Finding Aids

The Delaware Antiques Show includes guest speakers and antique dealers to display American antiques and decorative arts. Arminda du Pont (1927-1997) was the founder and the first chairperson of the Delaware Antiques Show. Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1869) was a major collector of American decorative arts, his home, became the Winterthur Museum in 1951. This collection includes one candid photograph of Arminda du Pont (Mrs. E. I. du Pont) and Henry Francis du Pont at the 1967 Delaware Antiques Show.

Arnold M. Kneitel (1923-2012) worked for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. in sales and corporate information. He worked on sales of mylar when it was introduced in 1954. The collection consists primarily of 35mm slides of displays, advertisements, and presentations on mylar, including its use in electronic equipment and, primarily in magnetic tape for information processing equipment.

Arthur Wood Tocher (1919-2005) was a transportation history enthusiast, specializing in large vehicles with an emphasis on trucks. This collection consists of truck and car related images. The bulk of the collection contains photographs that Tocher took at truck shows in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The collection also includes images of construction vehicles, postcards of classic cars, a calendar with images of classic trucks, and a large truck photograph mounted on wood.

The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA) was the leading organization working for the repeal of prohibition in the United States. This is a small collection of postcards or stationary cards containing anti-prohibition slogans or quotes. The items are all undated but likely date from 1930 to 1933.

Atlantic Aviation was begun by Henry Belin du Pont (1898-1970) in 1927 to provide services for business aviation. In 1948 it moved from the Du Pont Airport to the new New Castle County Airport south of Wilmington, Delaware. Soon it expanded to other airports around the country. The collection includes portraits and views of Atlantic Aviation facilities at various airports. There are also a few photographs of airplanes, including the Spirit of St. Louis.

Augustus Smith (1868-1932) was a civil engineer and contractor. He held several patents for coaling machinery, such as hoists. These photographs show construction progress and completed buildings, bridges, and coaling stations. There are images of projects Smith worked on or contributed to either as a contractor or engineer. The materials are arranged by company name: Augustus Smith & Co., Bergen Point Iron Works, and Groton Bridge and Manufacturing Co.

The Austin Powder Company is a Cleveland-based manufacturer of industrial explosives and provider of blasting services around North America. The company began in 1833 at a site south of Cleveland, Ohio along the Cuyahoga River. The album contains photographic prints of the Austin Powder Company's plant near Solon, Ohio, circa 1900.

Automatic Merchandising Company operated and installed vending machines. A signature product was the Auto-Snak, a set of food vending machines which dispensed soda, coffee, milk, sandwiches, soup, salads, pastries and ice cream. This album is a promotional salesman sample album of automatic food vending machines for factories, universities, and offices. The album promotes the company's Auto-Snak machines.

Avon Products, Inc. is a manufacturer and direct selling company of beauty products. It is one of the oldest direct selling companies in America. The company was founded in 1886 by David H. McConnell (1856-1937) as the California Perfume Company (CPC). McConnell established a manufacturing headquarters and research laboratory in Suffern, New York, in the 1890s. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, CPC expanded its line of products to include cosmetics, household cleaners, food flavorings, and toiletries. The collection consists of photographs, negatives, slides, films, videos and sound recordings date from 1856 to 2000. The materials depict Avon products, their manufacture, packaging and sale, Avon employees and representatives and the offices, laboratories, factories and other structures owned by Avon Products, Inc. The collection is organized into ten series: Administration, Conferences, Non-sales employees, Domestic locations, International locations, Public relations, Sales managers and representatives, Selling methods and sales aids, Company history and philosophy, and Library, music, and museum.

Avon Products, Inc., manufactures and sells beauty, household and personal care products. In 1989, ground was broken on a new distribution center and warehouse in Suwanee, Georgia. The construction of the site was completed in May 1991 and officially opened in February, 1992. This is a small collection of photographic color prints that document the construction of the Suwanee distribution and warehouse site

Baldwin Locomotive Works was a manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 until 1972. The company was originally located in Philadelphia and then later moved to Eddystone, Pennsylvania. This album contains twenty two photographs of Baldwin Locomotive Works train engines, train cars, and parts. The album appears to have been created by company President S.M. Vauclain for the Trades Exhibit at the Constitutional Centennial Celebration.

