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 consists primarily of correspondence from du Pont to his wife, Elise Wigfall Simons (1849-1919), but include items from other family members, as well as a journal of du Pont's, manuscripts written by him, and plays and novels by Alice Simons (1849-1891).

Keith Reeves Rodney (1875-1956) was a metallurgist at the Fairmount Steel Company in Philadelphia. His diaries document his 1905 European tour of a number of steel mills and machine shops. He visited Italy, France, Germany, and England.