Drake Well Museum preserves and makes accessible the largest collection of artifacts and archival materials documenting the petroleum industry in Pennsylvania, its birth, development and growth into a global enterprise.
The Museum’s collection includes over 4,000 objects, of which the most significant is the Drake Well, a National Historic Landmark. The collection also contains 10,839 still images, over 1,200 cubic feet of manuscript material, newspapers, and maps dating from the 19th to the 21st centuries, 1,500 petroleum company periodicals and over 3,500 books, catalogues, directories, surveys, bibliographies and more. Together, these rich materials chronicle the technological, scientific, economic and social history of Pennsylvania’s oil and natural gas industries.
Drake Well Museum showcases over 600 objects in its various exhibits. Artifacts in storage and archival materials are available for research upon request.
The Keystone Pump Works, Pittsburgh, was begun by John D. Thompson, Henry Epping & Carpenter in 1866. This pump, patented May 7, 1872, was used to move oil products through the lines of a refinery. Gift of Quaker State Oil Refining corporation, Oil City, 1955. (DW79.12.331)
The Museum’s collecting scope currently emphasizes the following areas: