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Calumet Heritage Partnership, ACME Steel Collection

The ACME Steel collection of archives (including employee documents, production records, photographs and slides, blueprints, photographs and ephemera) and artifacts (including signage, tools, clothing, plant models, and other items consequent to everyday

Finding Aid

ACME Steel Collection 

Finding Aid

Owned by Calumet Heritage Partnership

House at Purdue University Northwest

204 Linear Feet 

Phase 1 Completed August 2024

For Clarification, the name of the plant changed over time, the timeline is listed below.  

  • 1905-1929: By-Products Coke Corp.

  • 1929-1964: Interlake Iron

  • 1964-1986: Interlake Steel

  • 1986-2001: Acme Steel

Scope and Context 

This is phase one of the project so far.  After sitting for decades, the goal is to work under the principle of More Product, Less Process.  We need to see what we have, so only light and obvious weeding, original provenance, and basic description is being done in Phase One.  

During this phase, we are creating finding aids at a folder level, sometimes box level processing and we are weeding damaged items, duplicates, and trash from the collection.  The goal is to make sure we will be able to preserve the history of ACME steel and create interest in this collection, eventually collecting more industrial and labor history in South Chicago and Northwest Indiana.  

The collection is primarily an artificial collection, it had been recovered from the closed site, then handled, moved, and has had various work done to it throughout the years.   Much of the collection had been organized dependent upon location, office, building, etc.  There are issues with custody in which boxes had labels from other boxes, partially organized, and other issues.  When searching, make sure to keep the collection as a whole in mind.  There is a large amount of overlap.

The collection is organized in the following manner:

Series 1  Coke Plant

Series 2  Administrative 

Series 3  Engineering 

Series 4  Chemistry and Environment 

Series 5  Audio Visual Materials

Series 6  Artifacts, Small

Series 7 Artifacts Large

Series 8 Blueprints

Series 9  Misc

*Series 9 under Miscellaneous looks to be files taken from individual offices much of it is a mix of items.  

*Note: Provance has been kept when possible, however, additional metadata will need to be added to make this finding aid more usable down the line. 

Subject Headings:  

ByProducts, ACME, Interlake Steel, Interlake Iron, Coke Plant, Environment, Engineering, Coke Batteries, Coke Ovens, Coal, Tar, Ammonia, Sulphur, Benzene,

 

Finding Aid

This is the Finding Aid as of August 2024