Finding Aids

The Du Pont descendants and allied families are the children of brothers Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827) and Éleuthère Irénée "E.I." du Pont (1771–1834), as well as their grandchildren and relatives through marriage. Victor Marie du Pont and E.I. du Pont were the sons of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. This collection consists of the papers of the descendants of Victor Marie and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont and members of allied families. The principal holdings are for Amelia Elizabeth du Pont (1796-1869) and Charles Irénée du Pont (1797-1869), children of Victor du Pont, and Charles's wife, Dorcas Van Dyke (1806-1838), as well as for Victorine du Pont Bauduy (1792-1861), Alfred Victor du Pont (1798-1856), and Eleuthera du Pont Smith (1806-1876), children of E.I. du Pont.

The Du Pont family is a prominent Delawarean family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator who immigrated to America with his sons, Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827) and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), in 1800. In 1802, he founded E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company with his younger son, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical research and manufacturing company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. This small set of materials contains business and personal papers. The collection is organized into three series: Correspondence, business, and personal documents; Copies and extracts of correspondence and other documents; and Illustrative materials.

This small collection of du Pont family miscellany came to Hagley from Winterthur as an assortment of various family items that did not relate to their individual library holdings. The items, though extremely fragmentary, represent over two centuries of du Pont family history.

Abraham Dupont (1572-1640) was the progenitor of the South Carolina branch of the Du Pont family. In France, he dealt in manufactures of brass and copper. This is a small collection of his papers and those of his immediate descendants. The documents include the earliest records still extant in the Du Pont family papers. They are important for the evidence of descent they offer and for details about the ancestors of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817). Many relate to landed property in Rouen and in the nearby parishes of Fontaine-sous-Préaux and Roncherolles.

This collection of family correspondence encompasses several generations of the du Pont, Kemble, and de Forest families. Victorine du Pont (1825-1887), the eldest child of Alfred Victor du Pont (1798-1856), senior partner in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and Margaretta Elizabeth (Lammot) du Pont (1807-1898), married Peter Kemble (1825-1887), son of William Kemble the company's New York business agent. One of their daughters, Meta Kemble (1852-1933), married New York artist Lockwood de Forest (1850-1932).

The DuPont Airport was a private flying field located on the west side of Wilmington, Delaware. The miscellaneous records include notices from the Federal Communications Commission and Civil Aeronautics Administration, tower materials, and airport arrival and clearance forms.

The DuPont Airport was a private flying field located on the west side of Wilmington, Delaware. The register gives time of arrival, make of aircraft, name of owner and pilot, origin and destination, and the number of passengers.

Several early companies, established by members of the du Pont family, operated on the Brandywine Creek in proximity to the mills of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. These businesses included factories that produced tanned leather, woolen and cotton cloth, and yarns. The firms also owned properties that were used by, or sold to, other developers of mills in the region. This collection includes the papers of Du Pont, Bauduy & Company (1803-1815); Du Planty, McCall & Company (1813-1837); Brandywine Mill Seat Company (1798-1854); A. Cardon & Company (1824-1833); and Rockland Manufacturing Company (1825-1856).

