Arthur D. Hall (1924-2006) was a systems engineer who spent the first part of his career with Bell Telephone Laboratories and later taught at the University of Pennsylvania and conducted an independent consulting business. In the latter capacity he developed a patented automated agricultural production system that the called "Autofarm," but was unable to make the leap from invention to true innovation. It was an early, but failed attempt at "green" farming. The Arthur D. Hall III papers represent a portion of his total archive that survived at the time of his death and was removed from his home office in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The main focus of the papers is Hall's work to develop Autofarm and his unsuccessful attempts to secure funding and market the concept to paying customers. There are smaller amounts of material dealing with his career at Bell Labs and his writing and publishing efforts.

This collection includes ephemera, postcards, films, advertisements, photographs, documents and objects relating to the history of salt. The collection was assembled by Carol Litchfield (1936-2012), a biologist and biochemist with an interest in halophiles and salt history. These items document the history and development of salt manufacturing throughout the world. Historic and modern methods of salt harvesting are depicted from various areas around the world.

Additionally, this collection includes documentation of Carol’s personal research and participation in salt related conferences and programs.

Charles E. Magoon (1928-2006) was director of research at the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association (UFFVA), a national organization that represented member growers, shippers, packers, processors, marketers and distributors of fresh produce in the United States. Magoon took a personal interest in the history of the trade. This collection contains approximately 1,500 black and white copy prints of photographs which document the marketing and distribution of produce in the United States from 1880 to 1970.

Edward James Shimer Seal (1896-1955) was a farmer and photographer in Chester County, Pennsylvania. This collection contains over 300 photograph prints taken primarily by Seal of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, during the first half of the twentieth century. Many of these images offer a glimpse into family and town life in Chadds Ford and Wilmington, Delaware, during the 1920s and 1930s, featuring Seal family members, friends, neighbors, and employees. Other subjects include the 1939 World's Fair in New York, the artists N.C. and Andrew Wyeth, and local bridges and roads.

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 and Company. This ledger documents his accounts current between the years 1814 and 1818.

The Forwood family were farmers whose homestead comprised 124 acres located on Marsh Road in Brandywine Hundred, north of Wilmington, Delaware. Corn, oats, and wheat were grown on the property, which had been a marsh. During the first decade of the nineteenth century, the Forwood family began to purchase and sell livestock. The Forwood farm was a major timber supplier to the DuPont Company. The Forwood family account books, spanning the century between 1790 and 1889, were kept by various family members. There are records for the Brandywine Hundred Horse Company and a book of sketches and poems by women in the circle of Du Pont family and friends.

John G. Townsend Jr. (1871-1964) was a politician, a businessman, and a banker. He served as Governor of Delaware from 1917 to 1921 and as Delaware’s U.S. Senator from 1929 to 1941. He operated a lumber business, cannery, orchard, and then a large poultry farm called Townsend Inc. Farms. This small collection documents Townsend’s work in politics and in the poultry industry. There is a fair amount of biographical information authored by Louise Stanton Johnson, who worked as Townsend’s secretary during his time as Senator. The collection has been arranged into four series: Governor and Senatorial papers; Townsend Inc. Farms records; Louise Stanton Johnson papers and Printing plates and seals. The materials in the collection date from 1908 to 1977, with a bulk of the materials from the 1930s through the 1950s.

Keystone Mushroom Farms, Inc. was a producer, canner, and distributer of mushrooms in Coatesville, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was the successor of two previous businesses, L.F. Lambert Spawn Co. and Keystone Mushroom Company, Inc., which were formed in the early 1920s with complementary functions of spawn research; production and sales; and mushroom propagation, canning, and distribution. These records document the L.F. Lambert Spawn Co. and the Keystone Mushroom Company, Inc. The collection includes financial records, correspondence, payroll, reports, and shipment and inventory information. Of special interest are the records documenting Lambert's work with the War Production Board to produce penicillin.

More than half of the mushrooms in the United States are grown in and around the town of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, which calls itself the "mushroom capital of the world." Walter W. Maule (1892-1964) and Charles C. Brosius (1930-), both Chester County, Pennsylvania, mushroom growers, were active in professional trade associations and advocates for their industry. This small collection on the mushroom industry consists of papers that document mushroom industry educational courses and professional trade associations. The collection provides insight into the role profession trade associations such as the Mushroom Growers Cooperative Association, the Mushroom Cooperative Canning Association, and the American Mushroom Insitute agriculturual play in affecting legislation and mushroom farming practices.

Over half the mushrooms in the United States are grown in and around the town of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, which proudly calls itself the mushroom capital of the world. This oral history collection brings together interviews with individuals whose experiences capture the many different kinds of work and knowledge involved in mushroom cultivation, harvesting, packing, distribution, and marketing, and how those processes have changed over time.

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. The collection consists of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours correspondence and writings in addition to correspondence of his second wife, Françoise (Robin) Poivre.

W. Elwood Chipman (1893-1977) was a grain, feed, and hardware dealer in Laurel, Delaware, between 1925 and 1961. The collection consists of the business records of Chipman & Penuel (later Elwood Chipman). The records of W. Elwood Chipman's agricultural mercantile business largely consist of ledgers of accounts receivable; sales; orders; purchases; and expenses of produce, sweet potatoes, feed and grain supplies, packaging materials, broiled chickens, and other operational necessities.

William du Pont (1855-1928) was an industrialist and member of the promienent du Pont family of Delaware, whose family business was the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, also known as the DuPont Company which was a large manufacturer of gunpowder. He worked for the first DuPont dynamite manufacturer, Repauno Chemical Company, as secretary and treasurer (1880-1884) and after the tragic death of Lammot du Pont (1831-1884), as president (1884-1892). This small group of papers encompass both correspondence and various financial and investment accounts, largely covering his ten years spent in England after leaving the United States in 1893.