The Hagley Vault

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

[hagleyvault]

In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, observed on the third Monday of every January in honor of his birth date (his actual birthdate is January 15), we’re sharing this photograph taken at a 1967 rally in support of the Freedom Budget for All Americans.

The Budget was an economic proposal created and championed by civil rights and labor movement organizer A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979), civil rights and gay rights organizer Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), economists Leon H. Keyserling (1908-1987) and John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006), pediatrician and national chairman of the Committee for Sane Nuclear Policy Dr. Benjamin Spock (1903-1998), as well as other allies from the labor movement, prominent economists, and notable figures from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The proposal was released in 1966, and aimed to marshal the resources of the federal government with the goal of achieving greater racial justice and harmony by ending poverty nationwide within ten years. Its agenda included a job guarantee for any person ready and willing to work, a guaranteed income for those unable to work, mandates for a living wage that would provide economic stability for the working poor, housing programs to address the growth of residential inequality and slums, programs for accessible and affordable medical care and education, and environmentally conscious planning to address environmental justice and sustainable growth.

Many of these policy proposals would later be adapted and adopted by King in 1968 as cornerstones of his Poor People's Campaign and his Poor People's March on Washington, an economic justice campaign organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference under Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and carried out under the leadership of activist Ralph Abernathy (1926-1990) following King’s assassination in April of 1968.

This photograph was selected from Lavish Welfare Schemes Ahead, an August 1967 article about the Freedom Budget in Nation’s Business, a monthly magazine published by the United States Chamber of Commerce, a lobbying group representing American business interests. You can view digitized versions of over 1,000 issues this publication, which ran from 1912 to 1999, online now in the Hagley Library’s Digital Archive by clicking here.

[hagleyvault]

We’re welcoming the month of April today with a rare 1943 photograph from the testing laboratory of an obscure and now-defunct branch of the Heston Industrial corporation’s Soy-Lentil Division. The experimental food sciences team, which worked with ocean plankton, was shuttered in 1973 after encountering catastrophic problems in its supply lines.

This ‘square meal wrapped in cellophane’ product information photograph is part of the Hagley Library’s collection of DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341). To view more material from this collection online now, click here to visit its page in our Digital Archive.

[hagleyvault]

Industrial design—the practice of optimizing the function, value, and appearance of products—is a central component in America’s culture of consumerism as well as the source of many beautiful objects now in the collections of leading art and history museums. We have a number of significant twentieth-century collections that chronicle the evolution of the concepts, products, and processes specific to industrial design here at the Hagley Library, so we definitely wouldn’t want to miss noting that today is World Industrial Design Day, an international day of observance celebrated throughout the world in recognition of the establishment of the World Design Organization, founded on this day, June 29th, in 1957. In honor of World Industrial Design Day, we’re sharing this technical drawing from 1950 for industrial designer Thomas Babbit Lamb’s famous Wedge-Lock handle. Lamb became know as the “Handle Man” after having undertaken thousands of hours studying medical textbooks and the hand in order to help create a better crutch for the veterans he saw returning home after World War II. Though the crutch he designed was never manufactured, the patents he developed for the wedge-lock and universal handle were widely adapted to everyday items such as cookware, cutlery, and luggage.

This design drawing is from Hagley Library’s collection of Thomas Lamb papers (Accession 2181). You can view more of Lamb’s hands and handles in our Universal Design collection in our Digital Archive, which explores the industrial design careers of two pioneers of universal design, Thomas Lamb (1896-1988) and Marc Harrison (1936-1998), and features approximately 500 documents and images digitized in conjunction with a web exhibit on the subject.

[hagleyvault]

Nothing fishy to see here, just our last post on Tumblr for the foreseeable future. Beginning Monday, April 12, we will be discontinuing this Tumblr blog. But we won’t be going far.

The homepage of our Digital Archive will continue to feature images and links to the day’s posts, all of which will be available at the Hagley Vault’s amazing new home on our website. We’ll also be followable via this RSS feed. You’ll also continue to be able to find images and links to new posts, as well as additional bonus content, on our Twitter feed, @Hagley_Library.

This ca. 1950 advertisement for DuPont brand sponges is from Hagley Library’s DuPont Company Advertising Department collection of graphic materials (Accession 1996.291). The company’s Advertising Department was formed in September 1921, when DuPont was reorganized with a decentralized structure.

Prior to that time, advertising had been a division of the Sales Department, but when the sales function was decentralized, a central department became necessary to coordinate advertising activities across product lines. The collection consists of miscellaneous Du Pont Company advertising materials, including postcards, pictorial envelopes, lantern slides, advertisements, display cards, and illustrated pamphlets.

