Finding Aids

Donaldson Brown (1885-1965) was an industrialist and business executive with E.I. du Pont de Nemours and the General Motors Corporation. These papers relate to Brown's association with GM, and reflect his concern with financial policy, organization and operation, and employee relations. They are especially concerned with the period of World War II. Files from the 1920s and 1930s describe Brown's effort to relate pricing policies to financial control.

Dorothy J. Sorensen (1923-2006) was an employee of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., a chemical company commonly known as the DuPont Company. She served in the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) during World War II as an aircraft instrument technician, instructing others in the repair and maintenance of aircraft tools and instruments. The WASPs contributed to the war effort by helping to train pilots for the first atomic mission as the delivery system for the Manhattan Project; the development of the B-29 Silverplate started as a way of carrying atomic bombs for specialized bombing missions. These two items are a Certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. War Department, Manhattan District, and a Manhattan Project Atomic Bomb pin that Sorensen received on August 6, 1945.

Dowling & Kennedy were railroad contractors. The partnership of Dowling & Kennedy and its predecessor, Reynolds, Dowling & Company, were typical of the many small firms that subcontracted to grade sections of railroad rights of way for large general contractors. This collection contains account books, vouchers, and statements covering the receipt of monies from the general contractor and its expenditure for labor and supplies. There are also timebooks, payrolls, and correspondence.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. He was an advocate for a national educational system and promoted Franco-American trade relations. Françoise (Robin) Poivre (1748-1841) was the second wife of Pierre Samuel. Françoise Julienne Ile de France (Poivre) Bureaux de Pusy (1770-1845) was a daughter from Poivre's first marriage. This collection includes a small selection of correspondence, including details on the family's immigration to the United States from France and Bureaux de Pusy's financial problems.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. He was an advocate for a national educational system and promoted Franco-American trade relations. Francoise (Robin) Poivre du Pont was his second wife. His grandson, Samuel Francis du Pont (1803-1865) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and fought in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. This collection consists of twenty-three photocopied letters, primarily from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), but also Francoise du Pont de Nemours (1748-1831) and Samuel Francis du Pont (1803-1865). The correspondence is primarily to Marie Anne Lavoisier Thompson (1758-1836), a French chemist and close friend of the family.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. Françoise Robin du Pont (1748-1841) was the second wife of du Pont de Nemours. The collection contains photocopies of documents signed relating to both du Pont de Nemours, their prosperity, loans, and power of attorney.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. Françoise Robin du Pont (1748-1841) was the second wife of du Pont de Nemours. The collection contains copies of letters of both du Pont de Nemours to Monsieur de la Fontaine, Jacques Necker (1732-1804), Philippe Nicolas Harmand (1759-1838), and Francoise Gabrielle Clemence Harmand.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. Françoise Robin du Pont (1748-1841) was the second wife of du Pont de Nemours. The collection contains photocopies of letters written by both du Pont de Nemours regarding brochures.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. Françoise Robin du Pont (1748-1841) was the second wife of du Pont de Nemours. The collection contains four letters from the du Ponts to Jonathan Russell (1771-1832), American Chargé d'Affaires in Paris.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Central Research and Development Department was the main research arm of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., also known as the DuPont Company. It had its origins in the Development Department, which formed in 1903 and operated at the Experimental Station (the company's main research and development facility) in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1911, the Chemical Department was formed, renamed in 1958 as the Central Research Department. All company research came under its jurisdiction. In 1975, these two departments merged to become the Central Research and Development Department. This collection represents fairly complete documentation of the Central Research and Development Department's research activities, particularly during the 1930s when neoprene and nylon were developed.

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.

The Manhattan Engineer District (MED), also known as the Manhattan Project, was a top-secret World War II government program to develop and deploy the world's first atomic weapons before Nazi Germany. The Manhattan Project took shape at three primary locations across the country: Hanford, Washington; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. The chemical company E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (also known as the DuPont Company) played a role by designing, building, and operating two sites (Hanford and Oak Ridge) for the mass production of plutonium and uranium. This small collection documents the DuPont Company's involvement in the World War II-era Manhattan Project, including interoffice memoranda and correspondence with the War Department concerning the DuPont Company's contributions to developing the plutonium pile at the University of Chicago; the development of the Hanford, Washington, plutonium production facility; and related works. ALL RECORDS ARE DECLASSIFIED.

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.