Baldwin Locomotive Works was a manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 until 1972. This image shows group of about forty male employes and fifteen factory visitors or managers posed on a 8-inch (?) railway gun mount in the Eddystone, Pennsylvania, plant.

Wilmington is the largest city in Delaware located on the Christiana and Brandywine Rivers. This collections contains four mounted photographic prints showing facades of Wilmington, Delaware, bank buildings

Rose, Kimball & Baxter, Inc. is a wholesale hardware distributor headquartered in Elmira, New York. This item is a scrapbook titled, "Full of Household Hints for the Whole Family," compiled by Barker, Rose & Kimball. It contains circulars that the store considered to be valuable resources for up-to-date hardware information.

The collection consists of photographs of feed supply stores displaying signs advertising Baugh's Fertilizer. Baugh & Sons Company was founded in 1855 and was one of the oldest and largest fertilizer manufacturers in the United States during the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries.

Beech-Nut Packing Company produced foods such as smoked ham and bacon. The company was founded in 1891 in Canajohaire, New York, as the Imperial Packing Co. This is a small collection of photographs that depict employees at work, many of whom are women. The images date from 1905 through the 1910s.

Craft beer is defined by the Brewers Association as being a small brewery (six million barrels of beer or less annually), independent (less than 25 percent owned by a non-craft brewer industry member), and traditional (in reference to ingredients, fermentation, flavor, and alcohol volume). This collection contains a series of interviews conducted in 2015 and 2016 on the business of craft brewing in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. The collection includes interviews with brewers and brewery owners from Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia.

Bell Telephone Company was a telecommunications company that led the Bell System of telephone services throughout North America between 1877 and 1983. This small collection of photographs documents the company's line-laying equipment and process; several images show workers driving tractors, digging trenches, and laying telephone lines. These images would be of interest to scholars of the history of technology and early telecommunications.

Benjamin Ferris (1780-1867) and Thomas Parker (1761-1833) were both watchmakers in Philadelphia in the early nineteenth century. These are watch papers which were inserted in early timepieces and included identifying information about the watchmakers. Each paper lists the makers' Philadelphia addresses, includes a short inventory of his goods.

At the turn of the century, under the direction of Charles Schwab and Eugene Grace, Bethlehem Steel Corporation became the second largest American steel company; combined with its other venture, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., it became a leading 20th century American business. This item is a viewbook which contains exterior views of the Bethlehem Steel Works. These include numerous images of both the plant and office, most of which were taken at street level.

At the turn of the century, under the direction of Charles M. Schwab (1862-1939) and Eugene Grace (1876-1960), Bethlehem Steel Corporation became the second largest American steel company; combined with its other venture, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., it became a leading twentieth century American business. The collection includes a wide range of photography which documents the company’s long history and the breadth of its enterprises from east to west coasts and overseas. It contains eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century industrial and non-industrial images and of management and workers. As a research tool, its use will be as varied and extensive as the corporation itself was during its years as an American industrial giant.

Better Living magazine was an E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont Company) employee magazine that features articles that highlight how the DuPont Company improved the lives of its employees and the American standards of living. Researchers can expect to find original photographs, proofs, contact sheets, and negatives taken for use in the Better Living magazine. The images included are both the ones used and unused in the publication and date from 1946 to 1972.

E. Sachse & Company was a nineteenth century printing company located in Baltimore, Maryland. This item is a color lithograph of an overview of Wilmington, Delaware, looking north from south of the Christiana River.

This collection of glass-plate and acetate negatives of bottle caps was made by the Bond, Crown and Cork Company of Wilmington, Delaware. The designs are for various beer and soft drink labels. Some of the negatives are dated from 1939, and the remainder appear to be from that time period as well.

Bowlus-Du Pont Sailplane, Inc. was a short-lived company which combined the financing of record holding glider pilot, Richard du Pont (1911-1943), and the engineering skills of Hawley Bowlus. This reproduction drawing (there are two copies) includes elevations and cross sections of an Albatross II.

Boyertown Auto Body Works was a manufacturer of delivery truck bodies for commercial and industrial use, as well as specialty and military vehicles. The works manufactured electric, gas, and diesel vehicles and bodies on all types of vehicles. This small collection comprises photographs of food service vehicles manufactured by Boyertown Auto Body Works during the 1960s.