DuPont (China), Inc. was a firm established to manage the exports of dyestuffs manufactured in China by the DuPont Company's Organic Chemicals Department. The collection consists of materials from DuPont's Organic Chemicals Department in China and a group of reports and notebooks describing the beginnings of DuPont's dyestuffs ventures in East Asia.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's Agricultural Products Department was responsible for the research, development, and manufacturing of organic fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and other agricultural chemicals. The records include a history of the department, chronology of the benzimidazole fungicide development, history of the technical development of Benomyl, and a small collection of papers from Ralph K. Iler (1909-1985) describing the department's fundamental research program on inorganic chemistry.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. DuPont's Experimental Station is a large industrial research facility founded in 1903 that is focused on chemistry research. Centralized research at the DuPont Company resulted from the company's need to diversify its product base after its 1902 reorganization. The Chemical Department was renamed the Central Research Department in 1958. This small collection consists mainly of customer-focused training manuals on the topics of managing, marketing, and selling. Of particular interest are DuPont Sorona carpet samples. The materials date from 1983 to 2017. The collection has been organized into two series: General files and Training manuals.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. The Chamber Works was constructed as a dyeworks at Deepwater Point, New Jersey, in 1914. This small collection consists of materials about dyes and dyeing maintained by the analytical services technical supervisor at Chambers Works. Included are dye notebooks on silk, knitting, and hosiery; dye methods; a nylon textiles report; modern dye chemistry lecture notes; and translations of the Azo dye sections of a seminal German publication, "Fortschritte der Teerfarbenfabrikation," by P. Friedlaender.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The DuPont Company opened the Chestnut Run Textile Research Laboratory in 1954 near Wilmington, Delaware, as a research facility to test the effects of normal wear and tear on DuPont's line of synthetic fibers and fabrics. This small collection consists of two management training course materials.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. Established in 1802, the company began with the production of gunpowder. The collection consists of seven photocopied letters between DuPont and Secretary of State William H. Seward (1801-1872) regarding the purchase of saltpetre (saltpeter) during the Civil War.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The Executive Committee became the principal body for coordinating the work of the various departments of the rapidly growing company, establishing company organizational structure and policy; approving capital expenditures and contracts; and fixing salary levels, bonuses, and other compensation. The files are arranged in six series. The "E" files are primarily service record information on members of the Executive Committee, giving some prior history of the person's career with DuPont. The "D" files are limited to organization charts, dating from 1914 to 1917. The "O" files (Operative Committee), "F" files (Finance Committee), and "X" files (Executive Committee) are primarily related to patents and licensing. Finally, materials copied by David A. Hounshell and John K. Smith for their book, Science and Corporate Strategy, are included.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). In 1903, the DuPont Company's Executive Committee established the Experimental Station, a research facility located on the banks of the Brandywine River across from DuPont's first black powder works. This small collection of materials from the Experimental Station relates to the buildings, conducting of research, and to submission of reports.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The DuPont Experimental Station is a large industrial research facility founded in 1903; it is focused on chemistry research. This small collection consists of organizational charts arranged chronologically, dating between 1942 and 1982.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company, commonly referred to as the DuPont Company, which was established in 1802. The company began establishing plants all over the United States and began to manufacture other products in addition to gunpowder and explosives. The company manufactured paints, dyes, and photographic products, and focused on applied research. This collection consists of two binders of historical information about the DuPont Company. The binders were assembled in 1986. Topics include Conoco, DuPont of Canada, new acquisitions, company departments and divisions, and company organization.

The DuPont Company's Louviers Works manufactured dynamite in Colorado, beginning production in 1908. The works provided explosives, primarily for mines in the region, and was part of the DuPont Company Explosives Department. This small collection consists of five copies of operations manuals from the DuPont Company's Louviers Works that were issued to the manager of the works. The manuals are about plant methods, office rules for safety protocols, and chemical operations for producing ammonium nitrate, nitric acid concentrate, and ammonia oxidation.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company, commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. It manufactured paints, dyes, and photographic products, and focused on applied research. This collection consists of materials related to patents and patent research. It includes patent proposal logs and patent search files from several DuPont Company departments related to photographic film and electronic products. The departments include: Photo Products, Electrochemical (Elchem), Electronics, Imaging Systems, and Photosystems and Electronics Department. This collection would be useful for examining research trends and patented product development.

The Pioneering Research Laboratory was the research and development facility for the DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Division. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company, established in 1802. The collection consists primarily of an incomplete set of organizational charts for departments at the Pioneering Research Laboratory in the Experimental Station, particularly DuPont Fibers and its predecessors (Fibers Department, Textile Fibers Department, Rayon Department).

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. It was organized in Paris in 1801 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont and originally produced gunpowder. The collection consists of a binder containing miscellaneous memoranda and tables describing DuPont's manufacture of ordnance between 1914 and 1919.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. Established in 1802, the company began with the production of gunpowder. The collection contains a typescript of newspaper notice entitled "Powder explosion of three wagon loads of powder at Wilmington, Del." from the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin on June 1, 1854. Also, a photocopy of a later transcript on the same subject.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. Originally established as a black powder manufactory in 1802, the company eventually ventured into explosives, creating the Explosives Department in 1903. This small collection contains six reports on black powder and other accidental explosions at DuPont facilities. Additional materials are related to the DuPont Company's activities in the explosives industry. These include a history of explosions at the Brandywine Works from 1815 to 1898 and the Carney's Point Works from 1893 to 1903.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company commonly known as the DuPont Company. It was established in 1802, and began by manufacturing gunpowder, later moving to chemical compounds. The foundations for the Engineering Department were laid in 1902. The department’s purpose was to design and construct high explosives plants, design powder machinery, and create extensions to existing plants. These records consist of seven large blueprint maps showing property lines, utilities, and buildings in the area of the company's Brandywine Works in Wilmington, Delaware.

