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. She collected family portraits while compiling a family genealogy. This collection includes daguerrotypes, tintypes, ambrotypes and other early portrait photographs of various family members.

Oskar Eduard Heinrich Held (1904-1981) married into the du Pont family, a prominent and historically wealthy American family of French descent, known for founding the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in 1802. The E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical research and manufacturing company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The collection features images related to the Crofton, du Pont, and Shubrick families between the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Researchers interested in genealogical, Civil War-era photography, and late nineteenth-century military installations would find this collection useful.