Finding Aids

Upper Louviers was a residence located on the east bank of the Brandywine Creek in Brandywine Hundred, Delaware, opposite the powder mills of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. Elise du Pont Elrick (1902-1984), who lived at Upper Louviers as a child, was an architect and translator. This collection consists of architectural drawings of the residence made by Elise du Pont Elrick in 1936.

Elise Simons du Pont (1849-1919) was the wife of Francis Gurney du Pont (1850-1904), a vice president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The records consist of itemized household receipts, primarily from three Wilmington, Delaware grocers and one from John Wanamaker's department store in Philadelphia. The receipts give descriptions of goods and prices.

Elliott, Johnson & Co. was a well-known banking and brokerage firm of Wilmington, Delaware, in the late nineteenth century. Henry du Pont (1812-1889) was an American military officer and son of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and Sophie Madeleine Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828). The collection consists of two letters from Elliott, Johnson & Co. regarding the purchase of bonds in two Florida railroads, the Sanford & Lake Eustis Railroad Company and the Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Railway Company.

Ellis Leroy "Lee" Hawk, Jr. (1926-2012) was a chemical engineer with Hercules Inc., and later the engineering director at Himont. He was involved in establishing polypropylene plants all over the world during the 1950s through the 1980s. This small collection consists of a scrapbook of photographs showing plant construction and a travel memoir written by Hawk about his career in the chemical industry. The memoir provides context for the scrapbook and an interesting portrait of an American businessman during the early stages of globalization.

Elmer Sperry (1860-1930) was one of America’s electric pioneers. He founded the Sperry Gyroscope Company in order to develop, manufacture, and market marine gyrostabilizing devices. The papers document Sperry's research and development work and entrepreneurial activities.

Elmer A. Sperry (1860-1930) was an electrical engineer who established the Electric Light, Motor, and Car Brake Company in 1883 and then founded the Sperry Electric Mining Machine Company in 1886. After selling his patents to General Electric, he went to work for the company as a consultant. This collection includes original materials, as well as copy work from other sources and images which show Sperry's inventions; there is some ephemera, family photos, employees, and views of the Sperry Company's Brooklyn drafting rooms.

Elva M. Chandler (1900-1990) was an active clubwoman, active in many women's professional, church, and political organizations and president of the local Business and Professional Women's Club. She was best known for her involvement in the Delaware Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs (BPWC) and belonged to the Christina branch. Chandler's papers document her role in business and professional women's organizations and the changing role of women in business life from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Active in the 1840s, Emerson & Hanson Threshing Machine Company manufactured and repaired farming implements and other machinery; the company primarily manufactured "Pitt's Patent Horse Power and Separator" threshing machine, having licensed the process from the patentee. The collection consists of a sample of sixteen letters from agents, customers, and suppliers in various Midwestern states, containing orders for machines and parts, complaints, etc.

Emile F. du Pont (1898-1974) was director of the Employee Relations Department for DuPont Company beginning in 1945. His papers largely consist of speeches he gave, most of which were given to DuPont employees, on the history of the company. There are also files related to his role in the National Safety Council and production of "The Du Pont Story" film.

Emma E. Holmes (1838-1910) was the daughter of Dr. Henry M. Holmes (1790-1854) and Eliza Ford Gibbes (1808-1875). The diary chronicles Holmes's life in Charleston, South Carolina, during the Civil War, detailing the Charleston fire of December 1861, visiting army camps, taking a position as governess and tutor, and plundering Union troops near the end of the war.

The records consist of photocopies of miscellaneous documents of the Empire Steel and Iron Company, the originals of which are in the possession of the National Canal Museum at Easton, Pa. Most of them seem to have come from the Mount Hope site. There is another small collection of miscellaneous materials from the field office of the Mount Hope Mine at the New Jersey Historical Society.

Edith N. McConnell (1880-1968) was a confectioner and caterer in Wilmington, Delaware from the 1920s through the 1950s. This small collection consists of photographs of wedding cakes, table settings, and restaurant interiors in Wilmington and Newark, Delaware, mostly dating from around 1945.

The rise and fall of Enron Corp., a natural gas utility transformed into the world’s largest energy trader, followed a pattern of boom and bust familiar in the history of American business. The records in this collection belonged to Herbert “Pug” Winokur, a member of Enron’s board of directors and chair of its finance committee. He used these records to prepare for depositions associated with the Enron bankruptcy. This collection contains meeting minutes, supporting materials and other documents relating to the Department of Justice investigation into the Enron Corp. from 1997 to 2002.

