“Kevlar R&D: An Oral History” is Now Online!
In 2014 Hagley was very fortunate to receive the documents, photographs, and artifacts of the late Dr. Stephanie L. Kwolek, which included her research and notes surrounding her 1965 discovery of Kevlar, creating an opportunity for Hagley’s Oral History Project Office to develop “Kevlar R&D: An Oral History”.
“Kevlar R&D: An Oral History” documents recollections from chemists and engineers who were involved with Kevlar, and features an interview with Irénée du Pont Jr. discussing the DuPont Company from an executive’s view.
The oral histories presented in “Kevlar R&D” span Kevlar’s transformation from a novel polymer in the laboratory to a socially transformative product in the market. They comprise an important chapter of the history of American innovation at mid-century, when large firms internalized the processes of change pioneered by independent inventors in an earlier era.
Through many surprising twists and turns, the chemists and engineers profiled here managed to make Kevlar serve the complicated and occasionally contradictory interests of the DuPont Company, scientific inquiry, the marketplace, and the general public. Their stories are a rich study in the business and technology of innovation, and Irénée du Pont Jr.’s additional perspective as an executive at the time provides a broader view of the DuPont Company.
Visit the Hagley Oral History Project Office “Kevlar R&D: An Oral History” page for more information and to view the interviews.
Image: Kevlar production at DuPont’s Spruance plant in Richmond, VA (Hagley Digital Archives)