Finding Aids

Herny S. Rothrock (1906-1986) was a DuPont research chemist. In 1930, he joined the staff of the Experimental Station of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. He obtained fifty-six patents, chiefly in the field of polymer chemistry and served ten years at liaison manager in the Central Research Department, retiring in 1971. This collection consists primarily of photos relating to DuPont's Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware. There are group photos of new employees in the Central Research Department, committees and conferences and press release photos from the 1964 New York World's Fair.

Herbert Belar (1901-1997) was an inventor and research scientist in the field of acoustical engineering at the RCA David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, New Jersey for thirty-eight years. He developed "hi-fi" recording, the phonetic typewriter, and the electronic music synthesizer. This small collection of Herbert Belar papers reflects the professional daily work of an acoustical engineer from the 1930s through the 1960s. There is significant documentation on the phonetic typewriter, the 200 speech communication system, the music composing machine, and the electronic music synthesizer. Notable inclusions are information related to the development of "hi-fi," film motion pictures sound recording, and phonographic records recording. There is only one file that discusses Belar's work at the MAD Laboratory.

Herbert James Tily (1866-1948) was bookkeeper, auditor, chief accountant, and then general manager of Strawbridge & Clothier. He organized the Strawbridge & Clothier Chorus of store employees. The miscellany collection contains news clippings and ephemera describing Tily's work at Strawbridge's, with the Chorus, and in civic affairs. Additionally, there is a copy of the sheet music for "The Slave's Dream," a musical setting for a Longfellow poem.

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.

The Hercules Powder Company was one of the companies created from the break up of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours "powder trust" in 1911 as ruled by a U.S. Supreme Court decision. In its early years as a separate company, it continued to produce explosives and dynamite and used advertising styles and devices. This item is a poster depicting a World War I soldier leaving home and telling his hunting dog, "Not this trip Old Pal."

The Hercules Powder Co. was one of companies created from the break up of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours "powder trust" in 1911 as ruled by a U.S. Supreme Court decision. The Laflin and Rand Powder Company, one of the largest gunpowder manufacturers in the nineteenth century, was formed from several predecessor companies, including the Laflin Powder Company and the Smith & Rand Powder Company. This collection consists of a Hercules Powder Company calendar from 1919 and an undated illustration from a company calendar. There are also reproductions of a group of three different display card advertisements for Laflin & Rand Powder Company, probably for point-of-sale or counter display.

Herman Schroeder joined the DuPont Company's Chemical Department in 1938 and held various positions at the Organic Chemistry Department at Jackson Laboratory and the Elastomer Chemicals Department. This collection consists primarily of materials related to Schroeder's professional activities after his retirement from the DuPont Company in 1980.

H.E. Schroeder (1915-2009) was a research chemist who spent most of his career with E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. His papers consist of documents and memorabilia covering his family and professional life.

The Hiebler family papers include documents pertaining to four generations. The bulk of the collection consists of letters written by Alfred I. du Pont to his grandsons Bayard Hiebler and Benno Hiebler, dated 1927 to 1935.

Hill-Chase & Co., also know as the Hill-Chase Steel Company, was formed in February 1929 by Charles H. Chase (1884-1967), John J. Hill, Jr. (1891-1978), and several other employees of Edgar T. Ward Steel Service Center in Philadelphia. The company was well known for its innovations in steel. This is a small collection of copy photographs of the facilities and employees.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The DuPont Building occupied an entire block bound by 10th, 11th, Orange and Market Streets and was one of the first high-rises in Wilmington, Delaware. Until early 2015 the building housed DuPont's headquarters. This small collection of files on DuPont Company history and biographies were removed from the company's downtown headquarters building prior to its move to the suburbs.

Francis Gurney du Pont (1850-1904) was the youngest son of Alexis I. du Pont (1816-1857) and Joanna Smith du Pont (1815-1876), and grandson of Éleuthère Irénée "E.I." du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The collection contains a carbon typescript of "History of Explosions at Brandywine Mills" compiled from records by du Pont and also reported from his own experiences.

Kevlar is a synthetic fiber developed by chemists Stephanie Kwolek (1923-2014), Paul Morgan (1911-1992), and Herbert Blades in 1965 while working at the DuPont Company. The oral histories presented here document the research and development processes that transformed Kevlar from a novel polymer in the laboratory to a life-changing product in the marketplace.

