Finding Aids

The University of Delaware is the largest university in Delaware. Many of the buildings on campus have a Georgian style facade. This collection consists of twelve postcards showing building exteriors at the University of Delaware and one of St. Thomas Church, Newark, Delaware.

Printing companies often produce sample books, which contain actual samples, not just illustrations. This album contains mostly small pre-printed cards either folded or meant to be folded and used as invitations, dance cards, and programs.

After the U.S. Congress declared war on April 6, 1917, agents of the U.S. government discussed the need for new gunpowder plants with E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, a chemical company more commonly known as the DuPont Company. The DuPont Engineering Company was contracted to survey and do preliminary design for an explosives plant on the Kanawha River sixteen miles west of Charleston, West Virginia. This was to be one of three new government plants and was called Explosives Plant "C." This small collection consists of three panoramic photographs of the U.S. Government Explosives Plant "C" in Nitro, West Virginia, taken after the end of World War I.

Route 1 is a major north-south U.S. highway extending from Florida to Maine. The plat depicts a small portion of Route 1 between Hamorton and the Anvil Inn, including P.S. du Pont's (1870-1952) Longwood Gardens.

Samuel Francis du Pont (1803-1865) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and fought in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. At the start of the Civil War du Pont was appointed a senior member of the Commission of Conference to establish naval operations for the North. du Pont was put in charge of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and broke his flag on the U.S.S. Wabash. This item is a hand-colored lithograph of the U.S.S. Wabash at sea.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) fully adopted federal grading standards for food and other agricultural products during the Second World War. In 1939, the Agricultural Marketing Service, a USDA agency, began administering commodity standardization, grading, and inspections of several programs, including cotton and tobacco. This small collection mostly includes USDA issued publications and reports regarding developments in cotton standards, specifications, and classification in the mid-twentieth century.

Uxbridge Worsted Co., Inc. was a cotton, woolen, and worsted fabrics manufacturer. This item is an appraisal report made by the National Appraisal Company.

Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827) was a French diplomat who later immigrated to the United States and established various trading companies before moving to Delaware. He was the eldest son of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817). The collection consists of correspondence, business and personal papers, and writings of Victor Marie du Pont and his wife, Gabrielle Joséphine (de la Fite de Pelleport) du Pont.

Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827) was a French diplomat. In 1794, he married Gabrielle Joséphine de La Fite de Pelleport (1770-1837), and a year later they came to the United States, where he was appointed as consul at Charleston, South Carolina. They returned to France in 1798, but came back to the United States in 1800 with their children; his father, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817); and his younger brother, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), and his family. Victor and Joséphine du Pont had five children, four surviving to adulthood: Amelia Elizabeth (1796-1869), Charles Irénée (1797-1869), Samuel Francis (1803-1865), and Julia Sophie (1806-1882). (The papers of Samuel Francis Du Pont, husband of Sophie Madeleine Du Pont, are held in Group IX of the Winterthur Manuscripts.) The collection is arranged into three series: Amelia du Pont papers, Charles Irénée du Pont and his wives' papers, and Julia (du Pont) Shubrick and her husband, Irvine Shubrick papers. The papers consist primarily of personal correspondence with family and friends.

The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American phonograph record company. In 1901, Eldridge Johnson (1867-1945) combined his patents with those of Emile Berliner (1851-1929), incorporating the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey and adopting the "His Master's Voice" trademark from Berliner. It increased in success by signing Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) and John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932) among others to recording contracts, by introducing the Victrola with its enclosed horn in 1906, and by improving recording technology. This item is an advertising brochure for Victor Talking Machine Company records.

Victorine du Pont (1792-1861) was the eldest child of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and Sophie Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828). Ferdinand Bauduy (1791-1814) was the son of Peter Bauduy (1769?-1833), business partners with du Pont in DuPont, Bauduy, & Co., and Theresa Bretton des Chapelles (1773-1837). This collection is a copy of their marriage certificate in 1813.

Victorine du Pont (1792-1861), the eldest child of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and Sophie Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828). The album contains poetry and verses written by Victorine and her friends and family, sketches, and watercolors.

Victorine du Pont Foster (1849-1934) was the granddaughter of Eleuthère Irénée "E.I." du Pont (1771-1834) who founded the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical company which began with the production of gunpowder. Her husband was Antoine Foster (1847-1928). The collection contains a typescript of Foster's memoir, "A Lost Garden" which describes the former garden at Eleutherian Mills.

Victorine Elizabeth du Pont (1825-1887) was the daughter of Alfred Victor du Pont (1798-1856), senior partner in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, and Margaretta Elizabeth (Lammot) du Pont (1807-1898), and the wife of Peter Kemble (1825-1887). Her papers contain miscellaneous material related to the du Pont family, including bills for her trousseau, autograph album, and correspondence from her mother, daughter, and grandson.

