DuPont Company's Lavoisier Library photographs
Creation: 1919-1989Abstract
Lavoisier Library is the library at the DuPont Company's Experimental Station, a large industrial research facility focused on innovative advancements in chemistry located in Wilmington, Delaware. The Lavoisier Library was established in 1917. This collection consists of images from the DuPont Company's Lavoisier Library: primarily of employees and interior views of the library. There are materials that document the history of the organization of the library, the development of the physical building, and library employee's work. There are a few group and individual photographs of DuPont Company employees.
Dates
- Creation: 1919-1989
Creator
- E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. Lavoisier Library (Organization)
Extent
2 Linear Feet
General Physical Description
190 photographic prints : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. 5 photographic print : color : 8 x 10 in. 34 photographic prints : b&w ; 5 x 7 in. 48 photographic prints : b&w ; 3.5 x 4.5 in. or smaller. 61 photographic prints : color ; 3.5 x 4.5 in. or smaller. 2 photographic prints : b&w ; 4 x 6 in. mounted on board. 4 photographic prints : color ; Polaroids. 7 photographic print : b&w ; 11 x 14 in. 1 photographic print : b&w ; 11 x 14 in. mounted on board. 1 photographic print : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. mounted on board. 3 photographic print : color ; 8 x 10 in. matted or mounted on board. 3 photographic prints : b&w ; 7 x 11.5 in. 2 contact sheets. 91 slides : color ; 35mm. 11 transparencies : color ; 4 x 5 in. 5 glass transparencies : color ; 8 x 10 in. 5 overhead transparencies. 5 negatives : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. 65 negatives : b&w ; 4 x 5 in. or smaller. 17 negatives : color ; 4 x 5 in. 53 negatives : color ; 35mm. 4 blueprints. 54 items : letters. 15 magazine or newspaper clippings. 48 items.
Historical Note
Lavoisier Library is the library at the DuPont Company's Experimental Station, a large industrial research facility focused on innovative advancements in chemistry located in Wilmington, Delaware. The Lavoisier Library was established in 1917 as the DuPont Technical Library and was within the Chemical Department. The Library was organized by Dr. Charles Reese (1862-1940), the director of the Chemical Department. In 1950 the library was named after the renowned chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794).
In 1931 the library was transferred to the Service Department and transferred again in 1951 to the Secretary's Department until 1973. In 1974 the Technical Library Section was placed under the Information Systems Department and the Technical Library was renovated. The headquarters were moved to a new building called the Montchainin Building in 1983.
There are several branches of DuPont Technical Libraries. Louviers branch was established in October 1952 near Newark and serves the Engineering Department. The Chestnut Run branch first began at the Textile Research Laboratory in May of 1958 and in 1960 became Chestnut Run Technical Library. Christiana branch opened in November 1965 and serves the Textile Fibers Department. The Technical Library Network was established in 1985 which organized all of the branch libraries and Lavoisier Library under the same division. That same year the Technical Library at Montchanin was combined with the Commercial Information Services Group.
Marie S. Goff (1891-1974) was the Technical Library Head from 1924 to 1965. She was born in Wilmington, Delaware and attended the Drexel Institute of Technology, receiving a degree in library science. She began working at the DuPont Company in 1924 as a temporary employee and remained with the company for forty years. She received several awards and honors for her work with libraries in industry and was active in outreach to the public through radio, television and in-person efforts.
Scope and Content
This collection consists of images from the DuPont Company's Lavoisier Library; primarily of employees and interior views of the library. There are materials that document the history of the organization of the library, the development of the physical building, and library employee's work. There are a few group and individual photographs of DuPont Company employees.
The collection is arranged into four series, each series is arranged chronologically.
The Technical Libraries history series includes timelines, articles, letters, and memorandums about the history of the libraries. There is also correspondence and planning related to the 1950 renaming of the library, Lavoisier Library, and a five year plan. The materials provide an overview, but not an in depth history of the Technical Libraries or Lavoisier Library, and date from 1950 to 1989.
The Technical Libraries building development and planning series consists mainly of interiors of the Lavoisier Library. There are some exteriors of the Lavoisier Library and the Experimental Station. There are a few images of the Chestnut Run branch. These materials date from 1919 to 1984. The photographs document the evolution of the library space.
Technical Libraries employees series contains snapshots and portraits of librarians and library employees at work, at staff parties, and at a conference. These images date from 1949 to 1989. The images highlight the work of the librarians at Lavoisier Library.
DuPont Company employees series dates from 1937 to 1987 and contains group portraits of Experimental Station executives, proofs of articles for DuPont Today magazine, one issue of DuPont Today, portraits of Crawford H. Greenewalt, Salim Ibrahim and Charles J. Pedersen and a chart titled "CIS-IFS-ABS update." There are also three certificates which were awarded to the DuPont Company from professional organizations.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Negatives and slides are stored offsite in cold storage (Box 5). At least 24 hours notice required to allow retrieval of these items.
Language of Materials
English
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- DuPont Company's Lavoisier Library photographs
- Author:
- Laurie Rizzo
- Date:
- 2015
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Audiovisual Collections Repository