Harry O. Sooy (1875-1927) worked at Berliner Gramophone Company and Victor Talking Machine Company and was involved in the development of American sound recording. His papers contain a diary photocopy that is either a typed original or transcript of a diary that Sooy kept from the time of his employment with Eldridge R. Johnson (1867-1945) from 1898 to the end of 1925. Also included are four miscellaneous items: formula for grading and grinding precious stones, regulations governing the Victor Cooperative Beneficial Association, Red Cross benefit concert, and United War Work Campaign concert.

Founded in 1901, Holeproof Hosiery Company was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin firm that produced men's and women's hosiery, underwear, lingerie and men's pajamas. Carl Freschl (1842-1911) was the founder and his son, Edward Freschl (1877-1930) was the first president of the company. This advertisement brochure for the Holeproof Hosiery Company consists of two Illustrations that show a woman putting on shoes (back) and a woman on the phone (front). The inside contains an a photograph of a woman demonstrating the "extra stretch top" of the stockings.

Hologic, Inc. is a developer and manufacturer of medical X-ray imaging instruments with a primary focus on mammography and women's health. The company was founded in 1985 by S. David Ellenbogen (1938-2001) and Jay A. Stein (1942-) in Bedford, Massachusetts. This oral history collection brings together interviews with the individuals involved in inventing, researching, and commercializing digital mammography and breast tomosynthesis at DuPont, Sterling and Hologic.

Hologic, Inc. is a developer and manufacturer of medical x-ray imaging instruments with a primary focus on mammography and women's health. The company was founded in 1985 by S. David Ellenbogen (1938-2001) and Jay A. Stein (1942-) in Bedford, Massachusetts. Researchers can expect to find print and digital materials, including medical journal articles, marketing brochures, presentations from sales and marketing meetings, digital photographs of doctors' offices with mammography equipment, price books, Radiological Society of North America annual conventions preparation materials, and pictures and slideshows from company retreats. The finding aid is arranged into four series: Hologic, Inc. company and people, Marketing files, Conferences and sales meetings files, and Articles.

Hoopes Brothers & Darlington began in West Chester in 1867 manufacturing wooden spokes for wheels. By the eighteen-eighties it was one of the largest wooden wheel makers in the country. Workers at the wooden wheel-making plant of Hoopes Brothers & Darlington, Inc. of West Chester, Pennsylvania, photographed at machinery. Includes portraits of Thomas Hoopes, then head of the company.

Hoopes Brothers & Darlington was a firm that produced wooden wheels. It was founded by brothers Thomas Hoopes (1834-1925) and William Hoopes (1830-1917) on their farm about a mile northwest of West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1866. Initially, they manufactured spokes for wagon wheels from local timber. In 1869, they established a factory in West Chester proper and, within three years, were manufacturing complete wooden wheels. In time the firm became the largest establishment of its kind east of the Allegheny Mountains. The records of Hoopes Brothers & Darlington, Inc. are relatively complete and give a full picture of the firm during its peak years in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Hoopes Brothers & Darlington was a firm that produced wooden wheels. It was founded by brothers Thomas Hoopes (1834-1925) and William Hoopes (1830-1917) on their farm about a mile northwest of West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1866. Initially, they manufactured spokes for wagon wheels from local timber. In 1869, they established a factory in West Chester proper and, within three years, were manufacturing complete wooden wheels. In time the firm became the largest establishment of its kind east of the Allegheny Mountains. This small collection consists of an account book of rim stock; a biography of one of the firm's founders, Thomas Hoopes; the autobiography of lime kiln owner John G. Robison; Edward S. Darlington's membership certificate in the Carriage Builders National Association; and board of directors' meeting minutes from 1903 to 1932.

Hoopes Brothers & Darlington began in West Chester in 1867 manufacturing wooden spokes for wheels. By the eighteen-eighties it was one of the largest wooden wheel makers in the country. This collection contains film and photograph materials related to the Smithsonian Instituation documentary "The Last Wheel Works," showing the steps involved in the making of wooden wheels from the delivery of the logs to the finished project.