Epcot, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, opened in 1982. It was conceived by Walt Disney to "take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry." This booklet is a guide to the attractions at Future World and the World Showcase at the EPCOT Center in Florida. It also includes advertising matter for Eastman Kodak Company disc and instant cameras. Eastman Kodak Company, commonly known as Kodak, is best known for photographic film products, which it produced throughout most of its history. In 1982, Kodak launched the Kodak Disc film format for consumer cameras

The Erie City Iron Works in Erie, Pennsylvania, was a major manufacturer of boilers, stationary and portable engines, and machinery for sawmills and steam riveting. These are five reproductions of nineteenth century photographs from the Erie City Iron Works. One is an exterior of the plant. The four others are posed photographs of employee groups.

The Erie City Iron Works was founded by Pennsylvania capitalist Bethuel Boyd Vincent (1803-1876) as the Presque Isle Foundry in 1840. The Works was a major manufacturer of boilers, stationary and portable engines and machinery for sawmills and steam riveting as well as railroad freight and passenger cars. Their records are largely comprised of accounting records.

The Erie City Iron Works in Erie, Pennsylvania, was a major manufacturer of boilers, stationary and portable engines, and machinery for sawmills and steam riveting. The collection consists of technical diagrams of engines.

This collection consists of the business records of Ernest Dichter and the several consulting firms through which he operated fully document his role as a pioneer of motivational research, from the beginnings of his career in the United States until a few months before his death.

Ernest Dichter (1907-1991) was one of the pioneers in consumer motivational research. He started his own consulting business in 1946. It was incorporated in New York as the Institute for Research in Mass Motivations, Inc. in 1952 and renamed the Institute for Motivational Research, Inc. in 1955. This collection consists of photographs, negatives, slides, contact sheets, and audio cassettes.

Ernest du Pont (1880-1944) and his elder brother Francis Irenee du Pont (1873-1942) founded the U.S.F. Powder Company in 1919, which produced flashless cannon powder. This item is a cabinet card photograph of Ernest du Pont (1880-1944) as a young child.

Ernest Munster (1885-1965) was an attorney and organized Lawyers International Corporation in 1930, with its office in New York City. Munster, the company's president, continued his association with the company through at least the mid-1940s. The Ernest Munster papers reflect his work which necessitated his familiarity with international trade and incorporation laws and taxation policies. The collection primarily consists of records Munster maintained during his years as president of Lawyers International Corporation, with some papers dating back to his employment with International Corporation Company in the late 1930s.

Ernst R. Habicht (1902-1987) was the general manager of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's ammonia production plant at Belle, West Virginia. His papers include newspaper clippings, correspondence, a long memorandum, and a humorous poem by Habicht relating to the 1947-1948 strike at the Belle plant.

Errett McLeod Graham (1877-1974) was a civil engineer for various railroads. He was married to Helena "Lena" Washburn Graham (1881-1970) for nearly sixty-six years. Helena Graham was a homemaker to the couple's three children. The Grahams spent the early years of their marriage in remote railroad construction camps and small towns in Tennessee and West Virginia before settling in Rensselaer, Indiana. This item is a single-volume diary handwritten by both Errett and Lena Graham in 1910 while living in Tunnelton, West Virginia, were Errett was working for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company. The diary would be of interest to those researching women's studies, railroad history, and civil engineering.

Eugene Blery (1805-1887) was a French artist, engraver and lithographer. This collection contains two etchings of pastoral views of Nemours in Normany, France. One depicts the French ancestral home of the du Pont family.

Eugene du Pont Jr. (1873-1954) was a director of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company from 1917 until 1954, and a great grandson of company founder, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). The collection contains the personal papers of Eugene du Pont, Jr., and the records of the Kinloch Gun Club, a private shooting club which he founded. It also contains a separate collection of correspondence between his brother Alfred I. du Pont, vice president and general manager of the DuPont Company, with his assistant Frank L. Connable, which is an important source for the history of the company in the early 1900s.

Eugene du Pont Jr. (1873-1954) was a director of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company from 1917 until 1954, and a great grandson of company founder, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). The papers of Eugene du Pont Jr. include reports to the DuPont Company Board of Directors by the executive committee and the treasurer of the DuPont Company. In addition, there are several copies of letters to du Pont family members.

