The personal and business papers of the du Pont family are the heart of Hagley’s collections. Immigrating toward the end of the French Revolution, the family brought along a treasure trove of books and personal papers. As their wealth and sense of history grew, so did the collections. Today, these papers, along with those of their associates, offer remarkable insight into the social, business, and political lives of French émigré families—and the broader Atlantic world they called home.
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French Revolution
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The chaos of the French Revolution and subsequent political and social realignments are well documented in Hagley’s collections. Researchers studying this tumultuous time will find information that explains and interprets events in France from the perspective of the nation’s leading intellectuals. Hagley’s holdings include manuscript collections, published works, drawings and engravings, and numerous printed materials. |
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A physiocrat's library and papers |
Hagley preserves the library of French physiocrat Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours. The holdings are considered to be the finest collection on late-eighteenth-century French society and politics on this side of the Atlantic. Early library staff at Hagley also assembled copies of material from 27 national and regional French repositories relating to du Pont de Nemours and his sons. |
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Personal and business networks |
Hagley collections contain vast correspondence between du Pont family members and their friends and associates. These include the written impressions of Gabrielle Josephine de La Fite de Pelleport du Pont. She documented her new life in America from her perspective as a woman educated at Versailles. |
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Material culture of an émigré family |
Louise du Pont Crowninshield, the final resident of the du Pont family home on Hagley’s grounds, systematically located and returned furnishings of earlier du Pont generations to the house. Also, written papers reference the family’s formulation of their material environment in their new country. |
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Caribbean connections |
Hagley collections contain connections to French territories in the Caribbean and consequently to slavery's role in the French Atlantic World. The library holds rare books and pamphlets relating to Saint-Domingue and the Haitian Revolution. Other materials include the journal of Colonel Louis de Tousard and Victor du Pont’s papers related to supplying French troops in Saint-Domingue. We also hold business papers from Wilmington firms owned or operated by French émigrés with French West Indies' connections. The papers of Pierre Didier provide a glimpse into the life a French physician who fled Saint-Domingue in 1795 and became a physician to the workers in the du Pont powder yards. |
Research guidesLearn more about our collections relating to French history. |
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Selected bibliography of research from du Pont family collections
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Eleutherian Mills sketch by Anne Marguérite de Marigny, Baroness Hyde de Neuville, circa 1817 (Object Number 67.16).
Explore FurtherSelected digital resources related to French history at Hagley. Louis de Tousard journal and letter book Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and family papers Life of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont from Contemporary Correspondence, 1778-1834 Baroness Hyde de Neuville letters to Gabrielle Josephine du Pont (forthcoming 2025)
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 Death Sentence of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, 1794 (Acc. WMSS:II). |
Top image credits (left to right): Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, portrait by Rembrandt Peale, 1811 (Object Number 2019.22.1). Title page of État des finances de Saint-Domingue, printed in Port-Au-Prince by Mozard, 1789 (Call number Rare f HJ25 .A1 1788). Detail of letter from Marquis de Lafayette to Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, circa 1800 (Acc. WMSS:II). Sophie Madeleine du Pont, portrait by Rembrandt Peale, 1831 (Object Number 91.29.2).