Crawford Hallock Greenewalt (1902-1993) was a chemical engineer and the President of the DuPont Company from 1948 to 1962. He had a passion for the natural sciences, and combined his love of ornithology with photography. He was especially known for his high speed photographs of hummingbirds. The bulk of the collection consists of nature films shot by Greenewalt, primarily of hummingbirds. The collection is divided into three series: Nature films, DuPont films and Sound recordings.

Crawford H. Greenewalt (1902-1993) was an executive with the DuPont Company and president of the firm from 1948 to 1962. He had a passion for the natural sciences, and combined his love of ornithology with photography. He was especially known for his high-speed photographs of hummingbirds. His ornithological interests included bird songs, the radiance of hummingbird feathers, and the evolution of shapes and sizes of birds in relation to their flight abilities. Greenewalt's personal papers are primarily focused on his retirement years and his avocational interests. The papers document Greenewalt's political activities in the Republican National Committee and include exchanges with many of the leading political and business figures of the day. Of particular significance are the papers describing Greenewalt's work in photography and ornithology, beginning in 1948. These materials trace his research interests in the hummingbird and bird flight and his trips to places like Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, the Antilles, New Guinea, and the Galapagos Islands in order to observe and photograph birds in their natural habitats. Other files describe Greenewalt's work on the visiting committee at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1965-1987), which evaluated the school's academic programs.