[hagleyvault]

Today’s #ThursDIY post has us sharing this cover for a brochure from Rohloff & Company advertising its Kemiko brand concrete stain. The pamphlet is undated, but was probably produced between 1942 and 1964.

This item is part of Hagley Library’s collection of William du Pont, Jr. papers (Accession 2317.II) and is part of a folder related to tennis courts on his property. In addition to being a tennis enthusiast, William du Pont, Jr. (1896-1965) was a thoroughbred horse breeder, horse track designer, foxhound breeder, and prominent local financier in Delaware.

The online collection related to his papers in our Digital Archive comprises material, largely relating to property and horses, selected from the personal papers and photographs of both William du Pont, Jr., and his father, William du Pont (1855-1928). The collections have not been digitized in their entirety. For a detailed description of the entire collections, click here to view the William du Pont, Jr. papers collection, William du Pont papers collection, and William du Pont and William du Pont, Jr. photographic materials collection.

And the days are counting down! Beginning Monday, April 12, we will be discontinuing this Tumblr blog. But we won’t be going far. We’ll be continuing to post regular content at our new home at https://www.hagley.org/research/news/hagley-vault. You’ll also continue to be able to find images and links to new posts, as well as additional bonus content, on our Twitter feed,  @Hagley_Library.

[hagleyvault]

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog on this #WetNoseWednesday.

This 1922 photograph was taken at the Cleveland, Ohio home of Fisher Body Corporation executive Frederick J. Fisher (1878–1941), during an event associated with in association with the company’s 1919 integration into the General Motors Company, which formed General Motors’ Fisher Body Division.

The two-legged end of this game of tug or war is William A. Fisher (1886–1969), brother to Frederick and also an executive with the Fisher Body Corporation (both William and Frederick, as well as brothers Charles, Lawrence, Edward, Alfred, and Howard would continue to be associated with the Fisher brand through General Motors until August of 1944).

The photograph was taken by Cleveland Press photographer Louis Van Oeyen (1865-1946). Van Oeyen became Cleveland’s first staff news photographer in 1901 after selling his photographs of the assassination of President William McKinley to the Press. Over the course of his career, Van Oeyen also worked as the official photographer for the American League and the World Series, tested new photographic equipment for General Electric and other major corporations, and provided mentorship to emerging photographers, including Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) and Herman Seid (1908-1980).

This image is part of Hagley Library’s collection of P.S. du Pont photographs (Accession 1969.002). This collection photographs includes images collected by Pierre S. du Pont (1870-1954) during his life. You can view a selection of nearly 7,000 images from this collection online now by visiting its page in our Digital Archive. Just click here!

And don’t forget! Beginning Monday, April 12, we will be discontinuing this Tumblr blog. But we won’t be going far. We’ll be continuing to post regular content at our new home at https://www.hagley.org/research/news/hagley-vault. You’ll also continue to be able to find images and links to new posts, as well as additional bonus content, on our Twitter feed,  @Hagley_Library.

[hagleyvault]

It’s #TradeCatalogTuesday and we’re answering the question that’s been on everyone’s mind all year. How do we keep our grandpas so fresh and so clean? Nine out of ten grandpas agree - for a “first-class piece of soap”, “do not let your dealer put you off with something else just as good, but insist on having Grand Pa’s Wonder Soap, and nothing else.” Just look for that picture of Grand Pa on the wrapper!

This 1898 trade catalog from Dayton, Ohio’s Beaver Soap Company is part of Hagley Library’s Carter Litchfield Collection on the History of Fatty Materials (Accession 2413) and is Call Number Pam 2008.575 in our collection of trade catalogs and pamphlets.

You can view the full catalog now in our Digital Archive, in this online collection that contains a selection from our collection of trade catalogs and pamphlets. The materials in this digital collection vary widely, and date from 1783 to 1988. A comprehensive view of Hagley's trade catalogs and pamphlets can be found by searching our online catalog

Also! Big news! Beginning Monday, April 12, we will be discontinuing this Tumblr blog. But we won’t be going far. We’ll be continuing to post regular content at our new home at https://www.hagley.org/research/news/hagley-vault. You’ll also continue to be able to find images and links to new posts, as well as additional bonus content, on our Twitter feed, @Hagley_Library.

[hagleyvault]

Wishing a happy Easter Monday to those who observe the holiday (and a happy regular Monday to the rest of you!). These circa 1940 photos document the Easter display window and Easter baskets of the E.N. McConnell Restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware.

Edith N. McConnell was a confectioner and caterer in Wilmington, Delaware from the 1920s through the 1950s. Her catering business was located at 841 Market Street under the name "Miss McConnell Caterer, Confectioner." McConnell was the successor to the D.B. Jones Company, a confectionary business begun in 1880.

