The collection consists of record books from diverse Pennsylvania businesses. Included are daybooks, ledgers, and journals covering early iron furnace operations, sawing and lumber mills, general stores and area merchants, and hotel registers.

The collection documents the operations and labor relations of the Berkshire Knitting Mills in Reading, Pennsylvania.. It contains photographs and microfilm materials, including union and legal documents, scrapbooks, company newspapers, technical notebooks, and minute books.

The collection contains correspondence and telegrams between Carnegie and executive officers of the Carnegie Steel Company, chiefly Schwab, concerning business interests.

The collection contains personal and business papers of William Dickson, the steel industry manager and officer of Carnegie Steel, U.S. Steel Corporation, and Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company. Materials include correspondence, diaries, clippings, photographs, writings, and draft material for Dickson's memoirs, Steel and Democracy.

The collection documents the personal life and career of the early industrial engineer, developer of scientific management, and leader of the United States efficiency movement. Materials include correspondence, writings, consulting reports, business records, clippings, photographs, and memorabilia.