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Gunpowder industry

 Subject
Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings

Found in 6 Collections and/or Records:

Brandywine Valley oral history interviewees' photographs

 Collection
Accession: 2017-225
Abstract:

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.

Dates: circa 1859-1958; Majority of material found within 1890-1920

DuPont Company Brandywine powder yards and neighboring worker communities' photographs

 Collection
Accession: 2017-226
Abstract:

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). This collection of more than 1250 discrete photographs depicts the landscape and buildings at or near the company's explosives manufacturing plants along Brandywine Creek near Wilmington, Delaware. Approximately 900 images depict powder yard sites, including the DuPont Experimental Station, either during the mills' final decades of operation or prior to, during, and after excavation and restoration work on the site in the 1950s and 1960s. Most of the remaining images depict the worker communities which surrounded the powder yards.

Dates: 1820-1970; Majority of material found within 1890-1960

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company powder mills postcard

 Collection
Accession: 1995-278
Abstract:

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. The company was established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont the company began with the production of gunpowder. The postcard consists of a view of the DuPont Powder Yards in Wilmington, Delaware.

Dates: circa 1913

Henry Miller oral history interview transcript

 Collection
Accession: 2355
Abstract:

Henry Miller (1845-1926) was first employed at the Brandywine Works of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. In 1922, he was one of the oldest surviving employees when he was interviewed by Alfred I. du Pont (1864-1935). In the interview, Miller describes the layout of the Brandywine Works as it changed over time, as well as the various apparatus and processes used in the manufacture of gunpowder and its constituent ingredients.

Dates: 1922

"History of Explosions and Accidents at Brandywine Mills" by Francis Gurney du Pont

 Collection
Accession: 1402
Abstract:

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 contains a carbon typescript of "History of Explosions at Brandywine Mills" compiled from records by du Pont and also reported from his own experiences.

Dates: 1908

Oral histories on work and daily life in the Brandywine Valley

 Collection
Accession: 1970-370
Abstract:

The collection comprises approximately 200 oral history interviews with 152 individuals conducted by museum staff between 1954 and 1990. The majority of the individuals interviewed had either worked at the DuPont Company powder yards on Brandywine Creek during the yards’ final decades of operation or had lived in the surrounding communities, although the collection also includes interviews with those who worked in other local industries. The interviews are largely biographical in nature covering a period from about 1900 to 1960 and address a wide range of subjects relating to daily life and work in the Brandywine Valley.

Dates: 1954-1990