Finding Aids

Alfred Victor du Pont (1798-1856) was a senior partner in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a gunpowder manufacturer. This collection of papers documents Alfred V. du Pont’s business affiliations, relations with other family members, and relationship with du Pont workers. The bulk is comprised of correspondence, and the collection also includes a small number of advertising circulars.

The Atlantic Dynamite Company was one of the largest manufacturers of dynamite in the United States between 1882 and 1904. These are four volumes containing entries listing employees, hours worked, and wages paid at a dynamite plant at Kenvil, New Jersey.

Clinton H. Blackburn (1916-1993) was a mechanical engineer with E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. Blackburn's papers are a sample of work-related materials he retained upon retirement.

The Craven-McDade family had several family members working in the gunpowder and explosives industry for the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company and later the Hercules Powder Company. These papers related to the Craven and McDade family of Henry Clay village 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.

DuPont Company Repauno Works manufactured high-explosive dynamite. The company began as the Repauno Chemical Company on June 7, 1880, by Lammot du Pont (1831-1884), a chemist working for the family business, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical company that originally produced gunpowder. In 1980, the Repauno Works celebrated its centennial anniversary. This small collection contains materials generated in the process of organizing the centennial celebration of the Repauno Works.

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 Repauno Works manufactured high explosive dynamite. The company began as the Repauno Chemical Company on June 7, 1880 founded by Lammot du Pont (1831-1884). Lammot du Pont was a chemist working for the family business, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical company which originally produced gunpowder. This collection consists of material for the 100th anniversary of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company Repauno Works.

This collection contains research reports for the purpose of developing and elaborating exhibits and interpretations of the Hagley Museum. The reports were prepared by a permanent research staff and by participants in the Hagley Fellowship Program. The research reports also include scholarly articles that use Hagley's collections or are about subjects that pertain to Hagley's mission.

The Hanford Engineer Works in Hanford, Washington, was constructed between 1943 and 1945 to create the plutonium 239 and uranium 235 used in the atomic weapons needed for World War II. Sponsored by the Army Corps of Engineers, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company acted as the prime contractor. This collection consists of two items: a memorandum and an organizational chart from the Construction Division of the Hanford Engineer Works.

Henry Miller (1845-1926) was first employed at the Brandywine Works of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. In 1922, he was one of the oldest surviving employees when he was interviewed by Alfred I. du Pont (1864-1935). In the interview, Miller describes the layout of the Brandywine Works as it changed over time, as well as the various apparatus and processes used in the manufacture of gunpowder and its constituent ingredients.

Hercules Inc. was a manufacturer of chemicals and munitions based in Wilmington, Delaware. The records consist of a sample of employee personnel records, or service record cards, that date from circa 1914 to 1933, as well as copies of the company pension and retirement savings plans that date from 1982 to 1990. The cards typically contain information on personal characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, age, physical appearance, and family, and also on occupation, wage rates, promotion, discipline, and reasons for discharge. The plants are scattered around the country and thus provide an interesting regional sample of the industrial workforce during the 1910s and 1920s. Pension and retirement savings plans are for both Hercules Incorporated and Simmonds Precision Products, Inc.

James Gibbons of New Castle County, Delaware, was a powder worker at E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. This collection contains his certificate of naturalization, dated October 8, 1860, issued by the District Court held at Wilmington for the District of Delaware.