Eugene du Pont (1840-1902) was the eldest son of Alexis I. du Pont (1816-1857) and Joanna Smith du Pont (1815-1876) and joined the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., eventually rising to president in 1899. The bulk of the papers in this small collection are letters sent to Eugene du Pont by his mother while he was in school in Philadelphia from 1857 to 1859.

Eugene Eleuthère du Pont (1882-1966) was an industrialist and a descendant of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), who founded E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in 1802, a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. He attended Harvard University from 1899 to 1903, graduating with an A.B. degree before joining the family business. Eugene E. du Pont kept this scrapbook during his years at Harvard, continuing to the year of his world travels. There are a few pieces relating to the Harvard Class of 1903. However, the bulk of the material consists of articles, particularly poetry.

Eugene S. Ferguson (1916-2004) was one of the founders of the discipline of the history of technology, both through teaching at Iowa State University and the University of Delaware and by working at the Smithsonian Institution and the Hagley Museum. This collection documents the first twenty years of the history of technology as an academic discipline, and networking among its practitioners.

The Everett Worthington Inc. records contain correspondence, purchase orders, design requests, and contractual letters. Clients include, but are not limited to, Stromberg-Carlson, Cincinnati Victor Company, Coca-Cola, Toastmaster, Story & Clark Piano Company, Gillette Safety Razor Company, Robert W. Irwin Company, Waterbury Clock Company and General Motors. Renderings, sketches and photographs detail completed projects. Chicago's 1933 A Century of Progress International Exposition, and the 1936 Great Lakes Exposition in Cleveland, Ohio are well represented. Everett E. Worthington was an industrial designer whose career began in 1915 in San Francisco, and continued in Chicago and New York City.

Remington Arms Company is one of the oldest American manufacturer of firearms and ammunition the largest producer of shotguns and rifles in the United States. This film is a documentary short on target shooting, featuring a demonstration by expert marksmen.

The Textile Fibers Department of the DuPont Company was established in 1936 (known then as the Rayon Department) which specialized in researching and developing synthetic fibers for fabrics such as Rayon, Nylon, Teflon, Corian, and Kevlar. This collection consists of materials once housed in the library of the Experimental Station and culled after the sale of the textile fibers business. The collection has been arranged into six series: Vertical file; Translation logs; Miscellany; Project indexes; Publications; Speeches.

The DuPont Experimental Station is a large industrial research facility founded in 1903; focused on chemistry research. This collection consists primarily of group photographs of new employees in the Central Research Department at DuPont's Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware for the years 1922 to 1959. All individuals pictured are identified.

The Belin plant in Moosic, Pennsylvania was built by the DuPont Company in 1908 for the production of black powder, which it was doing by 1912. This collection consists of photographs of the aftermath of an explosion that occurred there on August 1, 1930.

The Paris Colonial Exposition was a six month exhibit held outside of Paris, France in 1931 displaying the culture and resources of the colonial possessions of France. Opening May 6, 1931, the exhibition was visited by an estimated crowd of seven to nine million people. This collection includes twenty eight photographs of architectural renderings of buildings at the exposition, two photographs of models of buildings, six photographs of the actual buildings (some under construction), and one portrait photograph of M. Marcel Oliver (circa 1880s-1940s), an organizer of the event and former Governor-General of Madagascar. Each photograph is stamped on the back and has the name of the architect responsible.

Exposition Internationale of 1937, was held in Paris, France from 25 May to 25 November. The full title of the exhibition was, Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, which translates to the International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life. The viewbook contains ten postcards of views of the Exposition Internationale held in Paris in 1937. These show both aerial views and images of the exteriors of buildings

F. Weber & Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer and supplier of artists' materials. Ernest Gustav Weber (1888-1965) was owner Frederick Theodore Weber (1845-1919)'s son. After their father's death, Weber and his brother, Frederick William Weber (1890-1972), were business partners running the supply store. This item is Ernest Gustav Weber's journal. The journal contains income and expenses from 1905 and 1906. There are also some lists of correspondence, addresses, and travel information.

This collection consists of thirty-five glass negatives and one box. It documents locations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Fairmount Park system. While the photographer is unidentified, and the images are undated and unlabeled, most images appear to depict Wissahickon Valley Park, historically part of the Fairmount Park system.

