Finding Aids

Incorporated in 1912, Atlas Powder Company functioned as an independent explosives and chemicals company until 1971, when it was purchased by Imperial Chemical Industries Limited (U.K.) and became its American affiliate under the name ICI Americas, Inc. The collection consists of minutes, reports, and correspondence from Atlas in addition to both predecessor and subsidiary companies.

The Philadelphia chemical manufacturing firm of Carter & Scattergood was founded in 1834. It continued to do business under that name until 1911, when it was sold to the Henry Bower Chemical Manufacturing Company. Their records include day books, ledgers, receipt books, laboratory books containing records of wages, materials, processes and apparatus; production tables; correspondence including one describing in detail the first four years of the firm's operations; and receipts and bills.

Charles Brelsford McCoy (1909-1995) served as the president of the DuPont Company from 1967 to 1973 and as chairman of its board of directors from 1971 to 1973. The collection documents McCoy's tenure in these positions, and they reflect the public role that McCoy played while chief executive officer at DuPont. The files document his involvement in the Business Roundtable, interchanges between DuPont and the federal government, and the role that the DuPont Company played in easing tensions and facilitating the integration of Wilmington, Delaware, in the aftermath of the 1968 riots.

Charles H. DeMirjian (1925-) was a packaging design manager with E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. Records are primarily related to the marketing success and issues realted to Corian, DuPont Car Care products, Zerex, as well as Duco and Lucite paints.

Charles M.A. Stine (1882-1954) was one of the leading research chemists employed by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. The collection contains Stine's published articles and speeches in which he advocated the importance of fundamental chemical research.

Charles M.A. Stine (1882-1954) was one of the leading research chemists employed by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. The collection a small sample of Stine's papers preserved by his family, primarily some of his awards with copies of acceptance speeches, biographical information, and a bibliography of his books and articles.

Crawford H. Greenewalt (1902-1993) was an executive with the DuPont Company and president of the firm from 1948 to 1962. This collection consists of Greenewalt's papers from his time as president and chairman of the board. There is a broad range of external correspondence, internal company communications and reports, presidential working papers, transcripts of speeches, and published articles that make up the collection.

Crawford H. Greenewalt (1902-1993) was an executive with the DuPont Company and president of the firm from 1948 to 1962. In 1942, when the DuPont Company agreed to participate in the Manhattan Project, Greenewalt was named chief liaison, working with the physicists at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory, including Arthur Compton (1892-1962) and Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), who were developing techniques for plutonium separation. The collection consists of eight volumes of Greenewalt's diaries, which describe the history of the Manhattan Project and the development of the United States' first atomic bombs that were used to end the Second World War. The diaries describe the technical history of the project, as well as the relationships that developed between scientists.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Edward Graham Jefferson (1921-2006) was a research chemist and chief executive officer of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. Jefferson's papers consist of his "personal" business files, and do not include his official correspondence as CEO of the DuPont Company. The papers primarily reflect Jefferson's "Head of State" role at DuPont and his membership on the boards of numerous business, trade, and educational organizations. The papers have been arranged in three series: DuPont Company and personal activities, Outside board memberships, and Speeches.

Edwin A. Gee (1920-2013) was trained as a chemical engineer and worked as a metallurgist for the United States Bureau of Mines before joining the DuPont Company in 1948. The papers of Edwin A. Gee are incomplete and represent only a small portion of his work in the Development Department and as a member of the Executive Committee. The surviving records have been arranged in two series that document Gee's involvement in important phases of the company's history: Patent documentation and Diversification and research and development strategy.

Edwin R. Manchester (1885-1954) was editor of DuPont Magazine for thirty years from December 1920 until his retirement in 1950. He joined the DuPont Company in 1918 on a special World War I assignment and became associate editor of DuPont Magazine in August 1919. Manchester's papers provide an indication of the role company magazines played in the advertising strategy of large companies in the first half of the twentieth century. The small collection primarily comprises office files from Manchester's decades as editor of DuPont Magazine within the Advertising Department, although there are a few publications from the Tippecanoe Securities Company, for which Manchester worked prior to joining DuPont.

The Foreign Relations Department of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was first organized on August 1, 1930, for the purpose of improving the exchange of scientific and technical information with DuPont's British counterpart, Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd. These materials consist of records of the International Finance Division within DuPont International, and more particularly the Division's Vital Records Program and Nylon de Mexico reorganization.

DuPont Company's Chestnut Run Laboratories first laboratory was the Textile Research Laboratory whose purpose was to test the effects of normal wear and tear on DuPont's line of synthetic fibers and fabrics, it opened in 1954 near Wilmington, Delaware. The Chestnut Run Technical Library is a branch of the DuPont Technical Libraries, which began in 1958. This collection consists of files related to the work of the scientists at the laboratory; their speeches, research articles, and some periodicals and scrapbooks related to textile design. There are also materials related to human resources polices and procedures; documents from a program about the future growth of the company; and a library subject file.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The DuPont Building was one of the first high-rises in Wilmington, Delaware; it occupied an entire block bound by 10th, 11th, Orange, and Market streets. Until early 2015 the building housed DuPont's headquarters. The collection documents the history of the DuPont Company, as well as its finances, corporate values, special events, and company communications.

