Finding Aids

Incorporated in 1912, Atlas Powder Company functioned as an independent explosives and chemicals company until 1971, when it was purchased by Imperial Chemical Industries Limited (U.K.) and became its American affiliate under the name ICI Americas, Inc. The collection consists of minutes, reports, and correspondence from Atlas in addition to both predecessor and subsidiary companies.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The Executive Committee became the principal body for coordinating the work of the various departments of the rapidly growing company, establishing company organizational structure and policy; approving capital expenditures and contracts; and fixing salary levels, bonuses, and other compensation. The files are arranged in six series. The "E" files are primarily service record information on members of the Executive Committee, giving some prior history of the person's career with DuPont. The "D" files are limited to organization charts, dating from 1914 to 1917. The "O" files (Operative Committee), "F" files (Finance Committee), and "X" files (Executive Committee) are primarily related to patents and licensing. Finally, materials copied by David A. Hounshell and John K. Smith for their book, Science and Corporate Strategy, are included.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). In 1903 the DuPont Company's Executive Committee established the Experimental Station, a research facility located on the banks of the Brandywine Creek across from DuPont's first black powder works. This collection contains photographs of general views of the Experimental Station showing its growth over time.

The E. I du Pont de Nemours & Company minute books document an important era in the history of the company from just before the turn of the twentieth century through the 1930s. The DuPont Company in this time went through many changes in structure under the leadership of cousins T. Coleman du Pont, Alfred I. du Pont, and Pierre S. du Pont.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. (alternatively referred to as the DuPont Company, or simply DuPont) was reincorporated on February 26, 1902, as successor to the partnership Eleuthère Irénée "E.I." du Pont (1771-1834) and his father Pierre Samuel "P.S." du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) had organized in 1801 for the purpose of manufacturing gunpowder in the United States. During the twentieth century, the company diversified beyond gunpowder and explosives into the broader chemicals industry. The twentieth-century records (dating up to 1972) of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. document the transformation of the company into a modern, centrally administered industrial giant. The collection, however, is not comprehensive for the period, and any company collections received after 1972 were accessioned and processed separately by Hagley Museum and Library.

Eugene du Pont Jr. (1873-1954) was a director of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company from 1917 until 1954, and a great grandson of company founder, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). The collection contains the personal papers of Eugene du Pont, Jr., and the records of the Kinloch Gun Club, a private shooting club which he founded. It also contains a separate collection of correspondence between his brother Alfred I. du Pont, vice president and general manager of the DuPont Company, with his assistant Frank L. Connable, which is an important source for the history of the company in the early 1900s.

Francis Gurney du Pont (1850-1904) was the youngest son of Alexis I. du Pont (1816-1857) and Joanna Smith du Pont (1815-1876), and grandson of Éleuthère Irénée "E.I." du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The papers of du Pont describe both his business activities at E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, his family life, and his activities in the Episcopal Church.

James R. Thomen (1926-) was manager of the Experimental Station from 1975 to 1985 when he retired. The DuPont Company's Experimental initially, was to be a small laboratory to screen inventions which were coming into the company from outside independent inventors specifically for research on black powder, smokeless powder, and dynamite, but soon its mission was altered and it became a large industrial research facility focused on innovative advancements in chemistry. This collection consists primarily of photographs of buildings at the Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware taken between 1910 and 1950.