Finding Aids

The Hercules Powder Company was one of the companies created from the break up of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours "powder trust" in 1911 as ruled by a U.S. Supreme Court decision. In its early years as a separate company, it continued to produce explosives and dynamite and used advertising styles and devices. This item is a poster depicting a World War I soldier leaving home and telling his hunting dog, "Not this trip Old Pal."

The Laflin and Rand Powder Company, one of the largest gunpowder manufacturers in the nineteenth century, was formed from several predecessor companies. The company was acquired by DuPont in October of 1902, and it was operated as a subsidiary. This is a group of four display card advertisements for Laflin & Rand Powder, probably for point-of-sale or counter display.

The Pleasant Valley Wine Company is a historic winery founded near Hammondsport, New York, on Lake Keuka in 1860. This brochure is illustrated with seven color lithographic views of wine production and three black-and-white illustrations of the company's wine bottles.

The C.A. Edgarton Manufacturing Co. was a textile manufacturing company based in Shirley, Massachusetts, founded in 1881 by Charles A. Edgarton (1826-1891). It distributed Shirley President Suspenders, also known as Perry suspenders. This small collection consists of a single display card advertising Shirley President Suspenders, meant to be placed in store windows. It is number four in a set of six, titled "Bowling Girl." (The other pictures in the set are "Golfing Girl," "Ball Playing Girl," "Tennis Girl," "Fishing Girl," and "Billiard Girl.")