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The Drake Well Museum Library contains an unusually complete, and one of the largest, collections of materials pertaining to the birth of the oil industry and its subsequent development.
Approximately 3500 books include oil well supply catalogues, oil directories, handbooks, guides, prospectus of various early oil companies, oil histories, geological surveys, early city directories, county histories, bibliographies, etc.
Some 1500 periodicals from early and recent oil companies.
Approximately 1000 newspapers, both bound and loose-leaf have been collected. Some of these have been transferred to microfilm:
Early Titusville Papers
Titusville Herald - weekly and daily
Pithole Daily Record
Petroleum Center Daily Record
Oil City Derrick
Venango Spectator, Franklin
Meadville Tribune Republicans
Bradford Newspapers
New York Tribune
Tidioute News
Pleasantville Commercial Record
Documentary Material including letters, diaries, maps, atlases, business records, manuscripts, programs, photographs, stock certificates, currency, scrapbooks, music.
John Scheide, a Titusville businessman and world-famous book collector donated much of the documentary material. Other collections for which listings can be provided are:
John D. Archbold Collection
George Brewer Papers
John J. Carter Collection
C.A. Conner Collection
Drake Papers
Alvin Drake Deming
Helen Ritts Duffield Collection
Ernest C. Miller Papers
A.S. Ralston Collection
Joseph Reid Gas Engine Company Papers
Roberts Collection
Wilbur H. Seifert Collections
E.V. Selden Collection
John E. Selden Collection
Albert C. W. Smith Collection
Charles V. Stegner Collection
Ed Stralko Collection
James M. Townsend Collection
Ida M. Tarbell Collection
Merwin E. Tarr Collection
Herbert E. Varnum Collection
Edith B. Willets Collection
H.W. Williams Collection
Peter Wilson Collection
Valvoline Collection
The Drake Well photographic collection is the largest collection of pictures concerning the early development of the oil industry. The John A. Mather collection consists of about 4000 original glass plates, ranging in size from 5" x 8" to 11" x 14", over one-third of which are stereoviews. Other early documentary photographers represented in the collections are A.D. Deming, Frank Robbins, and the Goetchius Brothers.
Most of the glass plates negatives have been copied onto 4" x 5" film and 35mm film for archival preservation. The pictures consist of a variety of subjects including towns, street scenes, derricks, and oil field equipment. Numerous pictures of teamsters, barges, railroads, pipelines, refineries, and storage facilities are included. Areas other than Titusville include Bradford, Butler, Oil City plus many others, especially the famous oil boomtowns.
A large collection of different types of lamps depicting the historic development of illumination includes the P.C. Boyle collection.
Oil field tools and relics collected throughout the oil region.
Artifacts excavated from Pithole.
Many artifacts in the collection are on display in the museum and on the grounds.
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