DuPont Company Repauno Works manufactured high-explosive dynamite. The company began as the Repauno Chemical Company on June 7, 1880, by Lammot du Pont (1831-1884), a chemist working for the family business, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical company that originally produced gunpowder. In 1980, the Repauno Works celebrated its centennial anniversary. This small collection contains materials generated in the process of organizing the centennial celebration of the Repauno Works.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company that began as a gunpowder manufacturer in 1802. In 1939, the DuPont Company created the Seaford Plant near Seaford, Delaware, to be the world's first nylon plant. The bulk of the records in this collection relate to the planning of the Seaford Plant's 50th anniversary celebration events; however, there is a small amount of documentation related to the introduction of nylon, as well as operation and wage statistics from the 1940s through the 1960s that would be of interest to researchers interested in textiles, manufacturing, or labor practices.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. In 1952, the DuPont Company celebrated its 150th anniversary. The collection contains miscellany issued as part of the celebration, including invitations, programs, and newsletters. There are some materials related to the planning of the event, the ceremony, and policies for employee attendance.

In the summer of 1981, a four-way bidding war errupted over the control of Conoco Inc., the world's ninth-largest oil company. These records consist of the various formal tender offers made for Conoco Inc.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The DuPont Corporate Plans Department is primarily responsible for coordinating all of the company’s strategic business planning activities. The records of DuPont Corporate Plans are fragmentary in nature and document only a small segment of the department’s responsibilities. These records are arranged into two series: Multi-client reports and Silverstone tracking study. The bulk of the material is contained in Series I and consists of multi-client reports, which are marketing studies prepared by outside consulting firms.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The External Affairs Department of the DuPont Company was created on January 1, 1986 by the merger of the Marketing Communications and Public Affairs departments. The records of DuPont External Affairs are divided into two series that reflect the department's principal functions--advertising and public affairs. A large portion of the collection consists of retail sales profiles and trend reports that include background information, research proposals, cost estimates, survey questionnaires, and related correspondence.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. DuPont Information Systems is a department of the DuPont Company that facilitates the adaptation of increasingly complex equipment and improved programming techniques, selects those with the greatest applicability to the company’s business, and guides other departments in their use. The records of DuPont Information Systems are incomplete and reflect only a portion of the department’s activities. These records are arranged in three series: Central Information Services Division; Planning and Development Division; and Telecommunications and network technology.

DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company was a pharmaceutical research and manufacturing plant formed in 1991 through the joint venture of the DuPont Pharmaceutical Company and Merck & Co., a leading competitor in the pharmaceutical industry. The records consist of items taken from the files of Josephine K. Baker, clinical research coordinator. They are primarily the sort of materials issued to employees, including annual and quarterly reports and employee newsletters.

DuPont Performance Coatings, Inc. produces and researches advanced automotive coatings and finishes products. In 1993, capitalizing on the growing popularity of NASCAR racing, DuPont sponsored famed driver Jeff Gordon (1971-), whose #24 was adorned with the DuPont logo. The collection consists of advertisements and memorabilia collected by a DuPont employee who followed Jeff Gordon on the NASCAR circuit.

DuPont Performance Elastomers, LLC manufactures and supplies general purpose and specialty elastomer products. Neoprene is the generic name of an artificial rubber developed by the DuPont Company in 1930 to 1931. The records consist of a mix of historical and contemporary documents assembled to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of neoprene in 1981, enlarged to cover the seventieth anniversary in 2001, and kept up with subsequent additions.

Records, mostly employee newspapers, relating to the history and operation of DuPont's Louisville Works, which was established in 1941 for the manufacture of "Neoprene" artificial rubber.

DuPont Performance Elastomers, LLC manufactures and supplies general purpose and specialty elastomer products. Viton, the first fluoroelastomer, grew out of Dr. Dean R. Rexford's (1915-1997) research of DuPont's Organic Chemicals Department in 1954. The material proved remarkably stable when exposed to chemicals, oils, solvents, and high temperatures, making it ideal for seals, gaskets, O-rings, and similar components in the aerospace and automotive industries. This collection contains materials relating to the history of Viton fluoroelastomer assembled for its 50th anniversary in 2007. They include advertisements, trade catalogs, a copy of the original patent, and a company chronology of developments with Viton between 1954 and 1975.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company commonly known as the DuPont Company. DuPont introduced its first reverse osmosis permeators for water desalination in 1969 under the trade name "Permasep" as a result of its contusion research in polymer chemistry and synthetic fibers. This collection documents the marketing and patenting efforts of DuPont on behalf of their Permasep® product line.

