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.

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.