Hagley Library’s Edith N. McConnell business records (Accession 1119) collection consists of consist of a three ledgers, containing business expenses and customer account books dating from 1937 to 1945, and from 1955 to 1956, while our collection of E.N. McConnell Restaurant photographs (Accession 1969.026) consists of 13 photographs, mostly dating from circa 1945, of wedding cakes, table settings, and the interior of her business. Some photographs show members of bridal parties, waiters, and restaurant staff, and a few of the individuals pictured are identified. To view these photographs online now, click here to visit their page in our Digital Archive.

[hagleyvault]

Rayon! Rayon, rayon, everywhere this #FashionFriday!

This photo spread comes courtesy of the June, 1947 issue of DuPont Magazine, a publication first printed by DuPont in 1913 to help publicize the company’s products and progress. This article highlighted, you guessed it, rayon, one of the many synthetic textiles the company manufactured (others included, but were not limited to nylon, Orlon acrylic, Dacron polyester, and Lycra Spandex).

Our digital collection of DuPont Magazine includes all issues published between 1913 and 2003. The issues include articles, product information, and advertisements on topics such as dynamite, quarrying, ammunition, popular plastic products, automobile accessories, contemporary fashion, and other useful items for the home. To view it online now, click here to visit its page in our Digital Archive.

[hagleyvault]

Hagley Library’s John Gordon Rideout papers (Accession 2701) documents the life and career of noted industrial designer John Gordon "Jack" Rideout (1898-1951).

Rideout began his career in sales, moved into advertising, and eventually opened industrial design firms in Toledo and then Cleveland, Ohio. In 1944, Rideout became one of the fifteen co-founders of the Society of Industrial Designers.

The collection includes manuscripts, graphic materials, publications, and objects documenting his career and personal life. An accompanying digital collection in our Digital Archive includes images like this ca. 1932 image of family friends Buffy and Molly. The images in this digital collection come from an album of negatives in a collection of Rideout's papers.

Some of the images, likely dating to the early 1930s, depict Frank Lloyd Wright and his Spring Green, Wisconsin, estate, Taliesin. Others include portraits and candid images of family and friends; the fishing town of Leland, Michigan; an Easter church service; and a Gulf Co. service station. To view this collection online now, click here.

[hagleyvault]

Spring has sprung and love is in the air this #WeddingWednesday.

This June 20, 1935 photographic negative shows Emilie Lynam Mitchell on the day of her wedding to Gates Cooper Gilmore. The wedding was held at Woodside Farms in Hockessin, Delaware, the home of Emilie’s brothers Paul and Joseph.

This item is part of Hagley Library’s collection of Thomas C. Marshall photographs (Acc. 1990.270). The family’s patriarch, Israel W. Marshall (1850-1911), founded the Marshall Brothers Paper Mill in Yorklyn in 1890. The wealth generated by this family business allowed his son,Thomas Clarence Marshall (1885-1969), to become a man of many hobbies, including photography.

In addition to other subjects, the Hagley’s collection of his photographs contains images like this one, documenting the Marshall family and their friends. Other subjects include photographs of the family home, the Marshall Brothers Paper Mill, Marshall’s collection of Stanley Steamer automobiles, and various locations and events in and around Delaware and Chester County, Pennsylvania. To view a large selection of images from this collection online now, visit its page in our Digital Archive by clicking here.

[hagleyvault]

On this date in 1822, the U.S. Congress merged the recently seized territories of East Florida and West Florida into the Florida Territory. The region would later become the U.S.’s 27th state on March 3, 1845.

Much, much later, on May 29, 1941, the state would become home to the Club Pier Casino in Daytona Beach. This undated postcard described the pier as having been” famous a decade for fishing, now a Public Club Casino. Dining, Dancing, etc., it is still an Angler's Paradise”.

This postcard comes from Hagley Library’s collection of Postcards of motels, roadside attractions, restaurants, etc. in the United States (Accession 2007.214). This collection comprises 130 postcards dating from approximately 1930 to 1960. The postcards depict motels (including motor courts and cabins), restaurants, roadside attractions, and scenic views from across the United States. To view it online now, click here.

[hagleyvault]

“What do you want to do for lunch today?”

“Oh, I dunno. Something normal”

We’re sharing this miraculous little concoction from ca. 1963 today as an apertif to our one of our newest collections in process, a historical archive from the renowned advertising agency of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn Inc. (BBDO). The records cover the entire span of BBDO’s existence, beginning with its founding as the George Batten Company in 1891. You can read more about this collection and what we’re doing to make it accessible to researchers by clicking this link.

[hagleyvault]

It’s iconic and ionic . . .ranging from literature on salt mining to theses on halophilic enzymes, Hagley Library’s Carol Litchfield collection on the history of salt (Accession 2012.219) is one of the world’s greatest resources on the subject of salt.

