In the 1880s when the ephemera in this collection were compiled, the King Iron Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio was the largest highway bridge manufacturer in the United States. The King Iron Bridge Company was important in the development and construction of metal truss bridges, a product of American engineering and construction technology nationwide during the late nineteenth century. Many of the Company’s bridges were used during America’s expansion in the West in the late nineteenth century. The King Iron Bridge Company was founded in 1858 by Zenas King (1818-1892) who had an earlier career in bridge building. The company name changed in 1871 to King Iron Bridge and Manufacture Company and organized in Cleveland, Ohio. When Zenas King died his sons, James A. and Harry W. subsequently managed the company and changed the name to King Bridge Company. A nephew, George E. King, was the company agent in the West contracting for bridges in Nebraska and Wyoming. Under grandson, Norman C. King, the company existed until the mid 1920s. In the 1880s it was the largest highway bridge works in the United States. The company manufactured Pratt through truss, bowstring, eyebar suspension, swing and beam girder bridges. Some of these bridges still exist. Among the most well-known was the Harlem River Swing Bridge now known as the University Heights Bridge at 207th Street Manhattan to the Bronx. The three swing bridges King built in Chicago were replaced by bascule bridges. In relation to Lehigh University’s interest in King bridges, a nearby city, Easton, PA., had a King through truss bridge built across the Delaware River. The King Bridge Company built bridges throughout the United States especially the Midwest as well as Canada and Mexico where most examples are still standing. The bridges featured in this collection all seem to have been erected during the Company’s peak years of building metal through truss bridges in the 1880s.

It is the collection of bridge photographs that is the main feature of this collection and it is presumed that perhaps the uncle who dedicated the album in 1892 to his niece was an employee or photographer for the King Bridge Company. However, there is nothing to indicate this statement in the album. The addition of the chromolithograph trade cards and calling cards to the collection are a puzzle. All the trade cards seem to represent a range of date from 1886 to 1890. During the Victorian Era, scrapbooking was a popular family activity. Victorian Era advertising trade cards were a “tool” used by savvy advertisers to encourage consumers to “collect them all” thereby promoting the products for sale. The use of calling/visiting cards was considered a form of high class etiquette especially among women whether married or unmarried, young or older there was a form of card to denote each status. Included in this collection are several forms of cards. This collection seems to have been made before the presentation year of the album. Whether or not the photographs were in the album on the presentation or added later, likewise for the trade cards and calling/visiting cards, it is speculation.