William H. Horstmann & Sons was a manufacturer and retailer of silk products for civilian and military clothing between 1815 and 1940. This item is a woven textile souvenir from 1876 Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, showing Independence Hall, Philadelphia.

The Brandywine Valley is a rural region of Southeast Pennsylvania and Northern Delaware celebrated for its historical ties to Revolutionary-era America. This collection contains two b&w engraved prints of depictions of the Brandywine area.

Wilmington is the largest city in Delaware located on the Christiana and Brandywine Rivers. This collection is a souvenir album containing fourteen views of notable buildings and places in Wilmington, Delaware.

Virgil Baldwin Day (1915-2003) was a leading figure in American industrial relations from the 1950’s through the end of the 1970’s. Day worked for the General Electric Company from 1947 to 1973 rising to Vice-President of Relations Services in 1961. He was heavily involved in the company's negotiations with labor unions during the “Boulwarism” era at General Electric, and he was instrumental in the company's communications with its workforce. Day also served on a number of national boards and committees that were concerned with labor matters including an appointment to president Richard Nixon’s federal Pay Board in 1971. Day’s high-profile roles made him an in-demand lecturer on topics such as collective bargaining, equal opportunity employment, personnel management, and wage stabilization. The Virgil B. Day papers include correspondence, memos, reports, and clippings that document Day's career at General Electric and his work for the boards and committees he served. The collection also includes many of Day’s speeches which provide insight into the labor issues of his time.

The Vitale Fireworks Manufacturing Company was founded in New Castle, Pennsylvania by Italian immigrant, Constantino Vitale (1876-1949) in 1922. It became a family business as his four sons and one of his sons-in-law joined him in the management and operation of the company. In 1993, the company was reorganized and now does business as Pyrotecnico FX. This collection consists of a proof and the printing plate it was made from of a page from a fireworks catalog put out by the Vitale Fireworks Manufacturing Company of New Castle, Pennsylvania.

Le jardin des Plantes remains one of France's premier botanical gardens. This collection contains 1 lithograph color print and 2 photographic b&w prints featuring an aerial view of le Jardin des Plantes in Paris, France.

Vulcan Iron Works was a producer of mine and industrial locomotives, mine hoists, and other colliery machinery. Vulcan's locomotives were designed for mine, logging, plantation and factory work, including steam, electric and battery models for underground haulage. A large number were sold to strip mine and earth moving contractors. The majority of the collection consists of original negatives (glass plate and film) dating from about the 1880s to 1943. These are builder's photographs, recording the construction of locomotives and machinery, although there are some photographs of the plants themselves (interiors and exteriors), employees at work, the town of Wilkes-Barre, and equipment installed and in service, particularly at collieries in the anthracite fields. About half the pictures are of locomotives and the rest are of mining equipment. There are also 1,340 negatives of drawings and plans, chiefly of mining equipment hoists. The collection also contains about 2,400 copy photographs made to preserve the images on original nitrate negatives which had extensively deteriorated. The collection is organized into five series: Railroad; Mining and manufacturing equipment; Factory, mill, and shop views; Drawings; and People.

Vulcan Iron Works produced mine and industrial locomotives, mine hoists, and other colliery machinery. Vulcan's locomotives were designed for mine, logging, plantation, and factory work, including steam, electric, and battery models for underground haulage. A large number were sold to strip mine and earthmoving contractors. This small salesman sample album of industrial locomotives contains fifty factory photographs of 4-ton and 20-ton internal combustion engine locomotives for mining companies, brick and concrete manufacturers, logging companies, and others. The images are of locomotives (mostly side views), either built or serviced by Vulcan Iron Works between 1923 and 1928.

W. Elwood Chipman (1893-1977) was a grain, feed, and hardware dealer in Laurel, Delaware, between 1925 and 1961. The collection consists of the business records of Chipman & Penuel (later Elwood Chipman). The records of W. Elwood Chipman's agricultural mercantile business largely consist of ledgers of accounts receivable; sales; orders; purchases; and expenses of produce, sweet potatoes, feed and grain supplies, packaging materials, broiled chickens, and other operational necessities.

Wallace Hume Carothers (1896-1937) was a chemist and inventor of neoprene artificial rubber and nylon synthetic fiber. He worked as a chemist in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's Fundamental Research Program from 1928 until his death in 1937. John Raven Johnson (1900-1988) was a professor of chemistry at Cornell University from 1930 until his retirement in 1965. He also served as a consultant to E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company from 1937 until 1951, where he worked for the Organic Chemicals Department. This collection consists of a single short note from Carothers to Johnson thanking him for his recent hospitality.

