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Explosives industry

 Subject
Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings

Found in 73 Collections and/or Records:

Hudson Maxim papers

 Collection
Accession: 2154
Abstract:

Hudson Maxim (1853-1927) was an inventor and chemist best known for his work in the development of smokeless gunpowder and military explosives. The papers consist primarily of Maxim's published and manuscript writings from the period between 1907 and 1926. The writings range in topics: Napoleon, the future of naval and aerial warfare, and social Darwinism and anti-immigration.

Dates: 1861-1926

Hudson Maxim papers

 Collection
Accession: 2147
Abstract:

Hudson Maxim (1853-1927) was an inventor and chemist best known for his work in the development of smokeless gunpowder and military explosives. This collection focuses on Maxim's attempt to float his inventions in England during the late 1890s, his anti-pacifist crusade and war-era activities, and his work at Lake Hopatcong.

Dates: 1851-1925

Indiana Ordnance Works, Ballistics Laboratory photographs

 Collection
Accession: 2001-209
Abstract:

The Indiana Ordnance Works was built by the DuPont Company for the U.S. Government beginning in 1940. It manufactured military explosives, propellants, and smokeless powder. This collection consists of photographs of the Ballistics Lab of the Indiana Ordnance Works.

Dates: 1941

Indiana Ordnance Works panoramic photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1969-143
Abstract:

The Indiana Ordnance Works was built by the DuPont Company for the U.S. Government beginning in 1940. It manufactured military explosives, propellants, and smokeless powder. The panoramic photographs show overviews of the Indiana Ordnance Works facilities, Charlestown, Indiana.

Dates: 1941

John E. Hyde collection of DuPont Company photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1999-220
Abstract:

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was established in 1802. The du Pont family purchased a mill site on the banks of the Brandywine River just North of Wilmington, Delaware for the production of black powder. In 1902 the DuPont Company acquired the Smith Electric Fuze Company and some other properties in the Pompton Lakes, New Jersey area. The DuPont Company also operated a dynamite plant near Hancock, Michigan. This collection consists of snapshot photographs from the works at Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, and others from a plant in Michigan, most likely the Senter dynamite works near Hancock, Michigan.

Dates: circa 1906-1912

John W. Macklem collection of DuPont Company powder yards photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1968-010
Abstract:

John W. Macklem (1867-1948) began working for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company as an errand boy at a young age and remained with the company his entire career. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. This collection comprises photographs of buildings and scenes in DuPont Company explosives manufacturing plants along the Brandywine Creek near Wilmington, Delaware, including the Eleutherian Mills (or Upper) yard, the Upper Hagley yard, and the Lower Hagley yard.

Dates: 1889-1936

"Las Maravillas de la quimica" film

 Collection
Accession: 2004-254
Abstract:

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). Throughout the 1900s and 1910s, the company shifted its focus away from gunpowder production and towards chemistry innovations. This item is the Spanish language version of "Wonder World of Chemistry" which shows chemical products produced by the DuPont Company.

Dates: 1936

"Making Blasting Caps" film

 Collection
Accession: 1996-243
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 (1739-1817) and his son Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) the company began with the production of gunpowder. This item is the film Making Blasting Caps which documents the process of making blasting caps.

Dates: circa 1930

Natrona Alkali Company records

 Collection
Accession: 2475
Abstract:

The Natrona Alkali Company was incorporated to hold title to 1,600 acres of sodium carbonate deposits in Natrona County by the descendants of chemist, Lammot du Pont (1831-1884), who developed B blasting powder, using Chilean sodium nitrate and had hoped that the sodium carbonate might become a substitute for imported sodium nitrate in the manufacture of explosives, but the deposits turned out to have no commercial application. The Natrona Alkali Company records are primarily the corporate records related to a second incorporation of the company due to a clerical oversight, the materials date from 1950 to 1980, though there are some documents from the ealier company.

