Finding Aids

Members of the Curtis family were paper manufacturers at Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, and Newark, Delaware. Alfred A. Curtis (1848-1945) was president of the family paper company from 1911 to 1926. The papers consist of personal and family items collected by Alfred A. Curtis. Included in the collection is a scrapbook of photographs and newspaper clippings, a number of loose papers and clippings, and several histories of the Curtis Paper Company. The papers also contain some letters and notes of Alfred A. Curtis, many connected with genealogy and family history.

The Curtis Paper Company was a small producer specializing in high-quality paper located in Newark, Delaware. This small collection of records consists of incorporation papers from 1911 and financial reports dating from 1941 to 1946. There are two agreements and two letters related to the sale of the company from Alfred A. Curtis (1848-1945) to Charles M. Levis (1859-1941) and Herbert W. Mason (1882-1939) in 1926.

The Curtis Paper Company was a small producer specializing in high-quality paper located in Newark, Delaware. Their records consist primarily of account books, with some organization papers, deeds, and correspondence.

For what appears a brief moment in early aviation history, the Wright Brothers competed their airplanes in public demonstrations. The Curtiss Exhibition Co.'s Glenn Curtiss piloted one of his biplanes, and Walter Brookins piloted a Wright biplane. Three photos show the Curtiss biplane on the beach before take-off with a Boardwalk crowd nearby. Two others show the Curtiss and Wright airplanes separately in flight.

Windsor Farms is one of Richmond's first planned neighborhood, primarily of Colonial Revival design. Architects included Duncan Lee, William Lawrence Bottomley, and C.W. Huff Jr. This collection includes plans, elevations, details, and typed specifications for a house built for Eugene E. du Pont (1914-1995) by architect C.W. Huff Jr.

The C.W. Parker Amusement Company produced various amusement devices, such as shooting galleries and ferris wheels, but was best known for its carousels named "Carry-Us-Alls." When the company was founded in 1894 by C.W. Parker (1864-1932) in Abilene, Kansas, it was the only carousel manufacturer not on the east coast. This small collection of records documents the professional life of C.W. Parker, the "Amusement King" and his company. The collection comprised of textual material, including financial records, correspondence with other manufacturing vendors, and publications regarding the company's progress.

Cyril C. Thompson (1892-1976) had a long career in the accounting, management and public relations sides of the aviation industry, joining near the beginning of commercial aviation in 1928 and retiring just as the era of commercial jets began. Thompson was as an executive of United Air Lines for eighteen years, and later an airport planner, consultant, and prolific author and speaker. The papers of Cyril C. Thompson consist of a selection of items that he retained as mementos of the different stages of his career, plus materials and drafts for an unpublished biography of Idaho Senator William E. Borah and a never-completed personal history of United Air Lines on which he was working at the time of his death.

This collection represents materials collected by Cyrus J. Sharer for his research on the iron and steel industry and particularly the world iron ore trade. The main emphasis is on the iron ore trade of the Great Lakes. The period covered, mid-1960s to mid-1980s, was one of crisis and reorganization in the American steel industry and in the lake ore trade, and this is reflected in the records.

The Dallin Aerial Surveys Company produced aerial photographs for newspapers, businesses, municipalities, and private individuals. The company was founded in 1924 by Colonel J. (John) Victor Dallin (1897-1991), a Royal Flying Corps-trained pilot who served in World War One. During WWI he became involved in aerial photography on a reconnaissance mission during the latter stages of the war. This collection consists of over 13,000 aerial photographs primarily of the Mid-Atlantic region taken between 1925 and 1941. The company made vertical and oblique aerial photographs of factories, private estates, schools, country clubs, towns, airports, rivers, and many other sites and some news events of the day. The subject with the largest number of views is the city of Philadelphia.

Dan Dee Pretzel and Potato Chip Company was an American snack food manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio. This collection consists of nine short, silent film reels depicting select manufacturing and packaging processes at the company's factory and warehouse.

Daniel Cauffiel (1867-1930) was a merchant, real estate developer, and entrepreneur of Johnstown, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware. The Daniel Cauffiel papers depict his career as a small business entrepreneur and as an agent or employee of the du Pont family and in their various businesses.

Daniel Rochford (1900-1989) spent the bulk of his career as a publicist in the Employee Relations Department of the Standard Oil Company. Before joining Standard Oil in 1944, he worked a series of jobs trying to utilize his skills in publicity and public relations throughout the 1930s and early 1940s. Rochford's papers are a mix of business and personal items, assembled over the course of his varied career.

