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The Charles McCollester Collection contains both physical times and textual items spanning from 1877 to 2018 with an emphasis on the 1980's into the 2000's. The more collection's subjects vary from Pittsburgh steel and union history, the founding of the Battle of Homestead Foundation, Monsignor Rice, and Pennsylvania historical markers. Though the collection focuses primarily on the state of Pennsylvania, much of the collection has national significance as well. less

The Mark Fallon Collection is a labor related collection held by the Battle of Homestead Foundation Archives. The collection focuses primarily on the Mon Valley area more with specific interest in local history. The collection includes photograph slides, newspapers, research material, projectors, and photographs. The collection is primarily made up of photographs and slides. less

The Mike Stout collection spans from 1937 to 2020. The collection contains a variety of materials from political marching banners, to local union newspapers, to clothing, more to paper material, to CDs, and more. The bulk of the collection covers labor history, with a particular interest in union activities in Homestead, Pennsylvania and around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania region. Much of the material has to do with the steel industry in the region as well. The collection also contains a good sampling of music in relation to unionism and big business. The collection was donated by Mike Stout in 2020 and digitized in 2023. less

Complementing the original Iron & Steel Collection, the Iron & Steel Photographic Collection features individual images of places and personalities intrinsic to Pittsburgh's development as the more world's leading producer of iron and steel.  Photos include Titans of Industry such as Charles Schwab and Andrew Carnegie as well as mill workers, trainmen, secretaries, and Iron Puddlers. The collection also includes mill fronts, railroads and the factory floor. less

Pittsburgh’s heritage is strongly rooted in iron, steel, mining and related industries. The Pittsburgh Iron & Steel Heritage Collection is a digital compilation of books, journals, more photographs, trade catalogs, and related literature. Through this collection, we strive to preserve the culture, heritage and knowledge of our region's industrial past, while enhancing the public's understanding of what made Pittsburgh the "Workshop of the World." less

The Builder is an architectural publication that was published in Pittsburgh from 1901 to 1919. Its subtitle is: "Devoted to Architecture". The Builder is a highly more unique resource that provides an in-depth look at the design and construction of residential and commercial spaces in Pittsburgh during the era that Pittsburgh's industrial, commercial and civic life thrived. The contents in the Builder includes both the artistic & architectural overview of individual buildings and neighborhood developments, as well as the artisan and skilled trade resources used by designers, architects and builders during this period. ​Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh gratefully acknowledges the loan of several volumes of The Builder for this project by the University of Notre Dame. less

Approximately 150 handwritten letters and notes by Colonel Samuel Miles related to his business activities in Pennsylvania. Dates range from February 1802 to November 1805. Colonel more Samuel Miles (soldier, business entrepreneur, and public servant) made his mark in Pennsylvania history serving the province and state and the city of Philadelphia, creating the iron industry in Centre County, PA, and founding the town of Milesburg, PA, named for his family. He died in December 1805. less

The six letterpress books of West Chester resident A. D. Sharples document his many business and philanthropic interests, and a number of letters also include news more of the Sharples, Paschall, and Darlington families.  The volumes cover the years 1899-1900 and 1905-1915. Alfred D. Sharples was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on March 23, 1844, the son of Mary A. Paschall and Philip P. Sharples.  In 1863, A. D. married Rachel Roberts, daughter of Aaron and Elizabeth Roberts, and they had six children, including Elizabeth (Bessie), Henry, Mary, and A. Roberts. Sharples began his career farming, but being known for his accounting skills, he was persuaded to become the accountant for the Philadelphia and West Chester Railroad.  In 1880, when he lost that position after the railroad was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad, he re-opened the brick making business begun by his great-grandfather William Sharples in 1801.  Sharples Brickworks is the business with which most people connect him.  While still involved in brick making, he also audited financial records for other businesses, including the Denney Tag Company, the Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of West Chester, and the borough of West Chester.  In 1907, Sharpless put the Brickworks business up for auction. In addition to his professional work, an elder of the Birmingham Friends Monthly Meeting, Sharples was a trustee of the Quaker’s Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and helped to overseer the Friends’ George School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  He was also involved with the Friends’ Boarding Home of West Chester, the West Chester Friends’ Burial Company, and was named executor of a number of decedents’ estates.  A. D. Sharples died on October 19, 1919, at his home on Dean Street. less

This collection consists of 19th and 20th century photographs of buildings, places, events, and industries relevant to the Jersey Shore, PA area. Of particular significance are more photos of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the New York Central Railroad, and the Pennsylvania Canal. less

This collection consists of Lancaster City and County residential and commercial directories, 1843-1900. These directories provide valuable information regarding the population of Lancaster City and County, more as well as the growth and development of the community and the evolution of Lancaster commerce and industry. less