The Wallace family general store was a country store established by Robert Wallace (1721-1793) when he purchased land in what is now East Earl Township northeast of the town of Lancaster around 1761. The records of the Blue Ball store are somewhat unusual because they cover a single rural enterprise over a long period that coincides with the change from near-frontier conditions to intensive agricultural development. All of the records are typical storekeeper's account books: day books, ledgers and cash books. There is also an arithmetic copy book, circa 1790, that belonged to Thomas Wallace (1785-1871), the youngest son of Robert Wallace.

Wallace Hume Carothers (1896-1937) was a chemist and inventor of Neoprene artificial rubber and Nylon synthetic fiber. He worked as a chemist in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's Fundamental Research Program from 1928 until his death in 1937. From 1915 to 1920, he attended Tarkio College in Missouri as a science major. This collection of Carothers' letters was written to and preserved by a close friend, Wilko Gustav Machentanz (1895-1973), with whom Carothers roomed for two of his years at Tarkio. The bulk of the letters were written between 1917 and 1922, before Carothers became absorbed in his doctoral studies, although the two corresponded as late as 1936.

Wallace Hume Carothers (1896-1937) was a chemist and inventor of Neoprene artificial rubber and Nylon synthetic fiber. He worked as a chemist in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's Fundamental Research Program from 1928 until his death in 1937. This collection consists of photocopies of fourteen letters written by Carothers to his former college girlfriend from Missouri, Frances Gelvin Spencer, between 1929 and 1933. The nature of the letters is almost entirely personal.

Wallace Hume Carothers (1896-1937) was a chemist and inventor of Neoprene artificial rubber and Nylon synthetic fiber. He worked as a chemist in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's Fundamental Research Program from 1928 until his death in 1937. This small collection consists of a mixture of materials collected in the decades following Carothers death related to the development of Nylon and polymerization. Included are reprinted articles, patent applications, biographical materials, and newspaper clippings.

Wallace Hume Carothers (1896-1937) was a chemist and inventor of Neoprene artificial rubber and Nylon synthetic fiber. He worked as a chemist in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's Fundamental Research Program from 1928 until his death in 1937. This small collection consists of Carothers' professional and technical correspondence, primarily with colleagues in the Chemistry Department at Iowa State University, Harvard, and the DuPont Company. The papers describe the DuPont Company's recruitment of Carothers and his work on polymerization, which led to the development of Nylon.

Wallace Hume Carothers (1896-1937) was chemist and inventor of Neoprene artificial rubber and Nylon synthetic fiber. He worked as a chemist in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's Fundamental Research Program from 1928 until his death in 1937. These items consist of four photographs preserved by Wilko Gustad Machetanz (1895-1973), Carothers's Tarkio College roommate and lifelong friend.

Wallis Gartside Hines (1919-2014) was a chemical engineer employed at the Kankakee Ordnance Works from 1942 to 1943, a war plant of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company located south of Joliet, Illinois. His notes describe the steps to be followed in the manufacture and refining of sodium and lead azide and for the laboratory analysis necessary for quality control.

Walt Biddle (1925-1995) was a gardener in the household of Louise du Pont Crowninshield (1877-1958) and Francis B. Crowninshield (1869-1950) at Eleutherian Mills in Greenville, Delaware. In his oral history interview transcript, Biddle describes the Crowninshields and life at Eleutherian Mills in the 1940s and 1950s.

Walter D. Gernet (1878-1928) was a civil engineer who worked for the Public Works Department in Philadelphia for fifteen years. After losing his position in 1918, he spent his remaining ten years working various engineering jobs. This collection of Gernet's diaries chronicles his daily life and covers eight years from the end of World War I until 1925. The diaries offer a view of an average workingman's day-to-day activities in a large urban center. This collection of diaries would be of great interest to social historians, especially those focused on early twentieth-century life in the greater Philadelphia area. Its detail encompasses work, family life, and interactions between family members and friends in the wider community.

Walter Ervin Burton (1903-1995) was a technical writer, photographer, and inventor. He worked as a staff photographer and reporter for the Akron Times, Time Press, and Herald Publishing Companies. He became a freelance writer in 1927, contributing hundreds of articles to various magazines. This collection consists of nine handwritten diaries detailing the life and work of Walter E. Burton. As a freelance writer and inventor, Burton worked at home, creating and/or researching mechanical projects and writing them up for journals. He spent much of his time puttering and experimenting in his basement, meticulously recording each project, its completion, amounts paid him, etc. All of the diaries contain full-page entries for each day of the year. The run of diaries is incomplete; years included are 1957, 1960 to 1962, 1982, and 1984 to 1987. Researchers interested in the development and process of analyzing the mechanics of devices would find this collection of particular significance.