Dates: 1876-1978; Majority of material found within 1950-1978

Pierre Gentieu papers

 Collection
Accession: 0503
Abstract:

Pierre A. Gentieu (1842-1930) was a photographer and a long-term employee of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. Gentieu's papers include correspondence with du Pont family members and coworkers, an account book of powder packed at the Hagley Yard (1858-1902), a record book with lists of explosions (1882-1909), time work sheets of powdermen during the 1890s, and a list of the principal events in the powder yards from 1882 to 1911.

Dates: 1858-1911

Plant Patrol Division, Military Explosives plant panoramic photograph

 Collection
Accession: 1969-154
Abstract:

During World War II, the DuPont Company was contracted to produce smokeless powder, TNT and DNT explosives for the military. This panoramic photograph is a group portrait of uniformed guards at a military explosives plant in Memphis, Tennessee, 1941.

Dates: 1941 March 5

Ramsay family papers

 Collection
Accession: 2014
Abstract:

William Gouverneur Ramsay (1866-1916) was a civil engineer for railroads and explosives corporations, including Repauno Chemical Company, Great Northern, and DuPont Company. His wife, Caroline “Lena” Johnston Canby (1872-1958) was interested in cultural and educational institutions and traveled extensively. The Ramsay family papers primarily consist of William G. Ramsay's personal and business papers, as well as his family's personal papers which primarily consist of correspondence, much of it between William Ramsay and Lena Ramsay prior to and after their marriage. the letters describe social life in Wilmington, literature, courtship and marriage, household administration, family life, child rearing and health.

Dates: 1828-1958

Remington Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge Company plant photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1995-271
Abstract:

The Remington Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge Company was a manufacturer of cartridge ammunition for fire arms. This collection consists of copy photographs of Remington Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge Company facilities in Bridgeport, Connecticut, including interiors of a laboratory and exteriors of various buildings.

Dates: 1866-1920

Repauno Works photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1976-309
Abstract:

DuPont Company Repauno Works manufactured high explosive dynamite. The company began as the Repauno Chemical Company on June 7, 1880, by Lammot du Pont (1831-1884), a chemist working for the family business, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, a chemical company which originally produced gunpowder. This collection of photographs includes numerous views of the buildings, facilities, employees, and plant operations and activities.

Dates: 1895-1975

Ruoff collection of DuPont Company powder yards photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1969-129
Abstract:

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was established as a black powder manufacturer in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). The du Pont’s purchased a mill site on the banks of the Brandywine River just North of Wilmington, Delaware. This collection contains nineteen photographs of DuPont Company explosives plants, including Hagley Yard, Eleutherian Mills yard, possibly Wapwallopen, and the Pennsylvania plant.

Dates: circa 1900

Samuel Russell collection of DuPont Company photographs

 Collection
Accession: 2009-201
Abstract:

Samuel R. Russell (1880-1943) was the senior dynamite technician for the DuPont Company from 1907 to 1943. This collection consists primarily of photographs taken at various sites around the United States and South America where Samuel Russell rigged and supervised dynamite blasts.

Dates: 1912-1940

Tazewell Lamar McCorkle papers

 Collection
Accession: 2157
Abstract:

Tazewell Lamar McCorkle Sr. was regarded as a leading authority in the field of commercial explosives. Trained as a chemical engineer, McCorkle spent more than thirty years as a sales representative with the Explosives Department of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. The papers are composed entirely of copies of official DuPont Company materials that McCorkle retained after his retirement. These files provide extensive documentation of departmental policies and procedures governing the storage and delivery of DuPont explosives.

Dates: 1903-1980; Majority of material found within 1948-1980

Trojan Chemical Company loading plant, war workers, plant officials, and employees panoramic photograph

 Collection
Accession: 1969-146
Abstract:

The Allentown Non-Freezing Powder Co. built this plant in 1903 to manufacture commercial explosives using its proprietary ingredient, nitrostarch. The panoramic photograph shows employees of the Trojan Chemical Company explosives plant in Seiple, Pennsylvania.

