Social history

Aaron A. Maple (1866-1938) was an asbestos building supplies traveling salesman for the Ohio branch of the Asbestos Shingle, Slate & Sheathing Co. This small collection contains fourteen of Maple's personal diaries from 1920 to 1936 (with some gaps) that document his home life, expenses, work, and travel throughout the northern and northwestern parts of the state.

Dr. Alexis Irénée du Pont (1843-1904) was a businessman and non-practicing physician who resided in both Louisville, Kentucky, and Wilmington, Delaware. He was a grandson of Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours (1771-1834), the eponymous founder of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in Wilmington, Delaware, and son of Alexis Irénée du Pont (1816-1857) and Joanna Maria Smith du Pont (1815-1876). The collection contains correspondence between Alexis I. du Pont Jr. and his mother Joanna while he was attending the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia. In addition, there are also letters from his father and sister.

Alfred Victor du Pont (1900-1970) was a partner in the Wilmington, Delaware, architectural firm of Massena and Du Pont, and he was the third child of Alfred I. du Pont (1864-1935) and his first wife Bessie Gardner du Pont (1864–1949). This small collection includes both business and personal papers. The largest portion is made up of Alfred V. du Pont's correspondence with his father, Alfred I. du Pont.

Horatio Allen (1802-1889) was a noted civil engineer and inventor, who worked with the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company, the Croton Aqueduct, and the New York & Erie Railroad. The bulk of his the papers is personal correspondence (1818-1864), and biographical materials collected by his family. Also included is a small collection of Allen's business papers, particularly concerning his work on the New York & Erie Railroad.

The Bauduy family was associated with the prominent du Pont family, who immigrated to the United States from France in 1802 and established the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, which manufactured gunpowder at mills on the banks of the Brandywine River just north of Wilmington, Delaware. Peter Bauduy (1769?-1833), a French refugee from Santo Domingo who was a partner of Eleuthère Irénée "E.I." du Pont (1771-1834). This collection contains correspondence of Hélène Bauduy (1806-1881), Peter Bauduy's daughter, and Alexandre Aristide Bretton de Chapelles (1799-1850), and a journal kept by Eulalia Keating (1801-1873), Bauduy's daughter-in-law.

The Bauduy family was associated with the prominent du Pont family, who immigrated to the United States from France in 1802 and established the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, which manufactured gunpowder at mills on the banks of the Brandywine River just north of Wilmington, Delaware. Peter Bauduy (1769-1833), a French refugee from Santo Domingo who was a partner of Eleuthère Irénée "E.I." du Pont (1771-1834). The bulk of the collection consists of letters from Juliette Bauduy (1773-1837) to her daughter Mimika (1793-1855). Also included are letters from Peter and Juliette to her sister and the Bauduy children to their aunt.

Hagley Museum staff conducted a series oral history interviews between 1954 and 1990, speaking primarily with individuals who had worked at the DuPont Company powder yards on Brandywine Creek during the yards’ final decades of operation or who had lived near the yards as spouses or children of DuPont Co. workers. Some of the individuals who were interviewed donated, lent for copying, or provided information on the photographs in this collection. The images primarily depict the worker communities which surrounded the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company powder yards on Brandywine Creek or the powder yards themselves.

Series I. Bronfman Family contains two subseries.

Subseries A. Research Materials for Samuel Bronfman: The Life and Times of Seagram's Mr. Sam by Michael Marrus; The core of these records was created by John Scott, who was hired by the family to write a biography of their patriarch Samuel Bronfman. The remaining records in this subseries were created by Marrus when researching Samuel Bronfman: The Life and Times of Seagram's Mr. Sam.

Subseries B. Bronfman Family Papers; contains documents such as births, deaths, and marriages of some of the Bronfman family and relatives; correspondence, and newspaper clippings.

Catherine C. Irving (1884-1982) was the wife of Alexander Duer Irving (1873-1941). He was an aide to President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) at the Versailles peace treaty negotiations in 1919 after World War I. The letter from Irving to W.W. Laird (1910-1989), she recounts an anecdote about Col. H.A. du Pont (1838-1926).

Ethel Lippman (1891-1987) and David Sarnoff (1891-1971) were friends in their youth; her parents supposedly objected to their marriage. The collection consists of a few copies of Ethel Lippman's handwritten letters and all of David Sarnoff's replies.

The Crofton and Shubrick families were descendants of a prominent French American diplomat and businessman, Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827), and represent middle-class American women in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Two generations of women married military men who were stationed across the world. This collection spans three generations of women (Julia du Pont Shubrick, Gabrielle Josephine Shubrick Crofton, and Julia du Pont Crofton Walcutt) from these families and contains correspondence regarding everyday life.