The Employee Relations Department of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company became a formal entity in 1951, but each industrial department was responsible for its own recruitment and personnel practices. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. The records include reports, tables of hourly wages for production workers, benefits for employees, and personnel record cards for early twentieth century employees.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company, established in 1802. The Legal Department was established as a staff department in 1905. The records of the Legal Department include copies of the 1899 dissolution agreement and the 1902 incorporation correspondence. The collection is organized into seven series: Administrative papers; Litigation; Vital records; Stockholder files; Historical files; Patent Board files; and Reports to the Executive Committee.

The E. I du Pont de Nemours & Company minute books document an important era in the history of the company from just before the turn of the twentieth century through the 1930s. The DuPont Company in this time went through many changes in structure under the leadership of cousins T. Coleman du Pont, Alfred I. du Pont, and Pierre S. du Pont.

The E.I. du Pont de Nemours Niagara Plant produces a number of specialty chemicals, such as polymer acetates, sodium cyanide, and methyl chloride; the plant was purchased by the DuPont Company in 1930. This small collection of Niagara Plant historical files consists of plant histories, photographs, biographical information on personnel, drawings of plant buildings, and some artifacts.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly known as the DuPont Company. It was established in 1802 and began by manufacturing gunpowder, later moving into chemical compounds. During the 1920s and 1930s, under the leadership of Irénée du Pont (1876-1963), president from 1919 to 1926, and Lammot du Pont (1880-1952), president from 1926 to 1940, the company became the world's leading chemical manufacturer producing smokeless powder, dynamite, dyes, cellophane, textile fibers, and artificial rubber. The records primarily document the presidency of Lammot du Pont, with some fragmentary records from the Irénée du Pont period.

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 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) for the production of gunpowder. The organization charts show the evolution of DuPont's corporate structure, including the period 1919 to 1921, when the decentralized, multi-divisional form was adopted, and the diversification and restructuring of the 1980s. As the charts also show the names of company officials above supervisory rank, they may also be used to follow individual career paths.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's Pontchartrain Works in LaPlace, Louisiana, was a major producer of Neoprene and other elastomers in the latter half of the twentieth century. The records consist of manuals, technical reports, brochures, bulletins, and other material from Du Pont's Louisville Works, Montague Works, and its Maydown Works located in the United Kingdom. Most documents were created by the company's Elastomer Chemicals Department and deal with the manufacture of various synthetic rubbers in the 1950s and 1960s.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The Public Affairs Department began as the Publicity Bureau in 1916, to deal with issues raised by the great increase of business spawned by World War I. Prior to this time, publicity had been handled by the Advertising Division, created in 1911. The Public Affairs Department records contain biographical sketches of deceased officers, employees, and du Pont family members, as well as histories of company plants, predecessor companies, and all line and staff departments. The alphabetical history file contains press releases, memoranda, and pamphlets that were assembled for various public relations campaigns.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company’s R. & H. Chemicals Department manufactured and sold peroxides, cyanide of sodium, formaldehyde, trychloretheline, tin oxide, and polyvinyl alcohol. The department was formed in 1933 as a result of the 1930 acquisition of the Roessler & Hasslacher Chemical Company, which operated a plant in Niagara Falls, New York. The records primarily consist of reports on experimentations with various insecticides, pesticides, preservatives, and other forms of pest and disease-control applied to the farming and agricultural industries.

The 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 it produced chemical compounds. The Real Estate Division was responsible for investigating locations and the acquisition of major facilities throughout the United States. Henry H. Gunther (1919-1960), was a real estate specialist with the DuPont Company. This small collection consists of Gunther's files on acquiring plant sites.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (alternatively referred to as the DuPont Company, or simply DuPont) was reincorporated on February 26, 1902, as successor to the partnership Eleuthère Irénée "E.I." du Pont (1771-1834) and his father Pierre Samuel "P.S." du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) had organized in 1801 for the purpose of manufacturing gunpowder in the United States. During the twentieth century, the company diversified beyond gunpowder and explosives into the broader chemicals industry. The twentieth-century records (dating up to 1972) of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. document the transformation of the company into a modern, centrally administered industrial giant. The collection, however, is not comprehensive for the period, and any company collections received after 1972 were accessioned and processed separately by Hagley Museum and Library.

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.

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.

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.

Francis Gurney du Pont (1850-1904) was the youngest son of Alexis I. du Pont (1816-1857) and Joanna Smith du Pont (1815-1876), and grandson of Éleuthère Irénée "E.I." du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The papers of du Pont describe both his business activities at E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, his family life, and his activities in the Episcopal Church.

