Collections

This oral history collection consists of transcripts, cassette tapes, project working files and background organizational records of the interviews conducted during the African American Jazz Preservation Society of Pittsburgh (AAJPSP) Oral History Project (1995-1999). The project documents individual African American Jazz Musicians in Pittsburgh as well as their efforts to organize. The content of the interviews span from 1904 to 1999.

Contains correspondence to Alexander Addison, the president judge of the Fifth District Court of Pennsylvania (1791-1802), from Hugh Henry Brackenridge, William Findley and Charles Nisbet regarding political events in the U. S. and Europe, particularly the Constitutional Convention, Jay and Pinckney Treaties, Indian wars, and the Whiskey Rebellion.

Visual images from the 1870s-1980s show the construction and destruction of many Pittsburgh structures and buildings during the post-World War II Renaissance period.

Visual images from the 1890s-1930s depict the construction and equipment, experiments, inventors and directors of the Allegheny Observatory located in Pittsburgh’s Northside neighborhood.

A wide-range of primary source textual and visual material documents left-wing organizations in the U.S. during the 20th century.

Papers hold the accounting records and personal and business correspondence between 1809-1888 related to the Beazel family, who lived in Westmoreland County and Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Contains selected images from c. 1930 to 1974 that document the operation of the Bill Green’s nightclub in Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania. The collection includes images of Bill Green, his nightclub, musicians, radio broadcasts, and events.

Contains images of blind men and women engaged in occupations such as making brooms, weaving, and caning chairs.

Contains images from ca. 1910 to 2000 that document Breathe Pennsylvania's work in promoting respiratory health in Western Pennsylvania. The collection includes images of the organization offering health services and promoting education initiatives.

Visual images of depictions of glassware manufacturing as well as images of products, product displays, glass production facilities, and employees from Bryce Brothers Company and Lenox, Inc.

Visual images from the 1930s-1940s depict the Consolidation Coal Company (the forerunner of CONSOL Energy Inc.) and its operations, including miners at work, mine construction, interiors of shafts, mine cars, barges carrying coal, and railroad cars filled with coal. Also includes hand-drawn above-ground maps and annual reports.

Visual images from the 1870s-1950s show scenes from mills and factories, street activity, portraits, and aerial shots of Downtown Pittsburgh by noted photographers Esther Bubley, Clyde Hare, Luke Swank, Harold Corsini and Hugh Torrance.

Contains speeches given by Charles C. McGovern between 1924-1948. They include Square Deal Party speeches made during the McGovern/Barr for County Commissioners re-election campaign and WJAS weekly broadcast speeches.

Visual images depict the march in Pittsburgh on the National Day of Mourning on April 7, 1968, three days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Images from the 1870s-2000s chronicle the students, faculty, and university community and the growth of Chatham University from a small women’s college to a thriving coeducational institution.

Images of the Shadyside campus of Chatham University in the early 1900s depict campus facilities and highlight building interiors, athletic facilities, and student activities during the early years of the school.

The City Directories contains directories published between 1815 and 1945 by J.F. Diffenbacher and R.L. Polk & Company. While most of the directories cover Pittsburgh and Allegheny City, a portion includes Homestead and nearby boroughs.

Contains hand-rendered and mimeographed broadsides, newsletters, and flyers that present a local snapshot of Pittsburgh's radical politics during the 1930s and 1940s.

Visual images document confirmation classes, Hebrew school classes, and bar and bat mitzvah students from 1920-1992. Other images include B'nai Israel's religious leaders, congregational events, and the exterior and interior of the synagogue.

Includes depictions of D. L. Clark product displays, individual products and company branding, product shipment, Clark building exteriors and aerial views, as well as documentation of advertising campaigns and promotional events.

Comprises financial, personal and legal papers, and documentation of collecting activities and ephemera related to William M. Darlington and his family, including ledger books, research notes, manuscripts, personal diaries, photographic prints and negatives, letters, and artwork.

Comprises correspondence to Thomas Donohoe, Blairsville, Indiana County (Pa.), from his family in Ballyellin, County Carlow, Ireland. Subjects include family events, economic conditions, social conditions, state of harvests, prices of crops and produce, rates for labor, and the Civil War in the United States.

The papers of Dunning McNair (1786-1824) and his son Dunning Robert McNair (1805-1860) relate to their involvement in land development and trade in western Pennsylvania and include correspondence, ledgers, and land sales agreements, some of which pertain to the Pennsylvania Population Company.

Images taken by Edward J. Shourek that depict family and friends, home in Homewood, Central High School, George Westinghouse High School, Syria Mosque, and locations in Ohio, West Virginia, and New York locations (Buffalo and Niagara Falls).