Horace Holden Thayer, Jr. (1878-1959) was a naval architect, mechinical engineer, and businessman. Between 1909 and 1914 Thayer worked for the Delaware Construction Company which was a building company, and a subsidary of the National Real Estate Trust Company, which provided loans and financing for the properties. This small collection consists of papers relating to Thayer's early work with the National Real Estate Trust Company and the Delaware Construction Co. These materials document the formation of the National Real Estate Trust Company and building specifications for the Delaware Construction Co. There is a small amount of papers related to the businesses of his father-in-law Thomas H. Savery (1837-1910), specifically the Harpers Ferry Paper Company and the Shanandeoah Pulp Company.

Soap traces its history all the way back to the Babylonians in 2800 BC. However, bar soap only dates back to the late eighteenth century. The use of bar soap became the norm in the mid-nineteenth century. By this time soap could be mass produced and mass marketed. Many of the large bar soap companies were established during this time. This collection consists of 155 hospitality soap wrappers that have been flattened. The soap wrappers generally contain the name of the hotel, city and state, as well as a logo or graphic of some kind. Most wrappers include the brand name and product name, though a few do not have any information about the soap listed on the wrapper. All of the hotels are in the United States, not all of the states are represented in the collection. This collection would be useful for those researching package design, logos, or the soap industry. Potentially the collection also indicates relationships between specific hotel companies and their personal hygiene vendors.

Hotel du Pont is a historic hotel located in Wilmington, Delaware that opened in 1913. The Hotel du Pont Company was organized on July 2, 1912, for the purpose of operating a hotel within the Du Pont Building in downtown Wilmington. The Hotel du Pont historical files were collected to assist in the preparation of an Arcadia book by Joanna L. Arat, which was issued to mark the 100th anniversary of the hotel, and include administrative records, marketing and sales information, food services and material related to other special events.

Hotel du Pont is a historic hotel located in Wilmington, Delaware, that opened in 1913. The Hotel du Pont Company was organized on July 2, 1912, for the purpose of operating a hotel within the Du Pont Building in downtown Wilmington. The Hotel du Pont miscellany represents objects, including former lobby decorations, removed prior to a proposed sale of the building. Items include menus, advertisements, check, and jacket pins.

Hotel du Pont is a historic hotel located in Wilmington, Delaware that opened in 1913. This collection of Hotel du Pont materials represents publicity materials covering the renovations within the hotel and some of the more special events held there primarily dating from 1980 to 1992.

The Hotel Varadero Internacional, built in 1950, was next to Xanadu, Irenée du Pont's (1876-1963) estate that was built in Cuba around 1930. The postcard gives a black and white photographic view of the entrance to the driveway to the Hotel Varadero, with the hotel in the background.

Science and Corporate Strategy is a scholarly history of research and development at the DuPont Company authored by David A. Hounshell (1950-) and John Kenly Smith (1951-). As part of their research, Hounshell and Smith conducted sixty-one oral history interviews with forty-seven current and former chemical engineers involved in DuPont's R & D programs. The interviews constitute an exhaustive first-person account of DuPont's research programs with special emphasis on personalities and the organizational culture of the various DuPont research facilities.

House Industries is a type foundry in Yorklyn, Delaware which specializes in creating fonts for billboards, greeting cards, logos and a variety of other media. The collection is a set of nine advertising cards promoting House Industries and its United typeface.

170 Breck's Lane was owned by William Winder "Chick” Laird, Jr. (1910-1989) and served as workers' housing. Laird was the director of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and a financial advisor, starting his own brokerage firm in Wilmington, Delaware. This collection contains twenty photographic prints of various interior and exterior architectural views of 170 Breck's Lane before architectural rennovations by the owner.

Elsmere is a town in New Castle County in Delaware. This collection consists of six photographs of miscellaneous houses in Elsmere, which were loaned to the Hagley Museum and Library for copy.

Homes on Breck's Lane were owned by William Winder "Chick” Laird Jr. (1910-1989), and served as workers' housing. Laird was the director of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. The record is a single sheet listing the houses on Breck's Lane near Wilmington, Delaware, that were originally workers' housing attached to the Brandywine Works of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company.

Howard Ensign Simmons Jr. (1929-1997) was an industrial scientist and the Research Vice-President in the Central Research Department of the DuPont Company from 1979 until his retirement in 1991. His records document Simmons's role in overseeing the production of "Science and Corporate Stategy" by David A. Hounshell and John K. Smith, a scholarly history of Research and Development at the DuPont Company. Also included are reports on DuPont's diversification program in the late 1960s.

