Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) was the founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. The collection contains original love letters from du Pont to his wife, Sophie (Dalmas) du Pont (1775-1828). He writes of how much he loves his wife and misses her when away. English transcribed extracts of several letters were done by their daughter, Sophie Madeleine du Pont (1810-1888).

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) for the production of gunpowder. The papers in this collection date from the lifetime of E.I. du Pont and document important aspects of the early history of the DuPont Company.

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 & Company. E.I. du Pont married Sophie Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828) in 1791; the couple had eight children, one of whom died in infancy. This collection of papers includes outbound and inbound correspondence covering personal and business matters. These include personal accounts, writings and memoirs, legal documents, and miscellany, of which the majority are accounts. There are papers of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. that date from 1802 to 1850 and include correspondence (drafts, retained copies, and letters received), contracts and other legal documents, accounts, bills and receipts, checks, promissory notes, bills of exchange, drafts, and certain miscellaneous notes and memoranda.

Gertrude Ruhnka (1891-1981) was a research librarian at the Huntington Library in California. The collection contains her unpublished manuscript, "Love for life: a self-portrait of the first three generations of du Ponts in America, 1791-1834," and two letters from Ruhnka to J.B. Lippincott Company and Dr. Walter J. Heacock of the Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French political economist, writer, publisher, and public administrator. His son, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), established E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., a black powder manufacturer, on the Brandywine River in Delaware. The collection contains photocopies of three letters of du Pont de Nemours du Pont to Etienne Alexandre Jacques Anisson du Perron (1749-1794) and Alexandre Brongniart (1770-1847). The letters concern printing, natural sciences, and requesting scientific journals and bulletins.