Summary Information
Photographs of Frederick T. Gretton
MSP#328
Frederick T. Gretton
1881-1908
1881-1890
.75 cubic feet (1 box)
Frederick Thomas Gretton was the first chief chemist of Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, located on the South Side of Pittsburgh. He took numerous photographs of his workplace and city surroundings. The majority of the pictures are of the Jones and Laughlin steel mill on the South Side and they show a wide variety of scenes from blast furnaces to the a parade float. Most of these photos are of Jones and Laughlin buildings and the employees who worked in them.
Language:
The material in this collection is in English.
Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania
Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center
1212 Smallman Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
412-454-6364
library@hswp.org
http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/libraryArchives.aspx
This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
Winter, 2001-2002
This guide to the collection was originally prepared by Kathleen McDermott on March 6, 2001. Revisions occurred to the finding aid as a part of the encoding process in Winter, 2001-2002.
Encoded by Doug MacGregor on February 25, 2002 from an existing finding aid. >Reviewed by Curator on
July 1, 2006:
Converted from EAD Version 1.0 to EAD Version 2002
Biographical Sketch of Frederick Thomas Gretton (1864-c1933)
For the biographical sketch of Frederick Thomas Gretton, please see MSS #328.
Collection Scope and Content Note
The Frederick T. Gretton photographs are housed in one archival box and one photo album. Many of the photographs deal with the steel industry and nearly all of them are identified and dated. The photographs in the archival box are separated into categories and arranged alphabetically. Several of the photographs in the box are duplicates. The majority of the pictures are of the Jones and Laughlin steel mill on the South Side and they show a wide variety of scenes from blast furnaces to the a parade float. Most of these photos are of Jones and Laughlin buildings and the employees who worked in them. A few of the photographs, such as a picture of a Bessemer converter "blowing heat" at night, were displayed in the Smithsonian Institute. There are also some photographs of Edgar Thompson Steelworks in Braddock, the Homestead steel mills, and the Lucy Furnace. A handful of these photographs were taken from various places on the Monongahela River and several are overviews of the South Side. Most of the pictures of the South Side are of Ormsby and an area called Brownstown, which was located between 27th and 36th streets in Ormsby. There is also a photo of an area called Williamsburg, which was next to Ormsby [now Lower St. Clair]. There are photographs of local disasters like the Hill Farm mine explosion and the Johnstown flood. Several photographs deal with various railroad scenes, such as P. & L.E. locomotives, Bessie tracks, trestlework along the Monongahela River, and the construction of the Hot Metal Bridge. This collection contains a professional photograph of Frederick T. Gretton and a self-portrait of him and his brother, Thomas John Gretton, which was taken from their reflection in the mirror. Other photographs are of the Barnum and Bailey Circus, the Allegheny County Courthouse, the Point and the Six Mile Ferry.
A number of the photographs in the photo album are duplicates of those in the archival box. The album, which contains about forty photographs, is arranged chronologically and the photo pages are numbered. Photographs are missing from pages 27, 40, 43, and 44. Each photo has a typed caption on the preceding page, but some of the photos and captions are loose at the end of the album. Many of the photographs are of Jones and Laughlin Steel on the South Side. These pictures are of blast furnaces, buildings, the gas well, employees, the JL boat and the JL coal mine. There are photographs of the South Side, including a few of Sarah Street and Carey Alley. The album also contains pictures of Bessie tracks, locomotives, the Hot Metal Bridge and trestlework in the Monongahela River. A few of the photographs in the album are of Columbia Iron and Steel in Uniontown and there is an advertisement for Jones and Laughlin from 1894.
Controlled Access Terms
- Labor and laboring class -- photographs -- 1920's
- Hill Farm Mine Explosion
- Allegheny County Courthouse
- Aspinwall-Brilliant Pumping Station
- Barnum and Bailey Circus
- Carnegie Steel Company -- Homestead Works
- Carnegie Steel Company -- Edgar Thomson Works
- Jones and Laughlin Steel Company
- Pennsylvania and Lake Erie Railroad
- Gretton, Frederick Thomas (1864-c1933)
- Gretton Family
- South Side(Pittsburgh, Pa.) -- 19th century -- photographs
Access and Use
This collection is open for research.
These materials came in one accession in 1987. Acc# 1987.65 Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Wilbur F. Galbraith, (Papers and Photographs. Daughter of Frederick T. Gretton).
Photographs of Frederick T. Gretton, 1881-1908, MSP# 328, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
This collection was processed by Kathleen McDermott on March 6, 2001. Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Doug MacGregor on February 25, 2002.
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
Contents List
Box 1
| folder |
1 |
Allegheny County Courthouse 1889
|
|
| folder |
2 |
Aspinwall-Brilliant Pumping Station n.d.
|
|
| folder |
3 |
Barnum and Bailey Circus 1885
|
|
| folder |
4 |
Brilliant Pumping Station and Southside Waterworks c1884
|
|
| folder |
5 |
Monongahela River and Summit National Pike 1885-1886
|
|
| folder |
6 |
Edgar Thomson Steelworks 1886-1887
|
|
| folder |
7 |
Gretton Family 1883
|
|
| folder |
8 |
Hill Farm Mine Explosion 1890
|
|
| folder |
9 |
Homestead Steelworkers n.d.
|
|
| folder |
10 |
Hot Metal Bridge 1887
|
|
| folder |
11 |
Johnstown Flood 1889
|
|
| folder |
12 |
Construction 1885
|
|
| folder |
13 |
Exterior 1881-1885
|
|
| folder |
17 |
Monongahela River scenes 1886-1888
|
|
| folder |
18 |
Pinion wheel 1886
|
|
| folder |
19 |
Sesquicentennial parade float 1908
|
|
| folder |
20 |
Lucy Furnace n.d.
|
|
| folder |
21 |
Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Locomotive 1888
|
|
| folder |
23 |
Six Mile Ferry 1885
|
|
| folder |
24 |
Browstown/Ormsby 1885
|
|
| folder |
25 |
Ormsby and Williamsburg 1885
|
|
| folder |
26 |
View of Southside 1888
|
|
| volume |
shelf |
Photo Album 1881-1894
|
|
|
