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Founded in 1894 by Edward Payson Bullard Senior, the Bullard Machine Tool Company was a massive industrial player in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Creating large tools to fabricate metal parts, the company was a powerhouse for much of the early to mid 20th century. Within the collection are photographs of their major products, guides, and corporate material.

Papers consist of binders and scrapbooks of photographic prints, photographic negatives, newspaper articles, emails and notes related to the New Haven Railroad, Conrail, Penn Central, and other railroads, with the focus mostly in western Connecticut. Many of the photographs were taken by Peter C. McLachlan in his youth and when he served as an engineer for the New Haven Railroad, Conrail and Penn Central beginning in 1959, with many other photographs taken by McLachlan on vacations and fan trips, predominantly in the U.S. and Canada. The collection includes historical shots of the New Haven Railroad's locomotives, yards and structures, taken by other photographers.

The Adair Family Papers document the descendants of Benjamin Adair, who was one of the few prominent Black landowners in Westport during the 19th century.

Sprague Gas Meter Company was a manufacturing firm headquartered in Bridgeport, Connecticut and founded in 1900. Over the next 85 years, it developed meters featuring new methods for measuring and dispensing gas, along with many other technologically-novel products geared toward industrial machinery, home security, cooking and defense, made and stored within plants located across the U.S. and abroad. Sprague was bought out by the diversifying corporation Textron in 1961 and then sold to a firm concentrating on oil and semiconductor production in 1985, when it left Bridgeport. This collection consists of newspaper articles, advertisements and catalogs, usage and repair guides, factory newsletters, convention materials, newsletters, photographs, and oral histories.

Capturing the seafaring trade of Fairfield County, this collection from the U.S. Customs House represents some of the earliest material held by the Bridgeport History Center. The various licenses and accounts provide a year-by-year look into trade conducted along the Long Island Sound.

One of the biggest manufacturers in Bridgeport, the Warner Corset Company,later the Warner Brothers Company, then Warnaco, was a major part of the city's industrial history. Starting with Dr. Warner's Health Corsets the company expanded, manufacturing corsets and then bras and other undergarments such as girdles, later branded as slimwear. The company left Bridgeport in the 1970s. It remained in existence until 2013, when it was bought out by PVH. This archival collection documents the early history of the company into the 1970s through family papers, corporate documents, daily operations, garment construction information, and extensive advertising material, all donated by Warnaco.

Founded in 1919, Bridgeport Rotary has provided public service for 100 years. As a part of Rotary International, the club's mandate to provide public good and promote business among members is well documented in the collection. In addition to providing day-to-day administrative information from the club's history, a large portion of the records focus on the 1970s to 1990s. Viewed in conjunction with other like organizations from that time - such as the records of the United Way and the YWCA - these materials offer an insight into the societal problems of Bridgeport during a time of sharp economic downtown in the city.

The Locomobile Company of America's first two presidents were father and son-in-law, Amzi L. Barber and Samuel T. Davis Jr. The close familial relationship the two had in running not only Locomobile but other business ventures as well, including Barber's asphalt company, is present and heavily represented in these papers.