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-). The collection consists of research files compiled by Hounshell Smith for the purpose of writing the book. Research files include copies of correspondence, articles, reports, patents, chronologies, organizational charts, and contracts from the DuPont Company from 1903 though 1980.

David Harrison Cope (1913-2001) held a lifelong interest in railroads and, in particular, steam locomotives. He began collecting photographs at an early age. This collection primarily consists of black and white photographs and negatives of steam locomotives from a variety of railroads, but it includes some other rolling stock, station photos, related railroad items such as coaling stations and some street railroads, interurbans, and trolley images.

David H. Dawson (1908-1976) was a chemist, senior vice president, and Executive Committee member at the DuPont Company, where he worked for forty years. Dawson's papers consist of speeches and published papers related to his professional life. They also include materials related to his undergraduate education at Drexel University and The Ohio State University, including his doctoral dissertation on heavy water, which probably relates to the hydrogen bomb's development during World War II. There are also some early engineering publications.

David Sarnoff (1891-1971) was president of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), one of the country’s leading manufacturers and vendors of radios, phonographs, and televisions. He established the David Sarnoff Library, to house his private papers and professional records. The collections developed further with the acquisition of papers of former RCA executives, scientists, and engineers. There are twenty collections from the David Sarnoff Library. Cumulatively it includes thousands of linear feet of documents, reports, photographs, films, and publications detailing the rise and fall of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and of Sarnoff, its longtime leader. The list of links in this resource will take you to the finding aids for collections within the David Sarnoff Library at Hagley.

The David Sarnoff Library was established at the David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, New Jersey in 1967 as a showcase for the accomplishments of long-time Radio Corporation of America (RCA) head David Sarnoff. After five years of activity, the Library was largely moribund until the arrival of Alex Magoun as Curator (later Executive Director) in 1998. Under his leadership, the Library expanded its mission to include the history of RCA in general and the David Sarnoff Research Center in particular. Due to lack of funding, the David Sarnoff Library closed in 2009. The collection documents the creation and evolution of the Library through board of directors records, correspondence, reports, oral histories, and photographs.

David Sarnoff (1891-1971) was the iconic leader of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) for most of the company's history. For many years the only Jewish executive in the communications field, Sarnoff was highly influential in the development of radio and television. The focus of the David Sarnoff papers is the original David Sarnoff Collection assembled by Sarnoff to celebrate his career. However, the papers also include the extensive photographic, publicity, and administrative files created by his staff at RCA and a substantial audiovisual component.

The David Sarnoff Research Center (DSRC) in Princeton, New Jersey was the central research organization for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) from 1942 to 1987. Following GE’s acquisition of RCA in 1986, the DSRC was donated to SRI International as a contract research laboratory. Renamed the Sarnoff Corporation in 1997, it was integrated into SRI in 2011. The records document the pioneering research of its scientists and trace the history of the organization from its establishment into the twenty-first century.

David Thomas (1794-1882) was a Pennsylvania iron manufacturer who introduced into the United States the use of anthracite coal in the manufacture of pig iron. The papers consist of twenty-eight letters received by Thomas between May 1839 and 1842. They contain important new information on one of the textbook examples of nineteenth century technology transfer.

David Thomas (1794-1882) was a Pennsylvania iron manufacturer who introduced into the United States the use of anthracite coal in the manufacture of pig iron. The papers consist of typed transcripts twelve letters, the bulk of which were sent by David Thomas to his niece, Jane Harris Bowen, and nephew, David Harris, in Wales. The letters deal primarily with family news, but Thomas also writes about general business conditions, the level of prices and wages and the Civil War.

The Dayton Display Fixture Company manufactured and sold grocery store display equipment. Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, the firm operated between 1919 and World War II, selling metal shelving and refrigerated and electrified fruit and vegetable displays. This collection consists of a single album containing sales sample photographs that show product and floor displays for grocery store fruits and vegetables and dry goods in the 1930s.

The D.E. Jones Company, and its successor, Edith N. McConnell, were caterers and confectioners in Wilmington, Delaware. The records consist of recipe books, account books, and ledgers that identify individual and corporate customers, and describe types of food prepared for and purchased by clients, who were generally entertaining guests.

The Chicago Railroad Fair was the first exposition after the Second World War and the last exposition that featured railroads as its theme. It marked the centennial of the arrival of railroads to Chicago and their role in westward expansion. This is a postcard of the narrow gauge Deadwood Central train that carried visitors around the fairground.

