech journalist Suw Charman-Anderson began a campaign to establish an "international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology". We're participating today with this clip from a longer reel of historic, ca. 1945…
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In recognition of this year's Indigenous Peoples' Day, we're...
In recognition of this year's Indigenous Peoples' Day, we're sharing some photographs from illustrator and painter Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972). These images were captured during a 1911 trip to Long Lake, Ontario, which Schoonover spent sketching and photographing supply posts of the Hudson Bay Company, fur trapping outposts, and indigenous…
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We're bringing some Fall weather style inspiration...
We're bringing some Fall weather style inspiration this #FashionFriday with this 1937 photograph of a woman identified only as "Ms. Knight". This item is from Hagley Library's Frank R. Zebley photograph albums (Accession 1968.012) collection. Zebley (1883-1960) was a Delaware native collector, photographer, author, and one-time speaker of the…
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To get you through the home stretch of a tough week...
To get you through the home stretch of a tough week, we're using this #ThrowbackThursday to remember a time when ginger ale advertisements were bold in both design and claims. This ca. 1890 trade card for Sachs-Prudens & Co. ginger ale encouraged buyers to bring home one (or a dozen) bottles to "please the wife and children". The soft drink…
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In the 1920s, building on the success of the government's WWI...
In the 1920s, building on the success of the government's WWI poster campaign and, in response to the labor struggles of the time, Mather & Company created a series of workplace posters marketed towards employers. From 1923 to 1929, businesses that subscribed to the Chicago, Illinois company's workplace poster program received a new poster…
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Today is #TradeCardTuesday, and we're sharing a ca. 1885 trade card...
Today is #TradeCardTuesday, and we're sharing a ca. 1885 trade card for Scourene household potash soap from the Simonds Soap Company, which operated out of New York City between 1883 and 1891. This item is from Hagley Library's collection of Carter Litchfield photographs and ephemera on the history of fatty materials (Accession 2007.227). As an…
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This #MotorMonday, we're taking a ride in a Berkeley...
This #MotorMonday, we're taking a ride in a Berkeley. These microcars, which ran on motorcycle-derived engines,were manufactured by England's Berkeley Cars, Ltd. from 1956 to 1960. This model, the T60, was the company's only three-wheel model and was released in September 1959. The wheel arrangement was a real selling feature; in England, they…
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I was going to make a post about salt this #FoodieFriday, but...
I was going to make a post about salt this #FoodieFriday, but then I was like, Na. This ca. 1958 postcard is a reproduction of a billboard created for the Morton Salt Company by the Donnelly Advertising Company, an outdoor advertising company founded in Boston in 1850 as John Donnelly & Sons. This item, along with twenty-five other Morton Salt…
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Hello, Sweater Weather! We're cozying up to October...
Hello, Sweater Weather! We're cozying up to October today with this 1965 September/October cover of Dupont Magazine. Established in 1913, DuPont Magazine publicized the products and progress of the DuPont company during the twentieth century. The issues include articles, product information, and advertisements on topics such as dynamite, quarrying…
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Today's #WorkerWednesday post features Peggy Ward, a "yarn inspectress"...
Today's #WorkerWednesday post features Peggy Ward, a "yarn inspectress" at DuPont's nylon plant in Seaford, Delaware. She appeared on this May/June, 1953 issue of Better Living as part of a story about her experience working as a salesperson behind the hosiery counter of Strawbridge & Clothier's Wilmington, Delaware department store. Better…
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There are a lot of national and international Coffee Days out...
There are a lot of national and international Coffee Days out there, from the All Japan Coffee Association's preferred date of October 1st (established 1983 and adopted by the International Coffee Organization in March 2014) to New Orleans' Southern Food and Beverage Museum's date of October 3rd (established 2009). Mongolians set theirs as…
Photograph of a store window displaying DuPont winter car products.
Staying warm today might be off the table, but maybe you can at least stay safe this winter.
Staying warm today might be off the table, but maybe you can at least stay safe this winter. This December 1978 photograph from Hagley Library's Charles H. DeMirjian collection of DuPont Consumer Products Division photographs and ephemera (Accession 1995.273) features a store display window showcasing DuPont's line of winter care car products. The…
Drawing of a Ford Model T.
On May 26, 1927, the Ford assembly line produced its last ....
On May 26, 1927, the Ford assembly line produced its last Model T automobile after after 19 years of production, during which around 15 million vehicles had been built. The final Model T was driven personally by its originator, Ford Motor Car founder Henry Ford, with his son, Edsel Ford, to the Dearborn Engineering Laboratory in Highland Park,…
Cover of a catalog from Colored Mail Order Corp. of America with a Black family of four in fashionable clothing.
Hagley Library is making up for lost time during our Digital Archives relaunch ...
Hagley Library is making up for lost time during our Digital Archives relaunch, with lots of new items and collections to share. Here's one of them! This catalog from the Colored Mail Order Corporation of America dates to around 1939. The company was founded in Kansas City, Missouri by Chester Arthur Franklin (1880-1955), a local businessman and…
Blue and white catalog cover with woman and a 1950 Buick. The text reads "Beauty on duty," highlighting the various roles of glass in the vehicle.
That's right, the Hagley Digital Archive is back up and the Hagley Vault is back on duty!
That's right, the Hagley Digital Archive is back up and the Hagley Vault is back on duty! This beauty of an image is the cover to the pamphlet promoting a 1950 model Buick, and which advertises the aesthetic and practical features of the model's glass components. The pamphlet is part of Hagley Library's collection of Z. Taylor Vinson…