Falls Manufacturing Company manufactured fire-door hardware. The company was founded by John C. Kortick (1870-1933), who served as general manager and president. Falls Manufacturing Company's product line included post caps, bases, and joist hangers. This presentation album showcases the fireproofing protection provided by the San Francisco-based Falls Manufacturing Company in the years following the disastrous 1906 earthquake. The photographs include exterior views of buildings in which Falls fire-doors and other equipment were installed.

Felix Octavius Carr Darley (1822-1888) was an American illustrator known for his illustrations in works by well-known nineteenth century authors. The collection includes a microfilm copy of his 1853 account book which records his work for publishers.

The Ferracute Machine Company of Bridgeton, New Jersey was a press and die business founded by Oberlin Smith (1840-1926), inventor, writer, manufacturer in 1863. The collection consists of materials assembled by Arthur J. Cox for the preparation of the company history, Ferracute: The History of an American Enterprise (1985). This collection has been arranged into seventeen series: Administration; Advertising; Employees; History; Machine tools; Military work; Unions; Patents; Press work; Frederick A. Parkhurst (FAP) Time Studies; Miscellany; Scrapbooks; Drawings; Orders; Payrolls; Press cards; and Account books.

The Ferracute Machine Company was a press and die business founded by inventor Oberlin Smith (1840-1926) in Bridgeton, New Jersey, in 1863. It was incorporated in 1877, and ceased operations in 1968. This group of Ferracute Machine Company records is a small fragment preserved by an employee that primarily contains legal files and financial statements.

F.F. Slocomb Corporation was a manufacturer of special machinery and component parts. The Company was established as F.F. Slocomb & Company in 1898, in Wilmington, Delaware by Frank F. Slocomb (1860-1931). This collection consists largely of unidentified loose photographs of machinery produced by the company. There are six views taken on the shop floor; some of these show workers.

F.H. Dow & Company was a manufacturer of chocolates and candy. This album contains of photographs from F.H. Dow & Company of Boston, Massachusetts, showing various box designs for Utopian chocolates.

The DuPont Company is a chemical company which commercially produces synthetic fibers such as Kevlar. This collection consists of three pieces of artwork which were created for the DuPont Company Textile Fibers Department and hung in a shared work area. The artwork are photostats and are signed “ELF”. The three pictures show various small, cheerful animals making synthetic fiber by three different methods that are actually used (in slightly more sophisticated form) industrially.

Items with a specific and limited use, created with the intention of being discarded after serving their purpose, are called ephemera. This collection consists of mixed-format ephemera from various endeavors within American culture, primarily the manufacturing and selling of products or services.

Established in 1909, Finnesey & Kobler manufactured delivery wagons and carriages. This collection consists of thirteen builders photographs of wagons made by Finnesey & Kobler, N.E. corner Brown and 27th Streets, Philadelphia. Each wagon is posed in front of the office and warehouse.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. The company was established in 1802 and began with the production of gunpowder. Collection consists of five photographs, four of which are exterior views of historic structures in Wilmington. Two fire companies are pictured, the Friendship Firehouse in the late 1800s and the fire station of Company No. 1

World's Fairs, also known as International Expositions, are large-scale exhibitions that highlight technology, agriculture, and other innovations of national or cultural significance. The Century 21 Exposition, also known as the Seattle World's Fair, ran from April 21 to October 21, 1962. It began as an effort by Seattle city councilman Al Rochester (1895-1989) to revitalize the downtown core and recreate the success of the city's Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909. It evolved within a few years under the direction of general manager Ewen Dingwall (1914-1996). He changed the initial "Festival of the West" theme to "America's Space Age World's Fair." This item is a first edition souvenir commemorative album documenting the first transcontinental telephone call via the groundbreaking Telestar Satellite from U.S. Senator Warren G. Magnuson (1905-1989) and Senator Robert Kerr (1896-1963), calling Washington State Governor Albert Rosellini (1910-2011) and Ewen Dingwall from atop the newly constructed, 600-foot-high Space Needle.

The Fitz Water Wheel Company specialized in the manufacture of water wheels and small power plants, although it also manufactured grain dryers and blowers. John Fitz (1847-1914), who succeeded his father as head of the firm, developed the modern steel overshot water wheel. These photographic prints are transfers from the Fitz Water Wheel Company manuscript collection. They document different residential and commercial sites where Fitz Water wheels were installed.