David Thomas (1794-1882) was a Pennsylvania iron manufacturer who introduced into the United States the use of anthracite coal in the manufacture of pig iron. The papers consist of typed transcripts twelve letters, the bulk of which were sent by David Thomas to his niece, Jane Harris Bowen, and nephew, David Harris, in Wales. The letters deal primarily with family news, but Thomas also writes about general business conditions, the level of prices and wages and the Civil War.

The Dimmick family were descendants of the founders of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical research and manufacturing company. The collection contains a microfilm copy of correspondence between Joanna (Smith) du Pont (1815-1876) and her daughter, Joanna (du Pont) Dimmick (1854-1901), and letters from Sophie M. du Pont (1810-1888) to her niece, Dimmick, and the latter's step-daughter, Lavinia Elizabeth Dimmick (1874-1946). The letters are personal in nature, including du Pont family news.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. He was an advocate for a national educational system and promoted Franco-American trade relations. Françoise (Robin) Poivre (1748-1841) was the second wife of Pierre Samuel. Françoise Julienne Ile de France (Poivre) Bureaux de Pusy (1770-1845) was a daughter from Poivre's first marriage. This collection includes a small selection of correspondence, including details on the family's immigration to the United States from France and Bureaux de Pusy's financial problems.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. He was an advocate for a national educational system and promoted Franco-American trade relations. Francoise (Robin) Poivre du Pont was his second wife. His grandson, Samuel Francis du Pont (1803-1865) was an Admiral in the United States Navy and fought in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. This collection consists of twenty-three photocopied letters, primarily from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), but also Francoise du Pont de Nemours (1748-1831) and Samuel Francis du Pont (1803-1865). The correspondence is primarily to Marie Anne Lavoisier Thompson (1758-1836), a French chemist and close friend of the family.

The Du Pont descendants and allied families are the children of brothers Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827) and Éleuthère Irénée "E.I." du Pont (1771–1834), as well as their grandchildren and relatives through marriage. Victor Marie du Pont and E.I. du Pont were the sons of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. This collection consists of the papers of the descendants of Victor Marie and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont and members of allied families. The principal holdings are for Amelia Elizabeth du Pont (1796-1869) and Charles Irénée du Pont (1797-1869), children of Victor du Pont, and Charles's wife, Dorcas Van Dyke (1806-1838), as well as for Victorine du Pont Bauduy (1792-1861), Alfred Victor du Pont (1798-1856), and Eleuthera du Pont Smith (1806-1876), children of E.I. du Pont.

The Du Pont family is a prominent Delawarean family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator who immigrated to America with his sons, Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827) and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), in 1800. In 1802, he founded E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company with his younger son, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical research and manufacturing company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. This small set of materials contains business and personal papers. The collection is organized into three series: Correspondence, business, and personal documents; Copies and extracts of correspondence and other documents; and Illustrative materials.

Abraham Dupont (1572-1640) was the progenitor of the South Carolina branch of the Du Pont family. In France, he dealt in manufactures of brass and copper. This is a small collection of his papers and those of his immediate descendants. The documents include the earliest records still extant in the Du Pont family papers. They are important for the evidence of descent they offer and for details about the ancestors of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817). Many relate to landed property in Rouen and in the nearby parishes of Fontaine-sous-Préaux and Roncherolles.

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.

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. This group of materials within the Winterthur Manuscripts collection contains the papers of the three eldest: Victorine (du Pont) Bauduy (1792-1861), Evelina (du Pont) Bidermann (1796-1863), and Eleuthera (du Pont) Smith (1806-1876), as well as their respective husbands: Ferdinand Bauduy (1791-1814), James Antoine Bidermann (1790-1865), and Thomas MacKie Smith (1809-1852). Victorine du Pont Bauduy and Eleuthera du Pont Smith were teachers at the Brandywine Manufacturers' Sunday School (BMSS), a nonsectarian school offering classes in reading, writing, arithmetic, and Bible lessons. Evelina du Pont Bidermann spent much of her adult life traveling alongside her husband and then building the Winterthur mansion in Delaware. Their papers document details about their education, social life, family, attitudes, and activities through incoming and outgoing correspondence, as well as personal papers such as diaries and account books.

Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and Sophie Madeleine Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828) had three sons: Alfred Victor du Pont (1798-1856), Henry du Pont (1812-1889), and Alexis I. du Pont (1816-1857). All three were partners in their father's company. This collection contains the papers of Alfred Victor du Pont, Henry du Pont, and Alexis I. du Pont, as well as those of their wives: Margaretta Elizabeth Lammot du Pont, Louisa Gerhard du Pont, and Joanna Maria Smith du Pont. The papers of Henry du Pont are the largest component, and reflect his business and military activities. Certain papers of each son relate to the affairs of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.

