The Swigart-Shedd Family Collection on Pennsylvania Iron Furnaces is the product of three generations of interest in the Juniata Valley iron industry and contains research material, published and unpublished papers, newspaper clippings, 21 folders relating to the National Register of Historic Places, furnace site descriptions, 59 photograph folders and 2 transparency folders and other documents relating to the Pennsylvania iron industry. The research material contains several publications by the Centre County Historical Society and a significant amount of information on the iron manufacturing industry of Juniata Valley and adjacent counties. Nancy Shedd included a comprehensive compilation of books and reference documents that pertain to the iron-making operations at Huntington furnace. Newspaper clippings range from 1932 to 1990. Also included in the collection is a series of industrial directories listing Huntingdon County businesses from 1916 to 1987. A researcher would find a detailed description, which includes several maps and photographs, on the estate of Joseph E. Thropp, a former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, who became owner of Earlston Furnaces in Everett, Pennsylvania, in 1888. The published and unpublished papers are almost entirely devoted to the iron industry of Juniata Valley and surrounding areas. The folder labeled Heberling papers consists of three papers: two presented by Paul Heberling pertaining to an archaeological investigation of the Greenwood furnace, and one presented by Scott Heberling which described the occupational conditions of employees of the charcoal iron industry of central Pennsylvania between 1850 and 1900. The Heberling brothers have since founded Heberling Associates, Inc. in Alexandria, Pennsylvania. Also included in the collection is a 122-page National Register of Historic Places application to nominate the iron and steel resources of Pennsylvania to the National Register of Historic Places and provides descriptive data on the individual furnaces and forges as well as their design, layout, and scope of operations. The collection also contains a series of undated photographs, taken by amateur photographer Jacob K. Herman, purchased by W. Emmert Swigart in the 1930s. Jacob K. Herman sold duplicates of these photographs to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The majority of the photographs are accompanied by a brief description and location of the furnace.