Welcome to the Lancasterhistory.org's Lancaster County City Directories 1901 - 1914 Collection, a part of the POWER Library: PA Photos and Documents. This collection consists of more Lancaster City and County residential and commercial directories, 1901-1914. These directories provide valuable information regarding the population of Lancaster City and County, as well as the growth and development of the community and the evolution of Lancaster commerce and industry. less

Welcome to the Lancasterhistory.org's Lancaster County City Directories 1901 - 1914 Collection, a part of the POWER Library: PA Photos and Documents. This collection is the more third and final piece of our project to digitize Lancaster City and County directories. The first two pieces are already on AccessPA. These nine directories include directories from the small towns of Lititz and Columbia. These directories are useful to those researching family history and the development of communities over time. Advertisements in these directories are also valuable. less

With the Pennsylvania Maple Festival Board of Directors' permission, the Meyersdale Public Library digitized nearly 400 35mm slides documenting the Pennsylvania Maple Festival from the late more 1950s through the 1980s as part of its 2018 Scan PA project. The festival is a Somerset County tradition dating back to 1948. Each spring it attracts thousands of visitors from throughout Pennsylvania and surrounding states to the small community of Meyersdale, where they learn about the rich history behind the county's maple production industry. Again working in conjunction with the festival board, the library also digitized additional 35mm slides of past festival activities later discovered by the board. Now totaling nearly 500 digital images, these photographs, captured by amateur volunteer photographers, help tell the story of a community celebration which in 2022 is celebrating its 75th year. less

The Meyersdale Public Library photograph collections contain approximately 2,000 photographs. From the total collection, about 320 will be selected for digitization based on the selection criteria. more The photographs that will be selected for online display are significant because they provide a broad overview of life immediately before, during, and after the Progressive Era in the Allegheny Mountains region (mostly Somerset Co., PA & northern Maryland). The photographs capture families & individuals both in portraits and in natural settings, military men, coal mines, mills, railroads, transportation, education, and African American families. Our photographs have been used in Somerset Magazine and in the book "Allegheny Passage Companion, Guide to History & Heritage Along the Trail" by Bill Metzger. Accessibility to the collection will be enhanced because the images will be searchable online. Currently the photographs are accessioned on paper but are not included in our library catalog. Digitization would allow users easy & free access to historical photographs that would otherwise essentially be hidden in a closet. less

Gideon D. Miller (1862-1941), a Mennonite minister, shifted from his family's woodworking traditions to metal. He started with his patented steam traction engines shipped across the more US and Mexico for the 20th Century Mfg. Co. With his refusal to let the US Government use his designs for the military and increasing use of gasoline over steam, he shifted to items such as coal cars, animal feeders, and maple sugaring tools and equipment. With his sons Dwight and Myron, G. D. began Miller Machine Works in Springs in 1917. Several collections encompass original blueprints, photographs, advertising, and artifacts. less

William Wagner, a cooper of Salisbury, Somerset County, worked on farms in the 1870s and then bought a farm near West Salisbury (Elk Lick Township) in more 1882. With experience in coopering and a sugar grove on property, the family started a maple sugar business that continued until 2017 with son Joseph and Jennie (Russell) and then with their four daughters. Wagner’s was an integral part of a community of farms and maple producers as the Wagner sisters, Thelma, Leona, Mildred, and Dorothy (married Robert Jeffrey), managed the farm with parents and resident farm helpers. Dorothy's children, Dale and Sue, continued the family legacy on the farm. Their products were featured at festivals, Pittsburgh department stores, and across the country. The collection spans the late 1800s to the 2000s including the Wagner, Jeffrey, and Russell family materials. The collection includes over 2,000 images, photo albums, archives, and over 500 artifacts. less

Welcome to the Montgomery County Community College's Betzwood Collection, a part of the POWER Library: PA Photos and Documents. In the first decades of the motion picture more industry Montgomery County was home to one of the largest film studios in the country. Siegmund Lubin owned and operated the Betzwood Studios along the banks of the Schuylkill River, a three hundred acre site complete with filming, production, and distribution centers. As on of the earliest film moguls, Siegmund Lubin has both regional and national significance. He was a technical innovator whose many contributions to the industry helped propel film to its position atop the entertainment industry. The collection contains film stills, publicity, correspondence, trade journals, slides, and glass plate negatives among other items. Using CONTENTdm in tandem with Worpress Blog site, the college seeks to tell the history of this important but forgotten player in film history. less

This collection contains a selection of various directories from 1872-1899 (not exhaustive), covering the Mahoning, Shenango, and Beaver valleys, as well as Lawrence County and the more City of New Castle. less

This collection contains City of New Castle directories covering all years, 1900-1910.