Dates: 1918 November 26

U.S. Government Explosives Plant "C" in Nitro, West Virginia panoramas

 Collection
Accession: 2002-248
Abstract:

After the U.S. Congress declared war on April 6, 1917, agents of the U.S. government discussed the need for new gunpowder plants with E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, a chemical company more commonly known as the DuPont Company. The DuPont Engineering Company was contracted to survey and do preliminary design for an explosives plant on the Kanawha River sixteen miles west of Charleston, West Virginia. This was to be one of three new government plants and was called Explosives Plant "C." This small collection consists of three panoramic photographs of the U.S. Government Explosives Plant "C" in Nitro, West Virginia, taken after the end of World War I.

Dates: 1918

Victor Marie du Pont papers

 Collection
Accession: LMSS-II
Abstract:

Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827) was a French diplomat who later immigrated to the United States and established various trading companies before moving to Delaware. He was the eldest son of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817). The collection consists of correspondence, business and personal papers, and writings of Victor Marie du Pont and his wife, Gabrielle Joséphine (de la Fite de Pelleport) du Pont.

Dates: 1778-1827

Wallis G. Hines notes and procedures for use in the azide laboratory

 Collection
Accession: 2541
Abstract:

Wallis Gartside Hines (1919-2014) was a chemical engineer employed at the Kankakee Ordnance Works from 1942 to 1943, a war plant of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company located south of Joliet, Illinois. His notes describe the steps to be followed in the manufacture and refining of sodium and lead azide and for the laboratory analysis necessary for quality control.

Dates: 1943

William du Pont, Sr. papers, 1863-1945, bulk: 1880-1928

 Record Group
Accession: 2317Identifier: 2317-I.
Scope and Contents: The William du Pont papers primarily encompass the years of his active business life from the early 1880s to his death in 1928. There are also some papers from his early life and after his death. This includes some early personal correspondence from his school years, agreements regarding tracts of land which constituted his property in Brandywine and Christiana Hundreds in New Castle County, Delaware, and business papers related to the companies whose activities started before William du Pont's involvement or lasted after his death. There is also a gap in his general correspondence and for invoices and receipts for the first decade of the twentieth century when the family lived at Montpelier, Virginia. Series I., Subseries C. contains correspondence with lawyers and family members concerning William du Pont's inheritance from his parents and the estate of his late wife Annie Rogers du Pont. A draft of William du Pont's last will is stored with miscellaneous financial papers in Series VI.The majority of business-related correspondence of William du Pont is in Series II: General Correspondence. The series covers the entire period of du Pont's business life, except for the years from 1902 to 1912, when his main residence was at Montpelier, Virginia. Correspondence reflects his major activities: involvement with powder and dynamite companies; investments in railroads, transportation, utilities, and banking enterprises; membership in horse and cattle breeding societies and clubs, horse show organizations, and hunting clubs; contacts with horse breeders and dealers; relations with publishers of periodicals and books on horse and cattle breeding and races (subscription, advertising, photograph contribution); and construction, renovations, and repairs at personal properties and business buildings. Many letters pertain to charity requests and donations.William du Pont's business contacts were both local and national. Among his Delaware, Virginia, and Georgia correspondents are contractors, farm, and construction suppliers, utility companies, personal secretaries, farm managers, and employees (Robert H. Blain, J. S. Burtsfield, Hugh B. Craig, S. Sharp Craig, Edmund C. McCune, Earl E. Edinger, F. M. Modena). His involvement with the horse industry is documented in correspondence with organizations such as the American Jersey Cattle Club, Percheron Society of America, the National Horse Show Association of America, Advanced...
Dates: 1863-1945; Majority of material found within 1880-1928

William Hilles Ward papers

 Collection
Accession: 2278
Abstract:

William Hilles Ward (1892-1961) was a chemist, who specialized in explosives serving in high positions at the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company and the Remington Arms Company, Inc. The collection includes press clippings, speeches, photographs of Ward and the DuPont Board of Directors, birth and death certificates for Ward and his wife Sophie Hodges Ward (1894-1968), obituaries and memorials.

Dates: 1894-1970