Finding Aids

Horatio Allen (1802-1889) was a noted civil engineer and inventor, who worked with the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company, the Croton Aqueduct, and the New York & Erie Railroad. The bulk of his the papers is personal correspondence (1818-1864), and biographical materials collected by his family. Also included is a small collection of Allen's business papers, particularly concerning his work on the New York & Erie Railroad.

Andrew Gray Wilson (1844-1905) was well-known among shipbuilders as a preeminent marine engineer and naval architect. This small collection consists of genealogical papers related to the Wilson family, as well as the Driver family and the Merritt family of New York.

Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company began operation in 1831 as a cotton cloth manufacturer in Rockford, Delaware. After the Civil War, the company concentrated on finishing cotton cloth. The collection contains material related to the Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company, Eddystone Manufacturing Company, genealogical notes on the Bancroft-Wood family, and the Delaware postal system.

Charles Lee Reese, Sr. (1862-1940) was a chemist and scientist at the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company from 1902 to 1931. The Charles L. Reese papers are a group of material from his student days, the texts of lectures and articles, biographical materials and genealogical notes.

Consists of the family papers of former DuPont CEO Lammot du Pont Copeland (1905-1983) and his wife Pamela Cunningham Copeland (1906-2001). The Copelands' papers document the lives and interests of a wealthy American couple in the twentieth century. In particular, the papers of Pamela C. Copeland are an important source of information about the public activities of women in the areas of historic preservation, gardening and horticulture, and philanthropy.

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.

Stewart Huston (1898-1971) began his career as a metallurgist and worked in varying capacities in the family business, Lukens Steel Company, in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, from 1923 until his death. Assembled by Huston, the collection relates to genealogy and family history.

Jean Kane Foulke du Pont (1891-1985) was a suffragette, prison reform activist, philanthropist, and wife of E. Paul du Pont (1887-1950). The collection contains three photocopied volumes of her ancestry of many of the earliest families of New Netherland and colonial Pennsylvania. The volumes include an introduction, genealogy tables, reproductions of paintings and photographs, and family lore collected by the author over the preceding sixty-eight years. There is an index at the end of volume three.

The Lainé family was related to Peter Bauduy (1769-1833) a French refugee from Santo Domingo who was a business partner of Eleuthère Irénée "E.I." du Pont (1771-1834) of the DuPont Company. The family papers contain items from several generations and include a diary from Pierre-Francois Lainé's (1775-1846) captivity in Russia, Francois Damas Laine'ś (1823-1901) diary from his visit to France, Marie Lainé Santa Maria's (1866-1961) memoirs as a child living on a sugar plantation in Cuba, translation, and typescripts of the diaries, and genealogical information.

The Wilson and du Pont families were prominent families in the Wilmington, Delaware area. The papers document the daily activities of three generations of Natalies: Natalie Green Driver (Wilson)(1846-1912), Natalie Driver Wilson (du Pont)(1877-1918), and Natalie Wilson du Pont (Edmonds)(1904-1975).

The five generation of the Peirce family owned farmland in Kennet Square, Pennsylvania. Over time the family added recreational facilities and opened the land to the public as "Peirce's Park" now Longwood Gardens. This small collection consists of photocopies of correspondence related the genealogy of the Peirce family.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. In 1800, accompanied by his sons, Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827) and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), he arrived in America. The collection contains photocopies and microfilm of selected documents concerning du Pont de Nemours and members of his family from Mairie de Montargis and Mairie de Chevannes.

Sarah Dennen (1882-1970) was a descendant of G.W. Peirce, the original owner of Peirce's Park (now Longwood Gardens). The collection includes biographical notes and brief reminiscence of Peirce's Park in the late nineteenth century.

The Crofton and Shubrick families were descendants of a prominent French American diplomat and businessman, Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827), and represent middle-class American families in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The collection includes a small amount of material from the Shubrick and Crofton family from the nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century.

The Spruance family was a well-known family in Delaware. The family includes Senator Presley Spruance (1785-1863), Judge William C. Spruance (1831-1913), William Spruance (1873-1935), among many others. The collection includes material related to the genealogy of the Spruance family of Delaware, particularly correspondence from and to members of the Spruance family regarding their genealogy and the book compiled by William Spruance, The Spruance family in Delaware, 1733-1933.

William Young (1755-1829) was a Philadelphia bookseller and later a manufacturer at Rockland, Delaware. Miscellaneous papers including genealogical and biographical information, letter, and paper samples produced by Young.

The Wurts family were involved in the anthracite coal industry. In 1823 four brothers: Maurice Wurts (1783-1854), William Wurts (1788-1858), Charles Stewart Wurts (1790–1859), and John Wurts (1792-1861) founded the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company originally to mine anthracite coal and transport the resource to New York. The company built the Delaware and Hudson Canal and later became the Delaware and Hudson Railway. The Wurts family papers were collected by John Sparhawk Wurts (1876-1958) and reflect both family papers and business records.