Finding Aids

DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company was a pharmaceutical research and manufacturing plant formed in 1991 through the joint venture of the DuPont Pharmaceutical Company and Merck & Co., a leading competitor in the pharmaceutical industry. The records consist of items taken from the files of Josephine K. Baker, clinical research coordinator. They are primarily the sort of materials issued to employees, including annual and quarterly reports and employee newsletters.

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.

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 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. Lavoisier Library is the library at the DuPont Company's Experimental Station, a large industrial research facility focused on innovative advancements in chemistry located in Wilmington, Delaware. The records in this collection consists of files assembled to document various aspects of the company's history, its policies and products, and the writings and speeches of executives and researchers.

The Electric Hose and Rubber Company (EHRC) was a manufacturer of braided rubber hoses in Wilmington, Delaware, from 1900 to 1978. The company specialized in the manufacture of consumer-grade garden hoses, as well as industrial-grade hoses for pumping gas and military functions. This collection includes accounting ledgers, tax information, payroll books, advertisements, company newspapers, employee records, and stockholder information. The collection materials date from 1904 to 1978, with the bulk of the materials dating from the 1920s to the 1960s. This collection would be useful to researchers interested in the history of manufacturing in Delaware, particularly in regard to rubber hoses.

KEMET Electronics Corporation specializes in passive electronic components, including getters (an essential element in vacuum tubes) and capacitors. The name "KEMET" was derived from the words "chemical" and "metallurgy." This small collection consists of employee newsletters and ephemeral publications from KEMET Electronics dating from the 1970s through the 2000s, with some related materials, including a small group of annual reports from Union Carbide from the 1950s.

The Maxim Silencer Company was the first company to manufacture gun silencers for commercial use. The company was founded in 1908 as the Maxim Silent Firearms Company by Hiram Percy Maxim (1869-1936) in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1912, Maxim incorporated his business as the Maxim Silencer Company. Maxim was an engineer and inventor. The records of the Maxim Silencer Company consist of directors' minute books from October 18, 1912, to October 19, 1956. There are a small payroll book showing payments; newsclippings and magazine articles on the company's history; issues of the company magazine from the World War II years; and good selection of the company's trade catalogs, both for the firearms silencers and snowplows and snow blowers.

The Pew Charitable Trusts are a major philanthropic organization based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Part of the Pew Charitable Trusts records in the Manuscripts and Archives Department, the digital archive consists primarily of eGrant products and Pew publications.

The Phoenix Steel Company began in the late 18th century as a manufacturer of cut nails. It later became a major producer of railroad rails and iron and steel structural members. Claymont Division of the Phoenix Steel Corporation was established in 1960 when the company purchased the Claymont, Delaware steel plant from the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. This small collection of materials originating from the Claymont steel plant includes miscellaneous plant announcements, catalogs, labor agreements, photographs, company-issued newsletters, and brief historical essays on the Phoenix Steel Corporation and its predecessors.

Sperry-Sun Drilling Services, Inc. provided drilling services and equipment to the petroleum industry, first in Texas and the Gulf Coast and then world wide. This collection of historical miscellany was collected for a 65th anniversary celebration in 1995 and other materials from the company's public relations office. The principal series is the Historical file. It contains material assembled for the 1995 company history booklet. Many of the documents dealing with the Sun Oil Company, members of the Pew family, Elmer Sperry and the Sperry Gyroscope Company are photocopies purchased from other Hagley accessions.

Susan "Sue" Odell (1938-) worked in microbiology during the 1960s at Avon Products, Inc., a manufacturer and direct selling company of beauty products. This small collection of Avon materials primarily documents Odell's retirement and benefits; there are some employee newsletters and two group portrait photographs: a 1946 Christmas party and a 1947 group outing.