Ellis Leroy "Lee" Hawk, Jr. (1926-2012) was a chemical engineer with Hercules Inc., and later the engineering director at Himont. He was involved in establishing polypropylene plants all over the world during the 1950s through the 1980s. This small collection consists of a scrapbook of photographs showing plant construction and a travel memoir written by Hawk about his career in the chemical industry. The memoir provides context for the scrapbook and an interesting portrait of an American businessman during the early stages of globalization.

Hercules Inc. was a manufacturer of chemicals and munitions based in Wilmington, Delaware. The records consist of a sample of employee personnel records, or service record cards, that date from circa 1914 to 1933, as well as copies of the company pension and retirement savings plans that date from 1982 to 1990. The cards typically contain information on personal characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, age, physical appearance, and family, and also on occupation, wage rates, promotion, discipline, and reasons for discharge. The plants are scattered around the country and thus provide an interesting regional sample of the industrial workforce during the 1910s and 1920s. Pension and retirement savings plans are for both Hercules Incorporated and Simmonds Precision Products, Inc.

Hercules Inc. was a manufacturer of chemicals and munitions based in Wilmington, Delaware. On April 23, 1986, the Commision of the European Economic Community ruled that several firms, including S.A. Hercules Chemicals N.V., the Belgian subsidiary of Hercules Incorporated, had violated Article 85(1) of the Treaty of Rome by enganging in price-fixing arrangements for the sale and marketing of polypropylene between 1977 and 1983. This collection consists of two volumes related to the company's appeal.