The Haskell Laboratory for Toxicology and Industrial Medicine, a DuPont Company research laboratory in the occupational safety and toxicology space, was established in 1935 as the Haskell Laboratory of Industrial Toxicology. At its inception, the lab's primary focus was to determine potential health risks that could result from DuPont products and processes. In the early 1930s, a significant number of employees in the DuPont Dye Manufacturing Plant in Deepwater, New Jersey, reported cases of bladder cancer. This health crisis, in addition to several others plaguing the company and its employees, prompted several leading executives within the DuPont organization to propose the creation of a research facility that would test the safety of new products and processes to protect both employees and consumers from adverse effects. In July 1934, the board of directors agreed to create a lab charged with this purpose, and on 22 January 1935, the company formally opened the lab which they named for vice president and member of the board of directors Harry G. Haskell (1870-1951), a staunch advocate for employee safety. In press releases included in this collection, the Dupont company claimed that their new laboratory was the first of its kind in the United States since no other laboratory in the country was dedicated to researching industrial toxicology.

The laboratory's original building had 10,000 square feet of floor space and was located in the DuPont Experimental Station along the Brandywine Creek. However, within a year of the building’s dedication, Haskell management began reporting difficulties in the space. Problems ranging from poor lighting and inadequate space to experiment contamination due to vapors from neighboring chemical plants raised the need for a new laboratory. In 1953, the laboratory moved to a new, 38,000 square foot facility in Newark, Delaware. Renovations to this building completed in 1983 increased the space to 163,000 square feet. The expansion of the physical space as well as the growing number of employees which increased from nine people in 1935 to 230 people in 1985, demonstrated the growing significance of the Haskell Laboratory within the DuPont company. In addition, because scientists at the Haskell Laboratory consistently published their findings in prestigious peer-reviewed journals, the laboratory earned an exceptional reputation, and its scientists garnered a great deal of respect in the scientific community. The Haskell laboratory became an influential organization in the development of industry standards, guidelines, and regulations, and the lab’s leadership frequently spoke at industry conferences and served as consultants to those interested in toxicology and employee safety.

By the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, the Haskell laboratory had produced findings on a wide-range of occupational safety practices as well as toxicology studies on materials from many industries including textiles, chemicals, agricultural products, and pharmaceuticals. While the lab’s primary focus was on testing products and processes for the DuPont company, it also agreed to perform research for organizations outside of DuPont. Corporate restructuring and budgetary concerns often affected how aggressive Haskell pursued external work. When DuPont underwent significant restructuring during the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Haskell management was particularly interested in maximizing its external revenue streams.

Over the course of its operations, the laboratory underwent a few name changes. Originally named the Haskell Laboratory of Industrial Toxicology, the laboratory changed its name to the Haskell Laboratory for Toxicology and Industrial Medicine when it moved to its Newark location in 1953. On 7 June 1983, a consolidation of the Haskell Laboratory and the Stine Laboratory led to the creation of the Stine-Haskell Site. Finally, in 2001, after an announcement that the laboratory would be restructured into a business unit and would more actively solicit external work, the laboratory was renamed the Haskell Laboratory for Health and Environmental Sciences. Despite these name changes, Haskell and DuPont employees referred to the laboratory as simply the Haskell Laboratory. As of 2019, the Haskell Laboratory remains in operation and continues as a research laboratory within the DuPont company.