Lehigh Valley Railroad Company was created by Asa Packer to be a reliable transport of anthracite coal from the coal fields of Pennsylvania to the industrial East. It was originally named the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad incorporated in 1846 to break the control of the Lehigh Navigation and Coal Company on coal transport. Packer's original railroad was built from Mauch Chunk to Easton. LVRR was a combination of many smaller lines either purchased or merged into the system. There were three main divisions: Buffalo to the West included Athens, Sayre, Hazelton, Mahanoy City, Geneva, Buffalo and Niagara Falls; Wyoming in the middle included Lehighton, Wilkes Barre, Pittston, Hazelton, Wyalusing to Athens; New York to East included Allentown, Bethlehem, Lehighton, Jersey City, Bound Brook and New York City. The LVRR controlled or owned many coal mines and collieries in addition to offering passenger service throughout the Northeast. The Lehigh Valley Railroad held the capital stock in the Lehigh Valley Coal Company.

The Delano Land Company founders were Warren Delano Jr. (1809-1898), maternal grandfather of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Sara Delano (1854-1941), FDR's mother, was one of several children of Warren Jr.); Frederick Delano (1811-1857); Edward Delano (1818-1881); and Franklin H. Delano (1813-1893), president of Delano Coal Company. The Delano brothers also had a financial interest in the Union Mining Company, also known as Mount Savage Iron Company, as well as the Delano Coal Company. The Delano brothers' associate was Asa Packer, builder of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh University. In the 1850s, the Delano Land Company purchased several thousand acres of land around the town of Delano, Schuylkill County where they developed coal mines and collieries. The LVRR "owned" the town of Delano. The Delano brothers were interested in mining and real estate. The Delano Family was a prominent New England family and some of them came from Asa Packer's hometown in Connecticut. The Delano Land Company acted as agent on behalf of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company and the Lehigh Valley Coal Company.

The collection of documents, contracts, deeds, land titles, indentures, agreements, etc. reflect the acquisition, exchange or development of coal and timber lands acquired by the Delano Land Company on behalf of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company and the Lehigh Valley Coal Company with the many collieries and coal mines in the anthracite coal lands of northeastern Pennsylvania. Some of the deeds and land warrants and patents have dates as early as 1773, 1785 and 1793 indicating the early history of anthracite coal lands in Pennsylvania.