This advertising card is one of twenty-five in our Litchfield Collection created by Boston’s Donnelly Advertising Company for the Morton Salt Company between around 1916 to 1923.

Carol Litchfield (1936-2012) earned her Doctorate in Organic Biochemistry in 1969. She was a professor at Rutgers University in the department of microbiology for ten years, until 1980 when she moved to the DuPont Company, first as head of Environmental Toxicology at Haskell Laboratory, and then as Senior Scientist for its bioremediation subsidiary.

Litchfield later started her own consulting company and worked for Chester Environmental before beginning work at George Mason University in 1993, where she remained for the rest of her career working as a professor and research professor for the Department of Biology and Department of Environmental Science and Policy.

Litchfield’s work as a biologist and biochemist specifically focused on halophilic microbiology, that being, microorganisms that live in salt rich environments. Later in her life her interest in halophiles transformed into a fascination with the history of salt. Her collection, which now resides at Hagley, covers a wide range of materials related to salt, from images of salt production and advertisements from salt companies, to salt shakers and actual pieces of salt rock, as well as Litchfield’s own personal papers, research, and work. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety, but you can view a selection of material online now in our Digital Archive. Just click here!

[hagleyvault]

William Henry Radebaugh (1909-1996), was a public relations executive at the DuPont Company for over twenty years. He wrote, produced and directed many films about the company during his tenure there and for several years after his retirement. He began his career in public relations and in 1942, founded and was executive director of, the South Jersey Manufacturer’s Association in Camden, New Jersey. Radebaugh then took a position at the DuPont Company as a public relations consultant in 1952. He later became the Director of Public Relations for the Textile Fibers Department.

After retiring from his career in public relations with the DuPont Company in 1974, he went on to produce more films for DuPont with two former colleagues who had started the production company, Arden Films. Radebaugh was also an accomplished musician, having played with Jimmie and Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, and Jack and Charlie Teagarden. He was also an artist, working in needlepoint, watercolors, and printmaking.

Hagley Library’s collection of William Henry Radebaugh films and scripts (Accession 1975.412) includes correspondence, scripts, storyboards, proposals, and films like this one, written and directed by William Henry Radebaugh during his employment at the DuPont Company or for the company once he retired. This ca. 1970 reel shows how DuPont materials that were used in the Apollo 11 spacesuit were also purposed for commercial household use in “women’s chores”.

To view a selection of films from this collection online now, click here to view its page in our Digital Archive.

[hagleyvault]

This #WorkerWednesday, we’re making a visit to the Camphor Plant of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company’s Chambers Works facility.

The site, located on the Delaware River in Deepwater Point, New Jersey, was established by the DuPont Company in 1892 for the purpose of manufacturing gunpowder. Between then and when it closed in 2018, the site was used to develop, manufacture, and store a wide variety of chemical products, including Kevlar, nylon, Freon, leaded gasoline, and uranium processing for the Manhattan Project.

Camphor, an aromatic compound produced from the wood of camphor producing plants, or synthetically derived from turpentine, is a versatile product used in mothballs, embalming fluids, perfumes, medicinal products and, in the early years of the plastics industry, as a plasticizer used in the manufacturing of celluloid and plastic lacquers.

This ca. 1945 photograph is part of Hagley Library’s collection of DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341). The  DuPont Company created the Product Information section within the Public Relations department in 1952. Its function was to produce news releases with photographs about DuPont and its products for indirect publicity and advertising purposes.

This collection contains photographs of DuPont Company corporate events and proceedings, product trade shows and fairs, development and manufacturing processes, and the employees and facilities where the products were created. Most of the photographs were taken from the 1930s through the 1950s. This collection has not been digitized in its entirety, but you can view a selection of images online now. Just click here to visit its page in our Digital Archive.

[hagleyvault]

March 23rd is National Agriculture Day, and has been since 1973, when the date was established alongside its sponsor, the Agriculture Council of America. But prior to National Ag Day, we had ‘Tommy Looks at Farming’, a ca. 1962 comic produced by the B.F. Goodrich Company to inform young people about “the vital role of agriculture in our health, economy, and security” and, of course, the importance of B.F. Goodrich Company products to that system.

This comic is Pam 2017.0810 in Hagley Library’s Published Collections, and is included in a collection of other promotional comic books in our Digital Archive. The items in this digital collection offer a selection of the promotional comic books held in our collection.

These works were generally, though not always, produced by corporations and other business entities for the purposes of advertising a product, managing a company's public image, or providing consumer education. A number of these works were also produced with the goal of influencing public opinion regarding socioeconomic political issues such as organized labor and government regulation of businesses. Click here to view the digital collection online now.