The Brandywine Manufacturers Sunday School (BMSS) was organized in 1817 as a non-sectarian school for the children of the local factory workers, with instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion. This collection contains eleven Kodachrome prints of exterior views of the school building taken by Nancy Wootten (of Wilmington), between 1963 and 1966.

Henry Belin du Pont (1873-1902) was a descendant of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) who founded the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company with his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) in 1802. The E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The collection consists of views of and along the Brandywine Creek. These include the following du Pont family homes: Pelleport, Goodstay, Nemours, St. Amour, and Louviers. These photographs were possibly taken by Henry Belin du Pont (1873-1902).

Brandywine Springs County Park was a popular amusement park in the rural countryside outside Wilmington from approximately 1890 to 1923. This collection consists of a postcard of the arched entrance to the park.

Hagley Museum staff conducted a series oral history interviews between 1954 and 1990, speaking primarily with individuals who had worked at the DuPont Company powder yards on Brandywine Creek during the yards’ final decades of operation or who had lived near the yards as spouses or children of DuPont Co. workers. Some of the individuals who were interviewed donated, lent for copying, or provided information on the photographs in this collection. The images primarily depict the worker communities which surrounded the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company powder yards on Brandywine Creek or the powder yards themselves.

The Bridesburg Machine Works of Alfred Jenks & Son were manufacturers of cotton and wool carding spinning and weaving machinery, shafting and millgearing. The lithograph shows the plant exterior, people in the street, and a delivery wagon carrying textile machinery. Vignettes of machines surround the main view.

Buckley Music System, Inc. was a manufacturer and distributor of jukebox music systems for businesses. This album is a salesman sample catalogue marketing the Buckley jukebox system for restaurants, bars, and clubs. The album consists of thirty-two photographs showing the interiors establishments who have implemented the system.

The Budd Company was a manufacturer of steel automobiles, passenger rail cars, and other transportation products. This collection of photographs include railcar interiors, exteriors, and construction progress images of vehicles for the Budd Company customers between 1931 and 1987. Fifty-four railroads are represented in the collection, but half consist of only a small number of images.

The Budd Company was a manufacturer of steel automobiles, passenger rail cars, and other transportation products. This collection’s photographs focuses on the Budd Company rail division with some images of automobiles and wheel products and manufacturing. The bulk of the materials date from the 1940s, 1950s and the 1980s. The collection is organized into five series: Company executives and employees; Plants and manufacturing; Products; Advertising; and Films and videos.

This album documents a fire test conducted by the Bureau of Standards concerning the effect of fire on steel furniture, possibly among other things. The Bureau of Standards, now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is a non-regulatory federal agency under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Its mission is "to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life."

C. Robert Werle (1893-1990) was an industrial engineer who worked for Cooley & Marvin Company of Boston conducting time studies, as well as analysis of accounting and plant methods for a variety of clients, mostly in the textile, leather, woodworking and metalworking industries. This collection consists of images, advertisements, and sales flyers, for various clients of Werle, specifically a metal packaging company, a cedar chest manufacturer, duplex homes for sale.

Campbell Soup Company is a processed food manufacturing corporation based in the United States. Founded in 1869, the Campbell Soup Company primarily sold canned vegetables, soups, and other non-perishable items until 1897, when the development of a method to produce flavorful condensed soup propelled the company to one of the largest food corporations in the world. The collection consists of five films produced by the Campbell Soup Company sales department from 1940 through the 1960s, focusing on sales personnel training and company promotions.

Canada Dry is a brand of soft drinks best known for its ginger ale. Canada Dry had its beginning when John McLaughlin (1865-1914) opened a small carbonated water plant in Toronto, Canada, in 1890 to manufacture soda water. In the 1930s the company introduced other Canada Dry mixers. Canada Dry expanded worldwide during this period. The album was created as a salesman's flip chart for Canada Dry distributors to show retailers. There are images of Canada Dry products, views of bottling plants and the manufacturing process, as well as advertisements and merchant testimonials.

Cape Charles was established in 1884 as the southern terminus of the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad. The collection consists of photographs showing the early development of Cape Charles. Views of the wharf and harbor areas and the steamship "Cape Charles" built by Harlin and Hollingsworth of Wilmington, Delaware, comprise nearly half the collection.

