The Brandywine Manufacturers' Sunday School (BMSS) was a nonsectarian school offering classes in reading, writing, arithmetic, and Bible lessons. The students, both male and female, were workers or the children of workers in the local manufactories along the Brandywine River, near Wilmington, Delaware. Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) financially supported the construction of a school building on his property in 1816. It was incorporated in 1817 and opened with James Siddall (1801-1874) as its superintendent; he had originated the school's concept in Wilmington.

Éleuthère Irénée du Pont's daughters, Victorine du Pont Bauduy (1792-1861), who succeeded Siddall as superintendent, Eleuthera du Pont Smith (1806-1876), and Sophie M. Du Pont (1810-1888), were teachers at the school, as were other family members and friends. The du Pont women devoted much time and energy preparing school lessons, teaching, and visiting students in their homes. In the nineteenth century, teaching and religion were considered acceptable public activities for women, and Sunday school teachers were predominantly female.

In 1823 the BMSS became affiliated with the American Sunday School Union for the purpose of obtaining less expensive reading materials. The passage of Delaware's Free School Law of 1829 and development of an organized public school system chanted the character of the BMSS. In 1851 the BMSS building was used for Episcopal services, and with the completion of Christ Church in 1856, the BMSS became an Episcopal church school. Classes continued in the school building but were restricted to religious subjects.