The Industrial Archives & Library was founded in Bethlehem in 2015 by Steve Donches as an independent archive to preserve the history of Bethlehem Steel. With a seven-person staff, it has since expanded to cover industrial history across the country.
The main office, where most of the Bethlehem Steel archives are housed, is located on West 4th Street. They also have a temperature-controlled space on the North Side which holds most of their non-Bethlehem Steel archives, which they bought in 2021.
While Bethlehem Steel had been declining for years, it officially filed for bankruptcy in 2001, and the company was dissolved in 2003, according to Lehigh Valley Live…