Finding Aids

William du Pont, Sr. (1855-1928) was an industrialist and member of the prominent du Pont family of Delaware, whose family business was the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, also known as the DuPont Company which was a large manufacturer of gunpowder. He worked for the first DuPont dynamite manufacturer, Repauno Chemical Company, as secretary and treasurer (1880-1884) and after the tragic death of Lammot du Pont (1831-1884), as president (1884-1892). William du Pont, Jr. was the youngest child of du Pont, Sr. and Annie Rogers Zinn du Pont (1858-1827). Du Pont Jr. became the president of Delaware Trust Company in 1929, the youngest bank president in Wilmington at that time. In 1952, he became chairman of the board, retaining both positions until his death in 1965. The William du Pont family papers are organized into two record groups: William du Pont, Sr. papers and William du Pont, Jr. papers. The William du Pont, Sr. papers primarily encompass the years of his active business life from the early 1880s to his death in 1928. There are also some papers from his early life and after his death. The William du Pont, Jr. papers document areas of his activities predominantly concerned with land development in Wilmington, Delaware; farming, animal breeding and foxhunting in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia; and promotion of horse racing in the United States, especially in Delaware.

William du Pont (1855-1928) was an industrialist and member of the promienent du Pont family of Delaware, whose family business was the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, also known as the DuPont Company which was a large manufacturer of gunpowder. He worked for the first DuPont dynamite manufacturer, Repauno Chemical Company, as secretary and treasurer (1880-1884) and after the tragic death of Lammot du Pont (1831-1884), as president (1884-1892). This small group of papers encompass both correspondence and various financial and investment accounts, largely covering his ten years spent in England after leaving the United States in 1893.

William F. Gardner (1840-1907) was a minister for the Episcopal Church. The letter is a general farewell upon being assigned to a new parish, urging his parrishoners to keep in the faith and look to the upkeep of the parish.

The collection primarily consists of newspaper clippings, telegrams, resolutions, and correspondence regarding Ramsay's death and funeral.

William Gouverneur Ramsay (1866-1916) trained as a civil engineer at the University of Virginia, finishing his course work in 1887. After a career working at various times in canal, railroad, chemical, dynamite, and coal industries, in 1903, Ramsay became Du Pont's chief engineer and directed the construction of many of the largest explosives factories in the United States. In 1916, Ramsay became a director and vice president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, in addition to retaining his position as chief engineer. The William G. Ramsay family correspondence comprises sixty-four letters. They are largely addressed to William himself, from a variety of interlocutors, but mostly members of his own family. The majority of the letters are written by women, and thus provide a powerful picture into women’s lives and roles in the Ramsay family at the turn of the century across the Eastern seaboard.

William H. Horstmann & Co. was a manufacturer and retailer of civilian and military equipment. The material is primarily receipts, a small amount of correspondence related to inspection of goods or contracts, and a newspaper clipping of an engraving of the Horstmann's Manufactory.

William H. Savery (1865-1949) was a paper manufacturer and president of the Harpers Ferry Paper Company, the Harpers Ferry Electic Light Company, and the Shenandoah Pulp Company. He was also president and general manager of the Parsons Engineering Company. The collection documents Savery's involvement with the Parsons Engineering Company, the York Haven and Harpers Ferry Paper Company from 1899 to 1920.

The Morris family of Philadelphia were brewers, merchants, land speculators, manufacturers, and prominent participants in public affairs. Their papers are primarily from Samuel and Isaac W. Morris. However, the collection includes papers from other family members from the first Anthony Morris to John Thompson Morris (1847-1915), the founder of the Morris Arboretum in Germantown. There are also papers from members of the Wistar, Paschall, and Mifflin families allied by marriage.

William Hilles Ward (1892-1961) was a chemist, who specialized in explosives serving in high positions at the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company and the Remington Arms Company, Inc. The collection includes press clippings, speeches, photographs of Ward and the DuPont Board of Directors, birth and death certificates for Ward and his wife Sophie Hodges Ward (1894-1968), obituaries and memorials.

William Sellers & Co. was an iron works that manufactured machine tools used for turning, planing, shaping, drilling, boring, or cutting metal or wood. The company was founded in 1848 as Bancroft & Sellers by mechanical engineers and inventors Edward Bancroft (1811-1855) and William Sellers (1824-1905). The records consist of five volumes, as well as correspondence from William Sellers and the Sellers firm.

William Young (1755-1829) was a Philadelphia bookseller and later a manufacturer at Rockland, Delaware. This item is a photocopy of letter of introduction from William Young to Charles and Victor du Pont for Frederick Rapp.

William Young (1755-1829) was a Philadelphia bookseller and later a manufacturer at Rockland, Delaware. Letters to Young regarding paper business, two ship bill of lading, and two legal documents on paper produced by Young.

The Wood family was founders of one of Philadelphia's great Quaker mercantile and manufacturing families, and within a couple of generations founded the Wawa Dairy Farms. The papers were primarily collected by Julianna Randolph (1810-1885), wife of Richard D. Wood (1799-1869), and include correspondence from Julianna Randolph, her parents Edward (1784-1834) and Mary Taylor Randolph (1790-1868), and her husband Richard Wood. The letters are almost entirely limited to correspondence within the Wood-Randolph kinship group.

Samuel Gardiner Wright (1781-1845) was a West Jersey Quaker merchant and ironmaster who conducted a wide-ranging mercantile business based in Philadelphia, iron furnaces in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and in southern Delaware and maintained a country house and farm in Monmouth County, N.J. The papers document his varied business interests, especially iron manufacture and sales. There are smaller quantities of papers from his wife, sons and grandson.

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.

The Young and McAllister families were prominent families in the Associate Presbyterian community in Philadelphia. William Young (1755-1829) was a Philadelphia bookseller and later a manufacturer at Rockland, Delaware. John McAllister Jr. (1786-1877) ran the Philadelphia optical firm of that same name. This small collection of papers relate to the Young, McAllister, and Warner families. Approximately half of the material are correspondence from John Young, William Young, John McAllister Jr., and Joseph T. Warner; the other half are miscellaneous documents related to the families and businesses they were involved with including Rockland Manufacturing Company and McAllister Spectacle Company.