During his lifetime, French botanist Michel Adanson (1727-1806) assembled a large number of notes and documents for a projected but never completed scientific encylcopedia. This collection of Adanson's notes focuses on nitrates, including saltpeter.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. At the onset of the French Revolution, he served as a member of the Assemblée Nationale Constituante (1789-1791), where he allied himself with the moderate Girondist faction. After the leader of the Jacobin movement, Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794), took power, du Pont de Nemours was arrested in July 1794, but he escaped execution. In 1800, accompanied by his sons, he arrived in America. His younger son, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), was a pupil of the chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794). This small collection consists of two letters to Charles de Pougen (1755-1833) of the Institut de France, as well as a microfilm reel of a selection of letters and documents pertaining to Antoine Lavoisier's trial and execution and du Pont de Nemours' political and intellectual career.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. He was an advocate for a national educational system and promoted Franco-American trade relations. The collection consists of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours correspondence and writings in addition to correspondence of his second wife, Françoise (Robin) Poivre.