Frederick G. Singer (1897-1971) was a manager for the Tariff Division of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's Development Department, working out of the foreign office in Paris, France. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. This small collection consists mostly of organizational charts and lists of officers and products of the DuPont Company and the Grasselli Chemical Company, as well as the products of their competitors, between 1936 and 1937.

Harry J. Haon II (1901-1989) and his son Harry J. Haon III (1934-2013) were chemists and lifetime employees of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and both came to specialize in sales and marketing. The Harry J. Haon family papers are a collection of correspondence, meeting notes/minutes, drawings/maps, journal articles, DuPont publications, papers expressing once classified information about DuPont products, as well as teaching materials for employees who were novice marketing managers, sales personnel and employees in leadership positions. The collection is composed of two series consisting of the papers of Harry J. Haon, II and Harry J. Haon, III. The careers in DuPont of both Haons are well documented.

Henry Bower Chemical Manufacturing Company was a chemical manufacturing company that primarily produced ammonia. The company was formed in 1906 by the merger of three existing companies. The records include account books, production records, sales records, and inventories.

Henry Bower Chemical Manufacturing Company was a chemical manufacturing company that primarily produced ammonia. The company was formed in 1906 by the merger of three existing companies. These records include account books, production records, sales records, and inventories.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The DuPont Building occupied an entire block bound by 10th, 11th, Orange and Market Streets and was one of the first high-rises in Wilmington, Delaware. Until early 2015 the building housed DuPont's headquarters. This small collection of files on DuPont Company history and biographies were removed from the company's downtown headquarters building prior to its move to the suburbs.

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-). As part of their research, Hounshell and Smith conducted sixty-one oral history interviews with forty-seven current and former chemical engineers involved in DuPont's R & D programs. The interviews constitute an exhaustive first-person account of DuPont's research programs with special emphasis on personalities and the organizational culture of the various DuPont research facilities.

Howard Ensign Simmons Jr. (1929-1997) was an industrial scientist and the Research Vice-President in the Central Research Department of the DuPont Company from 1979 until his retirement in 1991. His records document Simmons's role in overseeing the production of "Science and Corporate Stategy" by David A. Hounshell and John K. Smith, a scholarly history of Research and Development at the DuPont Company. Also included are reports on DuPont's diversification program in the late 1960s.

A collection of bulletins and reports from the library of DuPont's Jackson Laboratory. Most were generated by the Organic Chemicals Department, which operated Jackson Laboratory, but others come from other DuPont Departments and their laboratories.

Lammot du Pont Copeland (1905-1983) held various roles at E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, culminating in his tenure as the company's president from 1961 to 1971 and chairman of the board from 1967 to 1971. The collection documents Copeland's years as President and Chairman of the Board. There is also limited material from his earlier roles as Secretary and Vice President. The papers reflect the company's strategy of international expansion during the 1960s, apparent in Copeland's voluminous correspondence with the International Department.

Louis R. Wonderly (1931-) worked in the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company Secretary's Department for thirty years. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. This small collection of Louis Wonderly's papers provides a glimpse into the secretary's work at the DuPont Company. It would be of interest to those researching the DuPont Company's upper-level management and operations from the 1920s through the 1970s.

The office of Alien Property Custodian was created by the Trading with the Enemy Act of October 6, 1917. According to the act, the right to seize enemy property was vested in the president, which was then delegated to the Alien Property Custodian. This collection consists of nine volumes, fifty-eight booklets, and foldouts concerning U.S. patents vested in the Alien Property Custodian (1943-1946). The materials specifically deal with mechanical and electrical patents, as well as chemical patents.

Paul L. Bechly worked in various positions for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company between 1980 and 1993, including research and development, engineering, distribution, sales, and product management. Bechly's papers document his efforts at developing and implementing a successful perfluorocarbon (PFC) policy for the DuPont Company in the early 1990s. The papers also reflect DuPont’s companywide initiative to be at the forefront of environmental policy with regard to the global reduction of PFC emissions.

Founded in 1831 as the Elkinton Company and later renamed, Philadelphia Quartz Company became an important innovator during World War I by discovering that silica gels could be used as a base to manufacture catalysts for cracking crude oil molecules to make high-octane gasoline and developing potassium silicate which was adopted for use in cathode ray tubes. The company's records includes business records and the personal papers of the company's founding family.

Robert E. Holeton (1911-1962) was an organic chemist at the DuPont Company from 1933 to 1962. He was the District Manager of the Petroleum Chemicals Division from 1954 until his death. From 1947 to 1953, Holeton perfomed "Chemical Magic" shows with a colleague in which they would demonstrate the unusual chemical reactions that can occur in the laboratory. These demonstrations were intentended to promote industrial safety. This small collection of Holeton's papers provides insight into his career as an industrial chemist, and then later as a sales represenative and district manager of the Petroleum Chemical Division. The collection strengths are the documentation related to industrial safety and Holeton's work performing the "Chemical Magic" shows and his time working at the Petroleum Chemical Division. There is a small but interesting set of material related to the Woodstown Civil Defense Council.