Alexis I. du Pont (1816-1857) was proprieter of his family's business, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, which began in the manufacture of gunpowder in 1802. Betweeen 1829 and 1931, he attended the boarding school New Haven Gymnasium to prepare for his higher education at the University of Pennsylvania. The volume is an autograph book of mostly blank pages. Internal evidence suggests that it was begun by his older siblings as a memento for him when he first left home for school as he entered his teens. Later, Alexis du Pont used the same volume to collect samples of poetry verses on the theme of "friendship" as mementos of his schoolmates when he left preparatory school and entered college.

Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and Sophie Madeleine Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828) had four daughters: Victorine (1792-1861), Evelina (1796-1863), Eleuthera (1806-1876), and Sophie (1810-1888). The daughters maintained this album (in microfilm form) of prints, sketches, watercolor designs, selection of poetry, and autographs. It was returned to Victorine after the original recipient died in 1823, at which point she continued it.

Paulina du Pont (1827-1914) was a descendant of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) who founded the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company with his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) in 1802. The E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. Paulina du Pont was the daughter of Alfred Victor du Pont (1798-1856) and Margaretta Lammot du Pont (1807-1898). Her six-page sketchbook contains pencil sketches, probably produced in drawing class, depicts European rural scenes of cottages and country churches.

Sophie Madeleine du Pont (1810-1888) was the youngest daughter of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and Sophie Madeleine Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828), and the wife of Samuel Francis du Pont (1803-1865). The miscellaneous personal papers include her drawings and poems, a list of the trousseau, an essay that gives a detailed description of items in the parlor at Eleutherian Mills, letters she wrote to her niece Sophie du Pont Chandler (1851-1931), and her obituary.