Capital Airlines was a commercial airline for the eastern, southern, southeastern, and midwestern United States from 1936 to 1961. In the 1950s, it was the fifth-largest airline in the United States. The airline was the first to offer service from the west to Washington D.C., coach class service, in-flight television, and jet-powered commercial aircraft. This collection is of material that would have been presented to a passenger on a flight around 1957, apparently from Buffalo, New York, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then back again.

This collection includes ephemera, postcards, films, advertisements, photographs, documents and objects relating to the history of salt. The collection was assembled by Carol Litchfield (1936-2012), a biologist and biochemist with an interest in halophiles and salt history. These items document the history and development of salt manufacturing throughout the world. Historic and modern methods of salt harvesting are depicted from various areas around the world.

Additionally, this collection includes documentation of Carol’s personal research and participation in salt related conferences and programs.

Carolyn Mann Irving (1891-1987) was the wife of Evelyn du Pont Irving (1886-1968), nephew and one of the heirs of the prominent author Washington Irving's estate. The collection consists of forty-two prints (engravings or lithographs) and two photographic prints which were collected by Carolyn M. Irving. Subjects include animals; Andrew Jackson political cartoons; battle and war images; du Pont related images; European landscapes, town scenes and cathedrals; fashion and religious images.

Carter Litchfield (1932-2007) an organic chemist who studied and specialized in edible fats and oils. This collection of photographs and ephemera relates to Litchfield's activities as a scientist, historian and collector of the history of fatty material. There is also a large amount of advertisements, letterheads, postcards and trade cards.

Catalyst Inc. is a global nonprofit headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing women in the workplace through research, consulting and advisory services, and outreach initiatives geared toward driving positive change. It was founded in 1962 by feminist author and advocate Felice N. Schwartz (1925-1996). Areas of focus have included workplace flexibility, dual-career families, and childcare; women on corporate boards and in leadership positions; diversity, equity, and inclusion issues; sexual harassment; the gender pay gap; and unconscious bias. The Catalyst Inc. audiovisual materials document Catalyst's media appearances, speeches, and events. The largest portion of the collection relates to the Catalyst Awards Dinner and Conference from 1980 to 2010.

The Cavalcade of America was an anthology drama radio program which aired weekly from 1935 to 1953. The radio show was sponsored by the DuPont Company, a chemical company, which began as a manufacturer of gunpowder in 1802. The DuPont Company created the Cavalcade of America as a promotional tool. The program dramatized historical events focusing on individual stories of heroism, and occasionally presented a musical performance. This collection contains recordings of most of the show's episodes and consists of over 2,900 phonograph albums, approximately 500 sound tape reels, 6 sound cassettes and one scrapbook.

The Cavalcade of America was an anthology drama radio program which aired weekly from 1935 to 1953. The radio show was sponsored by the DuPont Company, a chemical company, which began as a manufacturer of gunpowder in 1802. The DuPont Company created the Cavalcade of America as a promotional tool. The collection consists of photographs relating to the Cavalcade of America radio show. The majority are views of rehearsals or live performances; actors and actresses, including numerous Hollywood celebrities such as Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball, and Cary Grant; the DuPont Chorus; live audiences; and the production staff.

The Cavalcade of America television show was an anthology drama which aired on NBC from 1952 to 1953 and ABC from 1953 to 1957. The show was adapted from a radio show of the same name sponsored by the DuPont Company, a chemical company, which began as a manufacturer of gunpowder in 1802.This collections consists of two reels of television commercials for various DuPont products. The commercials feature various spokesmen talking about or demonstrating the products. One commercial features DuPont Company president Crawford Greenewalt.

Cazenove Gardner Lee, Jr. (1882-1945) was a genealogist and prolific writer, who founded the Society of Lees of Virginia. This collection conists of photographs and negatives relating to family and career of Cazenove Gardner Lee, Jr. The images are primarily of various gunpowder mills and machinery.

Captain C.E. (Clarence Edward) "Bim" Argyle (1927-2006) was a riverboat captain for Consolidation Coal and a World War II Navy veteran. He worked primarily on steamers and coal barges along the Monongahela River in Western Pennsylvania. These two albums record Argyle's river experience between 1943 and 1950. There are portraits of his co-workers as well as many photographs of numerous commercial boats.

The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of American Independence. Held in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, it was the first major U.S. world's fair. The collection consists of color-printed cards with views of the exhibition. Included are five views of the major buildings, thirteen state buildings (including Delaware), three international buildings, and one fountain.