Oliver Canby (1716-1754) was a miller on the Brandywine Creek. This collection of deeds and indentures documents the acquisition of mills or mill seats, and other lands near the Brandywine Creek in Wilmington, Delaware by the Canby family. This collection was in the possession and care of the Canby family until it was given to Hagley Museum and Library in 2011 by a descendant of Oliver Canby.

The Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company was incorporated in 1874, for the purpose of forming a second railroad route between the cities of New York and Philadelphia. Their records consist primarily of basic corporate documents such as minutes, account books, annual reports to the I.C.C., and agreements.

The Delaware Coach Company was originally incorporated as the Wilmington & Philadelphia Traction Company on June 25, 1910, and operated an electric street railway line from Wilmington, Delaware, to Chester, Pennsylvania, and to Philadelphia. Throughout the early twentieth century, the company purchased stock in and leased numerous electric railway, transportation, and utilities companies in the Wilmington and Chester areas. In 1941, it changed its name to the Delaware Coach Company as trackless trolleys and buses replaced electric streetcars. Included are official documents and correspondence; personnel and financial records; public relations files; land deeds; legislation; labor agreements and contracts; equipment, fare, and route policies; ordinances; minute books, and other miscellaneous material created by Delaware Coach and its predecessor electric streetcar companies.

The Delaware Construction Company was a building company, constructing residential houses in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. It was founded in 1909 as a subsidiary of the National Real Estate Trust Company, which provided loans and financing for the properties. This small collection consists of five blueprints of houses by E. Olney Sherman, dated 1910 for Delaware Construction Co.

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, constructing residential homes in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. This collection contains photographs of fifteen homes taken between 1910 and 1914. The images are of exterior views only.

St. Andrew's congregation was founded in 1829 in Wilmington, Delaware. This collection contains two Delaware Engagement Calendars, "Historical Edition 1638-1840" and "Historical Edition 1840-1905" for calendar years 1958 and 1959 respectively.

The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad was one of the largest and most prosperous anthracite mining and transporting companies in Pennsylvania.Their records consist of minutes of the DL&W and its two direct predecessors.

The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (DL&W) Railroad was one of the largest and most prosperous anthracite transporting and mining companies in Pennsylvania. This collection consists of dated and undated views of a boiler, breakers, collieries, fan houses, hoist, mule barns, pumps, shafts, steam plant, tunnels and an electric power plant in the anthracite mining areas in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties of eastern Pennsylvania.

This collection is three photographs of the razing of Delaware Memorial Hospital. When originally founded in 1887, it was called Homeopathic Hospital since that was the branch of medicine that was practiced there. In 1940, it was renamed Memorial Hospital. It continued to serve the public also providing allopathic care until it was razed in 1985.

This item is a map of Delaware Park racetrack area showing property boundaries. Parking areas are identified. Buildings are numerically coded, but there is no corresponding key. William duPont, Jr. and Donald P. Ross designed and built Delaware Park Racetrack. Phillip T. Harris of Media, Pennsylvania was hired as the architectural engineer. The facility opened on June 26, 1937. Although the park closed briefly during the 1980s, over the years, it has expanded to include a full-service casino and other amenities

Pierre S. du Pont incorporated the Delaware School Auxiliary Association in 1919 to finance the construction of new school buildings throughout Delaware. Between 1918 and 1940 he donated $5,000,000 to build some 120 schools. This collection contains photographs, almost all exterior, of 114 public elementary and secondary schools in Delaware.

Aerial view showing crowded fairgrounds. The Delaware State Fair began as the Kent and Sussex County Fair in 1920, and is now known as the Delaware State Fair. 1928 was the last year the Delaware state fair was held at the Elsmere site.

Miscellaneous records including information about educational facilities in Delaware.

Delaware Steel and Ordnance Company, Inc. was a salvage corporation headquartered in New York, although its plant operations were in Delaware. The firm was chartered in 1915 when it took over the Diamond State Steel Company of Delaware. This item is a work log or diary of a post-World War I contractual operation engaged to remove and dispose of deteriorated ammunition from 1927 through 1928 at the Curtis Bay Ordnance Depot and the Raritan Arsenal. The log details the project from the initial contract, rules and regulations, weather summary, accidents, visitors, data, and other statistics of daily work performed by the Delaware Steel and Ordnance Company. Kenneth E. Cross (1898-1979), the compiler of the log, was hired to be an assistant to the superintendent at Curtis Bay Ordnance Depot.

