The Manuscripts and Archives Department is pleased to announce that records from the DuPont Company’s technical libraries for the Chestnut Run and the Experimental Station laboratories are open for research at Hagley. These technical libraries were two of several that the company maintained for the use of its chemists and researchers. The materials date 1902-2011 and contain valuable information about the history of the company and its products.
Chestnut Run was built in the mid-1950s as a series of eight laboratories on a unified campus, west of Wilmington, Delaware. These laboratories were Textile Research, Electrochemicals, Film, Freon Products, Pigments, Elastomers, Industrial & Biochemicals Sales Technical, and Plastics Technical Services. The Experimental Station, established in 1902, was one of the earliest industrial research laboratories in the United States. Located just outside of Wilmington, it was the primary site of DuPont’s research and development initiatives for many years. The Lavoisier Library was opened in 1950 at the Experimental Station and was one of the largest corporate research libraries in the U.S. Both of the technical research libraries were closed in recent years due to downsizing at DuPont.
The records from both technical libraries include a range of materials. Meeting and conference records include discussions about the future direction of the company as well as policies and procedures. There are speeches and scholarly articles written by top level executives, chemists, and scientists. The serial American Fabrics(later American Fabrics and Fashions) and scrapbooks created by DuPont pertain to textiles and textile design. Additional records include subject files, histories of DuPont textile products, and company newsletters.
Right: “Filtration Systems from DuPont – Your Pollution Control Kit, 1990.”
The collections are an excellent addition to the DuPont Company records at Hagley and are described in finding aids for theChestnut Run Technical Library and theLavoisier Library.
For further information about these records, please contact Ask Hagley.
Lynn Catanese is Chief Curator of Library Collections, Manuscripts and Archives Department, at Hagley.