Eleuthera du Pont Smith (1806-1876) was the daughter of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) and Sophie Madeleine Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828). This collection contains an invitation she received to attend the Lafayette Ball in Philadelphia in 1824.

Eleuthera du Pont Smith (1806-1876) and Sophie Madeleine du Pont (1810-1888) were daughters of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) and Sophie Madeleine Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828). This collection contains letters from the du Ponts to Mary Wilkinson, a former student at the Brandywine Manufacturers' Sunday School. The letters discuss domestic matters, including family news, health, faith, and needlework for the mills.

Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours (1771–1834) was a French American chemist and industrialist who founded the gunpowder manufacturer E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. E.I. du Pont married Sophie Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828) in 1791; the couple had eight children, one of whom died in infancy. This collection of papers includes outbound and inbound correspondence covering personal and business matters. These include personal accounts, writings and memoirs, legal documents, and miscellany, of which the majority are accounts. There are papers of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. that date from 1802 to 1850 and include correspondence (drafts, retained copies, and letters received), contracts and other legal documents, accounts, bills and receipts, checks, promissory notes, bills of exchange, drafts, and certain miscellaneous notes and memoranda.

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 collection consists primarily of correspondence from du Pont to his wife, Elise Wigfall Simons (1849-1919), but include items from other family members, as well as a journal of du Pont's, manuscripts written by him, and plays and novels by Alice Simons (1849-1891).

Francoise Robin du Pont (1748-1841) was the second wife of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) a promienent French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. The collection contains a letter from du Pont to Monsieur Pierre Didot (1761-1853), seeking the address of Marguerite Charlotte Desiree de la Fite de Pelleport (1780-1847).

Francoise Robin du Pont (1748-1841) was the second wife of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) a promienent French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. The collection contains letters from du Pont to Baron (1757-1830) and Baronne Desmousseaux de Givre (1768-1843). The letters contain discussion of religious societies, his trip to Italy, and personal matters.

Francoise Robin du Pont (1748-1841) was the second wife of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) a promienent French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. The collection includes photocopied letters from du Pont to Jacques Henri Bernardin de St. Pierre (1737-1814). The letters are entirely personal, with social and literary references, all general in character.

Based in Wilmington, Delaware, Frank Earle Schoonover (1877-1972) was a prolific commercial illustrator, artist, and avid photographer. Over the course of a six-decade career, he completed more than twenty-five hundred works, primarily illustrations for magazines and books but also landscapes, portraits, murals, book plates, sculpture, and stained-glass windows. This collection consists of negatives taken by Schoonover, largely for use as source material for his artwork. There are also images of his artwork, restoration projects, and him, his family, and friends.

Gabrielle Crofton (1873-1952) was the daughter of Gabrielle Josephine Shubrick (1835-1894) and Robert Erskine Anderson Crofton (1834-1898), and the great-granddaughter of Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827), a prominent French American diplomat and businessman. The collection consists of two diaries, dating from 1917 to 1926, and reflect the leisured life of a middle-class, unmarried woman in the first quarter of the twentieth century United States.

Gabrielle Shubrick Crofton (1835-1894) was the daughter of Irvine Shubrick (1797-1849) and Julia du Pont (1806-1882), and the wife of Colonel Robert Crofton (1834-1898). His military service meant the family moved to where he was stationed. The papers consist primarily of correspondence between Crofton and her husband and mother, including an eight-year span living in army posts in the Dakota Territory.

Henry Algernon du Pont (1838-1926) was a military officer, a politician from Delaware, and vice president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. The collection consists of five letters from du Pont to Gustav Schelle (1845-1927) and one from Schelle. The letters mostly express personal friendship and deal indirectly with Schelle's writings on the Physiocraps and du Pont de Nemours.

Henry Algernon du Pont (1838-1926) was a military officer, a politician from Delaware, and vice president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. The collection contains two photocopied letters from du Pont to Daniel Ammen (1820-1898), a Naval officer and Chief of the Bureau of Navigation.

Henry Algernon du Pont (1838-1926) was a military officer, a politician from Delaware, and vice president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. The collection contains miscellaneous material related to du Pont, including a letter, Christmas cards, invitation to meet the Representatives of the Societies of the Cincinnati, and invitation from the Secretary of the Navy to the unveiling of the statue of Samuel Francis du Pont (1803-1865).

