1964 souvenir photo album presented by Dravo Corporation to Chairman William E. Clark on retirement
Pittsburgh: Dravo Corporation, 1964. Hardcover. 12.5 x 10.5 inches, leather 14-ring binder with acetate sheaths presented to the Chair of the Dravo Corporation, William E. Clark, on his retirement in 1964 after 30 years with the company, including 5 years as CEO. With hand-calligraphed title page abnd letter of appreciation to Clark signed by all the Board of Directors, afterwards are 65 photos measuring roughly 8x10" charting Clark's tenure at Dravo from 1945 to 1964 and 78 4.5 x 3.5" photo portraits of managers, executives, etc. at Dravo. Very good, some of the photos have come loose from their backing pages. The Dravo corporation was a major company in the Pittsburgh and Wilmington DE area, a shipbuilding firm that achieved its apex in WWII where their landing ships and troop ships were instrumental in the Normandy invasion and in other battles. The company went out of business in 1982. Most of the photos show Clark at meetings, celebrations, events and the like, including Mrs. Alyce Lawrence, wife of Governor David Lawrence, christening the Union Barge line towboat navigator in 1961, escorting Vice Admiral John M. Mill on a tour of the Neville Island plant in 1958, Clark at a Defense Department award ceremony with Read Admiral E. R. McLean, Commandant of the 4th Naval District in 1958, Clark breaking ground in 1957 at the site of an upcoming sinter plant in Saxonburg, the board of directors in the snow in front of the new Research Center in 1957, inspecting the Shippinport Atomic Reactor Plant in 1956, several other christenings of towboats in the mid-1950s, Clark alighting from a plane in Lima, Peru in 1953, Dedication of New Bathhouse in 1953, two photos of Clark inspecting an "atomic gun" along with Army Secretary Frank Pace at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in 1952, christening towboats for Jones & Laughlin and US Steel in the early 1950s, Clark doing in inspection of Lock No. 2 on the Monongahela in 1950, Clark at the first General Sales Meeting in the Neville Island Cafeteria in 1949, Clark looking at a Dravo cement truck miser in 1948, etc. After the war, it is evident from this album, the focus was on towboats to service the various industries (coal, coke, iron and steel primarily) on the rivers, mainly those around Pittsburgh. The other thing this album makes clear is that Clark was wise to shave off that silly mustache after 1954. Also laid in is an old 8x10 from the 1920s of Clark in college at Ohio State in Columbus, on the swim team, pictured with the rest of the swimmers. Very good. Item #H26319
Price: $150.00