Frederick Winslow Taylor, Stevens Class of 1883, pioneered the application of engineering concepts to the standardization and optimization of industrial labor, which he outlined in his seminal work, The Principles of Scientific Management, published in 1911. Taylor’s theories were used in a variety of industrial and commercial settings and played a significant role in the mass production revolution of the twentieth century which subsequently shaped our modern-day relationship between labor and technology.

In 1933, Stevens Institute of Technology celebrated the 50th anniversary of Frederick W. Taylor’s graduation with a symposium and exhibition covering his wide-ranging career. The exhibition was made possible by a number of Taylor’s friends, family, and associates who donated personal mementos, correspondence, photographs, objects, and other ephemera related to Taylor’s life and influence on industry. When Taylor's widow, Louise M Spooner Taylor, passed away in 1949, her sons, Dr. Kempton P.A. Taylor and Mr. Robert P.A. Taylor, presented the remaining Taylor manuscripts as well as Taylor's private library to Stevens Institute of Technology under the stipulation they be made available to all for scholarly research. The Frederick Winslow Taylor Collection, housed in the Samuel C. Williams Library’s Archives & Special Collections, largely consists of Taylor's personal and work-related correspondence. Also included are rough drafts of his major publications, translations of his works on scientific management and the cutting of metal, notes on improving workshop efficiency, glass slide photographs of factories and offices using scientific management, articles written by Taylor, and correspondence concerning his testimony in 1912 before the Committee on Labor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Notable correspondents in the collection include United States Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth (of Cheaper by the Dozen fame), Upton Sinclair (author of The Jungle), Ida Tarbell (pioneer of investigative journalism), Henry Gantt (inventor of the Gantt chart), and other supporters and critics of scientific management.