The DuPont Theatre, originally called The Playhouse, presents professional theatrical productions from Broadway and other notable venues in downtown Wilmington, Delaware since 1913. The Playhouse was the concept of three top executives of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (DuPont Company) who realized that Wilmington needed a facility for cultural as well as business purposes. The DuPont Theatre records consist primarily of public relations and advertising materials related to the theater's operation. As such, they present a sequence of changing tastes in popular entertainment in a medium-sized American city.

DuPont, Washington, was built by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company for the purpose of housing employees of its dynamite plant. The collection includes papers on the history of DuPont, specifically the nomination to the National Register, along with copies of newspaper clippings, maps, and reports related to the nomination.

D.W. Page was an otherwise unidentified American civil engineer. This item is Page's diary, documenting his work as a government railroad engineer. Page's diary begins in July 1914, just prior to the completion of his work in South America. With the exception of 1919 and 1920, he kept the diary, consisting of typed pages in a loose-leaf binder, over the next eight years. The diary is the work of an articulate, trained professional, and observant traveler.

Ervin George "E. G." Bailey (1880-1974) was a combustion engineer, inventor, and businessman. His personal papers include correspondence and articles on subjects relating to combustion engineering, and information about awards and honors Bailey received and conferences he participated in. Bailey's papers include copies of numerous speeches and publications on combustion engineering and engineering education.

Peter Bauduy (1769?-1833) and E.I. du Pont (1771-1834) were partners in several business ventures together, including Du Pont, Bauduy, & Co., a textile manufacturing firm and E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. The collection includes an official certified copy of the articles of agreement between Bauduy and du Pont, forming a partnership for the powder manufacturing company that would become E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company.

The Savannah River Plant manufactured basic materials required in the production of nuclear weapons, specifically plutonium and tritium. The complex was comprised of five reactors, two chemical separation plants, a heavy water extraction plant, nuclear fuel, and target fabrication facility, a tritium extraction facility, and waste management facilities. The E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Atomic Energy Division records are an expansive and rich collection of materials that document the DuPont Company’s involvement in the Manhattan Project and the company’s continued role in the United States government’s exploration of atomic power and weaponry.

What became known as the Yerkes plant in Buffalo, New York of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company began as the DuPont Fibersilk Company in 1920, a joint venture between DuPont and a French textile company, Comptoir des Textiles Artificiels, created to produce artificial silk. In 1923, the two companies formed a second joint venture to produce cellophane at the site. DuPont bought the French interests in both companies in March 1928. This collection from the Yerkes plant consists of various publications, cellophane samples, employee magazines, and a scrapbook about the live broadcast from Buffalo of an episode of the radio program Cavalcade of America, entitled The Oath, based on the life of Millard Fillmore.

E. Paul du Pont (1887-1950), the son of Francis Gurney du Pont (1850-1905) and Elise Simons du Pont (1849-1919), is best known as the manufacturer of the Du Pont automobile. He owned the house Squirrel Run Hill, the former Second Office of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and the surrounding grounds. This small collection includes papers relating to additions and alterations to Squirrel Run Hill and papers relating to the estates of his parents.

Hercules Inc. was a manufacturer of chemicals and munitions based in Wilmington, Delaware. Earl R. Fenstermacher (1894-1984) was the superintendent of the Columbus plant in Kansas. This item is a bound volume containing two typescripts written by Fenstermacher describing the manufacture and operating procedures at the company.

Earle E. Coleman (1925-2009) was the head of imprints cataloguing at Eleutherian Mills Historical Library. The typescript bibliogrpahy includes collaborative works, English translations, and items in published compilations of papers. Most of the titles and information are in French.

The Eastern Advertising Company installed and maintained advertising cards in streetcars in the major cities of New England, particularly on behalf of local merchants carrying national or regional brands. The report contains an analysis of sales of Laco castile soap versus competing brands in drugstores in New England cities.

E.B. (Edward Barnes) “Ted” Leisenring Jr. (1926-2011) was the CEO of a fourth-generation family coal-mining business. He was president of Westmoreland Coal from 1961 to 1988, and remained as chairman of the board until 1992. This collection consists of the Philadelphia corporate executive's business and personal papers and his immediate family, with estate papers of his father, mother and paternal grandfather.