This collection contains City of New Castle directories covering all years, 1911-1918 (not exhaustive).

This collection contains City of New Castle directories covering all years, 1921-1928.

Photographs and postcards depicting various organizations, such as the town band and women's clubs, and employee groups, like the Buttorff and Kline carpet factory workers.

The Harmonists, a Christian Communal society, founded Old Economy Village in 1824. They were known for their piety, as well as for their economic successes in more textile manufacturing, including silk production, and later in the oil and railroad industries. Old Economy Village in Ambridge, PA is the home of a great deal of information about the Harmony Society and life in general in the nineteenth century. Major topics covered by the archives and library include music, architecture, religion, business, photographs, and more. less

This collection houses the various types of business licenses (taverns, eating houses, etc.) issued by the Cambria County Government in the 19th and 20th centuries.

This collection contains items relating to the iron, coal, and steel industry in Johnstown.

The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy holds an extensive and unique collection of medicinal products and prescriptions from across the Philadelphia region beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. more Visible on each bottle in the “Philadelphiana” collection is a label or embossment explicitly indicating a Philadelphia-based address or the city's name. The bottles and medicines displayed here were sold by Philadelphia-based pharmacists and druggists or manufactured in local plants and laboratories. This collection showcases Philadelphia’s rich history of independent pharmacy practice and pharmaceutical manufacturing. This collection of Philadelphia-based bottles and medicines illustrates several threads in the history of pharmacy: the evolution from individually- and family-owned operations in the mid- and late nineteenth century to corporate, globalized production and distribution by the end of the twentieth century; the interweaving of pharmaceutical manufacturing with that of other trades, such as the construction and garment industries; and the persisting embeddedness of Philadelphia College of Pharmacy education in pharmacy expertise in the region. less

From Lace Makers to Coal Miners contains photos, books, church records, and brochures of what life was like in the Lackawanna Valley from 1866-1920.  The photos more show prominent men of the time. These were bankers, rail owners, coal company owners, and members of the clergy.  There are programs from symphony orchestras, and books about coal mining and lace making. less

Funded by a grant from the Willary Foundation, this collection contains letters, books, paintings, photographs, and other artifacts from the era when the Lackawanna Valley emerged more from its agrarian beginnings to become an industrial center that powered the torn nation's war effort. Contributing agencies include the Scranton Public Library, the Lackawanna Historical Society, the Steamtown National Historic Site, and the Anthracite Heritage Museum. This collection relates to Scranton's early history and its importance in politics and history of the United States. less

This handwritten historic collection contains over 2,800 pages of entries documenting the operations necessary to produce iron and iron products. It holds seven Isaac Meason Union more Furnace Ledgers covering the years 1801-1822, with the years 1803-1808, and 1818-1820 missing. In addition, there is a Union Forge Time and Team Ledger for 1809-1811, an original index book, and ledgers for the Union Grist Mill and the Mount Vernon, Centre, Mount Braddock, Dunbar, Warren, and Pallofax Durance operations. These records are unique, unpublished primary documents of the iron furnace industry. Isaac Meason built Union Furnace, the first successful iron furnace west of the Alleghenies in 1791, also operating a foundry and grist mill in connection with the furnace. The associated forge provided iron sugar and salt kettles, Dutch ovens, and other wares that were shipped by local keelboats for Lousiana. These ware were purchased by both western Pennsylvania businesses and families, and by settlers traveling west down the Ohio River. The furnace and forge passed through several hands until the company failed in 1922. Meason also sponsored the first suspension bridge in Pennsylvania, and financed and collaborated with Thomas Lewis on the rolling mill producing bar iron in 1817. At his death, Isaac Meason owned interests in the Mount Vernon Forge, Maria Forge, Union Forge, Union Furnace, Grist Mill, and the Middletown Iron Works. The Meason ledges provide a broad history of the iron industry in Western Pennsylvania. This collection is dedicated to the memory of Joan Peake a long-time genealogist and volunteer at the Uniontown Public Library. Her dedication to this project, along with Linda Jennings and Mary Patterson, helped make it possible. less

This collection consists of glass lantern slides and syllabuses for the course “The Materials of Engineering Construction.” It was the first in a series of four more courses in Civil Engineering, developed by Samuel Tobias Wagner and taught at the Wagner Free Institute of Science between1893 and 1950. The course discussed the properties, mining, and manufacturing of the various materials used in civil engineering, including stone, brick, cement, concrete, wood, iron, and steel. Of note in the collection are photographs of quarries and furnaces in Swedeland, PA and photos of the Phoenix Iron Co., Phoenixville, PA. less