Walter E. Trabbold (1921- ) was vice president of the Bank of Delaware from 1968 to 1981, and spent forty-one years in the banking industry. He was a pioneer in bank automation, bank information systems, and cash management systems. The papers include Trabbold's personal collection of technical bulletins, annual reports, correspondence, several of his publications on the banking industry, as well as newspaper clippings and other material related to data and information management systems related to banking.

Walter Magee Annettee (1874-1955) was a DuPont Company dynamite salesman, who was based in Birmingham, Alabama. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. The company was established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont the company began with the production of gunpowder. These are illustrated envelopes advertising DuPont Company smokeless powder and blasting powder; Giant powder (a product of Atlantic Dynamite Co.); Atlas powder (a product of Repauno Chemical Co.); and Hercules powder (a product of Hercules Powder Co.).

Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. (1888-1976) was an industrialist, philanthropist, and former President and Chairman of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. This collection of personal papers of Carpenter, Jr. consists primarily of letters to family, friends, and business associates, as well as financial information records. The papers date from 1916 to 1976.

The Walter Scott & Company was a major manufacturer of printing presses, particularly the large high-speed presses and folding machines used by newspapers. The records include correspondence of the company founder, Walter Scott (1844-1907) both in Chicago and Plainfield. Business papers include some material relating to patents, and statements, reports, contracts, payroll summary sheets, price lists and legal papers dating from the period of his widow Isabella Scott's (1851-1931) management. It is a fragmentary collection covering various aspects of the history of the firm and not a comprehensive record.

Ward and Gow, a New York advertising agency, is credited as one of the first firms to "systematize" advertising in the New York subway and elevated marketplace. These fifteen photographs document advertising on New York City elevated train platforms and on subway cars. Each photo's location is given in the lower right side of the image.

The Warner Company produced lime, sand, and gravel, as well as products derived from those raw materials, such as hydrated lime for agricultural, chemical, construction, and domestic use, plaster, masonry, cement, and concrete. This collection consists of photographs, negatives, advertisements, lantern slides, 35mm slides, and albums from the Warner Company from about 1900 through 1970; the bulk of the material dates to about 1925 to 1955.

The Warren-Ehret Company was a Philadelphia roofing company founded in 1883. This collection consists of 259 images from three unbound albums which were used as sales portfolios to show the variety and extent of Warren-Ehret's roofing jobs on a variety of buildings.

Waugh Equipment Company manufactured equipment for the production of railway cars. One of their main products was draft gears. The Waugh-Gould Laboratory tested equipment for strains, vibrations, and noises. This collection contains identified prints showing the complete production processes used to fabricate draft gears used in freight cars and locomotives.

Wawaset Park was a planned residential community built by the DuPont Company around 1918 for its executives in Wilmington, Delaware. These panoramic photographs depict construction of homes and overall views of area, street scenes, and pictures of individual houses.

Wawaset Park was a planned community, commissioned by the DuPont Company for its company executives. The records describe the park, its residents, and history through corporate records, maps and deeds of the property, lists of corporate officers and residents, as well as histories of the park, the City of Wilmington, and the state of Delaware.

Wayne W. Light (1882-) was a lawyer andlight delivery vehicle inventor. The collection consists of items amassed by Light to document his attempts to become an automotive inventor and manufacturer.

West Chester Street Railway Co. offered trolley service to Chester County, Pennsylvania, residents from 1890 to 1929. This collection consists of two account books and one stock record book. These volumes would be useful for researchers interested in the operating expenses of early twentieth-century light rail companies and railroad accounting practices.

The Westinghouse Machine Company manufactured gas and steam engines, turbines and mechanical stokers. The vast corporate photographic archive from this division covers diverse topics including technical subjects showing surface condensers and reduction gears and components used to construct different types of turbines. There are building construction views and thorough documentation of the Essington property; specifically, this includes the blade, diaphragm, erecting, and forge shops, several different types of laboratories on the premise, a foundry and pickle house. In addition, there are images of the pattern storage house, power house, pump house, and salvage building

The Westinghouse Machine Company began in 1880, and the company's first contract to build a turbine dates to 1896. The album contains a variety of images of products and facilities related to the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. These include photographs of equipment such as boilers, generators, mechanical stokers, pumping machinery and turbines.

The Westinghouse Machine Company manufactured gas and steam engines, turbines and mechanical stokers. This is one sixteen-page copy of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company magazine from the South Philadelphia plant.

The Industrial Research Unit of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania mission was to "study the economic and social problems of business." Herbert Roof Northrup (1918-2007) was chairman of the Department of Industry and director of the Industrial Research Unit. The records consist of surveys, notes, interviews and background materials for the studies produced by the Industrial Research Unit and its predecessor from 1941 to 1990 and collected and maintained by Northrup. The bulk of the files are from the 1970s and 1980s.