Finding Aids

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.

The George H. Gilbert & Company manufactured broadcloth and cloakings in Ware, Massachusetts, and high-grade woolen flannels, for which it developed a national reputation until 1930. The records consist of applications for fire insurance and insurance policies covering the woolen mill, Gilbert's house, tenant housing, and outbuildings.

Homes on Breck's Lane were owned by William Winder "Chick” Laird Jr. (1910-1989), and served as workers' housing. Laird was the director of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. The record is a single sheet listing the houses on Breck's Lane near Wilmington, Delaware, that were originally workers' housing attached to the Brandywine Works of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company.

Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company began operation in 1831 as a cotton cloth manufacturer in Rockford, Delaware. After the American Civil War, the company concentrated on finishing cotton cloth, purchasing the Kentmere Mills adjoining their original site in 1895 and a third plant for manufacturing at Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1910. The company acquired another textile firm, the Eddystone Manufacturing Company, in 1925. This collection comprises records from both the Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company and the Eddystone Manufacturing Company, along with records from several predecessors and subsidiaries. The Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company records trace the firm's history from 1831 through 1961, with the Managing Director's letter books, in particular, giving a very detailed picture of the company's operations. The records of the Eddystone Manufacturing Company and its predecessors are relatively complete and offer a good picture of a medium-sized textile firm that was typical of the mid-Atlantic states.

The Wyomissing Development Company was a housing development firm for the employees of a manufacturer of knitting machinery, the Textile Machine Works. Both companies were incorporated by Henry Janssen (1866-1948) and Ferdinand Thun (1866-1948). The collection contains two minute books which document the organization of the Wyomissing Development Company, the acquisition of land for the company town and other public facilities including stores, parks, playgrounds, schools, and hospitals.