Howard Potts (1900-1978) was a supervisor for the American Car and Foundry shipyard. In the oral history done by Hagley Museum curatorial staff with Potts, he comments on a series of photographs taken at the yard during the time he worked there and describes the process involved in wooden shipbuilding and sailmaking.

Various employer's association records from the 1990s collected by British historian of United States labor, business, and economic history, Howell Harris, for use in his 2000 book, "Bloodless Victories: The Rise and Fall of the Open Shop in the Philadelphia Metal Trades, 1890-1940." Includes several public relations, recruitment, and general information folders and packets distributed by employers' associations from across the United States.

The H.S. Mill Canning Company was a small independent cannery in Springtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The outbound letterpress copybook contains mostly correspondence with customers, suppliers, and the railroads that shipped the company's canned goods.

Hudson Maxim (1853-1927) was an inventor and chemist best known for his work in the development of smokeless gunpowder and military explosives. This item is a brief note in which Maxim describes the invention of the gun as the "greatest life saving instrument," dated 1915.

Hudson Maxim (1853-1927) was an inventor and chemist best known for his work in the development of smokeless gunpowder and military explosives. This collection includes a copy of an agreement between Maxim and E.I. du Pont de Nemours (October 17, 1897), whereby Maxim sold to the company his patents for smokeless powder. Also included is correspondence with du Pont family members and government agencies related to smokeless powder; the machine gun designed by Maxim; and Maxims's book, Defenseless America, an anti-pacifist polemic.

Hudson Maxim (1853-1927) was an inventor and chemist best known for his work in the development of smokeless gunpowder and military explosives. The papers consist primarily of Maxim's published and manuscript writings from the period between 1907 and 1926. The writings range in topics: Napoleon, the future of naval and aerial warfare, and social Darwinism and anti-immigration.

Hudson Maxim (1853-1927) was an inventor and chemist best known for his work in the development of smokeless gunpowder and military explosives. This collection focuses on Maxim's attempt to float his inventions in England during the late 1890s, his anti-pacifist crusade and war-era activities, and his work at Lake Hopatcong.

Hudson Maxim (1853-1927) was an inventor and chemist best known for his work in the development of smokeless gunpowder and military explosives. The collection consists primarily of photographs, many of which are portraits, of Hudson Maxim and his family, friends, and associates.

Pierre Samuel "P.S." du Pont (1870-1954) was the great-grandson of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and that company played a major role in P.S. du Pont's life. He is most well-known for developing the preeminent botanical gardens, Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The P. S. du Pont estate papers document the distribution of physical items from his Longwood estate in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, in the years following his death.

Stewart Huston (1898-1971) began his career as a metallurgist and worked in varying capacities in the family business, Lukens Steel Company, in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, from 1923 until his death. Assembled by Huston, the collection relates to genealogy and family history.

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) became a giant in the field of electronic data processing by the mid-1950s. There are two photographs (one each) of the IBM 650 computer and IBM 305 computer.

The IBM Technical History Project was begun in 1980 following the suggestion that books be written about IBM's technical history. The books that were subsequently written were based, in part, on 361 oral history interviews. This collection contains the interviews bound in eight volumes.

ILC Dover outfitted every astronaut in the Apollo program and continued to design and manufacture space suit components for the space shuttle missions and on the International Space Station. The ILC Dover Apollo program records consist primarily of files maintained by Jim McBarron (1938-2020) while he was lead suit engineer for NASA, overseeing ILC’s development of the space suits. Also included are many other files gathered from ILC Dover and from ILC Dover retirees who were employed by ILC Industries during the Apollo program.

A needlebook is a small pocket-sized case used for keeping sewing needles in; it is made of fabric or paper and folded to look like a book. The trend of making needlebooks began in the 1800s and rose in popularity through the 1950s. The needlebook would store all the various sizes and types of needles needed for a project. This small collection consists of six packages containing sewing needles, with illustrated covers.

The Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain and Ireland is a multinational manufacturer of tobacco products, including multiple cigarette and cigar brands. This set of fifty cigarette cards illustrates "engineering wonders" from around the world. Each card has a color lithograph illustration on one side and a description on the other side.

The Indiana Ordnance Works was built by the DuPont Company for the U.S. Government beginning in 1940. It manufactured military explosives, propellants, and smokeless powder. This collection consists of photographs of the Ballistics Lab of the Indiana Ordnance Works.