Scope and Contents

The collection contains primarily photographs and postcards relating to firefighting. Many of the photographs are of firefighting vehicles and apparatus, both horse-drawn and gasoline-powered. The cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore are especially well documented, though other cities are represented, including Hamilton, Ohio; Camden, New Jersey; Dallas, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; Portland, Maine; New Orleans, Louisiana; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Newburyport, Massachusetts; and Flemington, New Jersey.

Series 1, Photographs, consists primarily of black-and-white and color, both original and copy prints, illustrations, and postcards depicting images of fire engines, firefighters, fireboats, fire stations, and firemen and fire equipment in parades. The photographs are arranged in numerical order (for example, JR-2) as assigned by Jack Robrecht, who assembled the materials. The other number system included the designation "V 408." This alpha-numeric number was applied by the Cigna Museum which held the materials prior to their donation to the National Museum of American History. Many of the images are heavily annotated by Robrecht, providing specific details about a fire engine, geographic location, and date. There are some membership cards, envelopes, and a Christmas card depicting images of fire equipment. Two inventories for the photographs are available. The inventories provide an object/photograph number, artist/photographer, title/caption, genre/classification, date and dimensions.

Series 2, Research Files, 1852-1983, consists almost exclusively of handwritten and typescript photocopies of fire-related documentation assembled by Robrecht. Included are sheet music, lists of statistics for fire alarms, inventories of equipment in parades, newspaper clippings, and an ink sketch of a fire ladder.

Series 3, Publications, [1859?]-1975, consists of original and photocopies of various fire-related publications. The only non fire-related publication is The Grace Log, a publication of Grace Line.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into three series.

Biographical / Historical

Jack Robrecht (1916?-1993) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from St. Joseph's Prep and attended the University of Pennsylvania. Robrecht worked for thirty-one years at the chemical testing laboratory of Atlantic Refinery. He retired in 1978. Robrecht always wanted to be a firefighter, but missed qualifying due to the age limit. Undeterred, Robrecht spent much of his life from 1941-1993 as a volunteer historian for the Philadelphia Fire Department. He was also a collector, author, and photographer of fire-related materials.

Related Materials

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Fires and firefighting (series), circa 1821-1955. (AC0060)

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Fires and firefighting: stereographs, ca. 1875-1888. (AC0060)

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Inventions: stereographs, 1880s. (AC0060)

Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, [Fire-fighters working water pump: Active no. 1810. photonegative] 1926. (AC0143)

Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, [Fire fighters in action.] 2031 photonegative. (AC0143)

Frank Seymour Firefighting Ephemera Collection (AC1232)

The Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds fire-related artifacts. See Accession numbers 2005.0233; 2005.0279; 2006.0247; 2007.0160; and 2007.0174.