Henry Belin du Pont (1898-1970) was a research engineer with General Motors and the vice president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company from 1939 to 1963. This collection contains correspondence from several generations of the family from the early nineteenth through the twentieth century, including Francis Gurney Smith (1784-1873), Elizabeth (Eliza) MacKie Smith (1787-1861), Joanna Smith du Pont (1815-1876), Frances du Pont Coleman (1838-1902), Eleuthera "Ella" du Pont Bradford (1848-1906), Eleuthera Bradford du Pont (1873-1953), Alicia Bradford Maddox (1875-1920) and Phoebe George Bradford (1794-1840).

Henry du Pont (1812-1889) was an American military officer and son of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and Sophie Madeleine Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828). The collection contains two photocopied letters to du Pont, one from his nephew, James Irenee Bidermann (1817-1890), and the other letter from his sister, Sophie Madeleine du Pont (1810-1888).

Henry du Pont (1812-1889) was an American military officer and son of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and Sophie Madeleine Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828). The collection is comprised of photocopied of typescript copies of letters of du Pont to and from his family.

Henry du Pont (1812-1889) was an American military officer and son of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and Sophie Madeleine Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828). The collection consists of photocopied letters from Henry du Pont (1812-1889) and typescript of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) autobiography he wrote in 1792. The letters are from sisters Eleuthera du Pont Smith (1806-1876) and Sophie Madeleine du Pont (1810-1888), as well as William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) and M. Saito of the Japanese Navy.

The Hiebler family papers include documents pertaining to four generations. The bulk of the collection consists of letters written by Alfred I. du Pont to his grandsons Bayard Hiebler and Benno Hiebler, dated 1927 to 1935.

Jean Kane Foulke du Pont (1891-1985) was a suffragette, prison reform activist, philanthropist, and wife of E. Paul du Pont (1887-1950). The collection contains invitations, mostly to weddings, but also to cocktail parties and debutante balls.

Joshua Gilpin (1765-1841) was a merchant and paper manufacturer in Delaware. This collection is a microfilm of letters in a scrapbook, including correspondence from Gilpin, Thomas Gilpin (1776-1853), and others.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. He was an advocate for a national educational system and promoted Franco-American trade relations. This is a printed copy of the third edition of La philosophie de l'univers (The Philosophy of the Universe), written by du Pont de Nemours in 1799, redated to 1814, with numerous revisions and additions in the form of annotations and interleavings. It is much more introspective than earlier editions and reveals a good deal about du Pont de Nemours' worldview as he was approaching the end of his life. The revised text is part philosophy and part memoir and includes long sections about death, religion, gender, and reincarnation that were not present in earlier editions.

The author appears to have been a young man living on his mother's farm near Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania, who earned additional money by casual day labor. The diary is a standard pocket diary of the period with notations of work done and other daily activities, with a small cash book section at the rear.

Louise du Pont Crowninshield (1877-1958) was an early leader in the field of historic preservation and a collector of antiques and hooked rugs. This collection includes two letters addressed to Nell (McCall) Pringle (1879-1937), of Charleston, South Carolina.

Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (1766-1817), known as Madame de Staël, was a writer, philosopher, and politically engaged woman who survived the French Revolution and was exiled multiple times by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). Negative photostat of letter from Madame de Staël to Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817).

Manigault's papers consist of her own diaries and correspondence between her and Gabrielle Josephine du Pont (1770-1836), both which document the life of a female member of Charleston's merchant-planter elite during the Early National Period, and the web of connections linking Charleston, New York and Philadelphia society.

Margaretta “Meta” du Pont Coleman (1862-1938) 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. The Margaretta E. "Meta" du Pont Coleman Papers primarily consist of family correspondence collected by Meta Coleman.

Margaretta Lammot du Pont (1807-1898) was the wife of Alfred Victor du Pont (1798-1856), who worked for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. This collection correspondence to du Pont from Joseph D. Reinboth, of Pennsylvania, and her grandson, T. Coleman du Pont (1863-1930).

Margaretta Lammot du Pont (1807-1898) was the wife of Alfred Victor du Pont (1798-1856), who worked for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. In 1885, she sent a letter to Meta Kemble de Forest (1852-1933) which indicates she is sending book from "Aunt Sophie" [Sophie Madeleine du Pont (1810-1888)].

Mary Belin (1839-1913) married Lammot du Pont (1831-1884) and had eleven children, many who were prominent in the building up of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. The volume consists of a typed transcript of letters originally sent to Mary Belin du Pont (1839-1913) by her daughters Louisa ("La") (1868-1926), Sophie M. ("Tabby") (1871-1894), Isabella ("Bella") (1882-1946), and Margaretta ("Peg") (1884-1973) in 1894. The letters center around a single incident wherein Sophie, who was suffering from tuberculosis, was sent to Colorado Springs for a cure.