Documents related to the Delaware State Trapshooting Championship, held at various locations throughout state, mainly Wilmington Trapshooting Association in Newark, Delaware and Silver Lake Sportsman's Association in Magnolia, Delaware. Also included are programs from the Grand American Trapshooting Tournament.

Orlando Wootten (1909-1997) was the photographer for the Salisbury (Maryland) Daily Times and Wicomico Historical Society. Collection consists of documentary views of three flour and feeds mills from the Delmarva area

Delaware Power & Light Company had its beginnings in the 1880s as a number of small power companies sprang up to provide electric service to the Delmarva Peninsula. These 1926 images document the construction of gas towers and substations at the Christiana and Brandywine power plants in the Wilmington, Delaware.

A booklet produced by the American Iron and Steel Institute's Committee of Steel Plate Producers in the 1960s to illustrate imaginative and attractive designs in constructing community water-storage structures with steel.

By the time this manuscript was written in the late eighteenth century, the inclusion of fireworks at celebrations across Europe had been well-established for centuries. In the second half of the eighteenth century, commercial firework displays in particular rose in popularity among audiences across the social spectrum. This collection is comprised of a single manuscript volume with contemporary binding, quarter leather, with marbled paper over boards, all edges speckled in red, and silk endbands. Produced in England circa 1780, the volume consists of 13 leaves containing ink drawings of designs for artificial fireworks.

The Dimmick family were descendants of the founders of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical research and manufacturing company. The collection contains a microfilm copy of correspondence between Joanna (Smith) du Pont (1815-1876) and her daughter, Joanna (du Pont) Dimmick (1854-1901), and letters from Sophie M. du Pont (1810-1888) to her niece, Dimmick, and the latter's step-daughter, Lavinia Elizabeth Dimmick (1874-1946). The letters are personal in nature, including du Pont family news.

The Directors of Industrial Research (D.I.R.) is a forum for the exchange of ideas and information on topics of mutual interest for directors of America's foremost industrial research laboratories, formed in 1923. The records of the Directors of Industrial Research are an important collection, primarily because of their documentation of the development of industrial research. These records provide ample opportunity for the study of a powerful elite of corporate researchers, and a close-up view of certain aspects of the relationship between science and big business in the twentieth century.

The Disposor Corporation was the sales agent for the General Fan Corporation of New York City in the 1930s. This collection consists of fourteen photographs of the General Fan Corporation's various mechanical products (ventilation and cooling units) on display at exhibits or installed in businesses, including a ship and restaurants. The album was put together by the Disposor Corporation for sales purposes.

Victor Herbert (1859-1924) was a composer, conductor and cellist. This item is sheet music of the Dodge Brothers March which was composed in honor of Horace E. Dodge (1868-1920).

Domenico Mortellito (1906-1994) was a designer, muralist, and sculptor noted for working in plastics and other synthetic materials. The majority of the materials in this small collection deal with the design and execution of the DuPont Pavilion at the second New York World's Fair in 1964-1965, including correspondence, studies, drawings, and photos of the take-apart model of the original design.

A match cover or a matchbook cover is a thin piece of cardboard that is folded around a set of match sticks. Chemist, John Walker (1781-1859) invented the match stick in 1827. Joshua Pusey (1842-1906?), an inventor and attorney patented matchbook covers in 1892. Within a short time hotels, restaurants, airlines, and all kinds of stores began advertising using matchbook covers. This is a small collection of matchbook covers consists advertising hotels, restaurants, banks, elections, products, and organizations. Most of the matchbook covers are from Texas and New Mexico with a few coming from other states.

Donald Hoke (1951-) and Carolyn Hoke (1951-) are co-owners of Vintage Steam Products, LLC, which manufactures and sells restoration materials for Stanley steam vehicles in Texas. Don Hoke created the Virtual Steam Car Museum, Inc. in 2011. Sparked by eight years at the Milwaukee Public Museum curating the Dietz Collection, he started collecting typewriter ephemera privately and discovered eBay in 1995. A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for producing written characters using a key to strike an inked ribbon to transfer ink or carbon onto paper. This collection of typewriter advertising and ephemera offers great insight into the technological development of the typewriter through its beginnings in the 1870s until its eventual dissolution in the 1990s. The plethora of advertising ephemera helps frame the typewriter historically and sociologically, offering insight into the careers of typists and the migration of the typewriter from the office into the home. Trends in advertising and industrial design through the twentieth century are also represented in this collection and will offer ample evidence of these evolutions to researchers.