CONTACT:
Meg Marcozzi, Marketing Manager
IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Important
DuPont Records Come to Hagley Museum and Library
Wilmington, Delaware – July 2012 – To
commemorate its 210th anniversary, DuPont today officially conveyed
a set of important 20th century documents to Hagley Museum and
Library . The company deposited its board and committee minute books, which
date from 1899 through 1940. These records document the transformation of
DuPont into a modern, centrally administered industrial giant. They represent a significant addition to the
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company Archives at Hagley.
 |
| DuPont Board Minutes from 1899 |
“These volumes add depth to an already
important archive at Hagley,” says Hagley Executive Director Geoff Halfpenny. Ellen Kullman, DuPont Chair and CEO said,
“this particular set of records covers one of the most important eras in DuPont
and U.S. industrial history, and chronicles decisions made by some of our
company’s most storied leaders.”
The minutes received include those
for directors’ and shareholders’ meetings, and those for the Executive, Finance
and “A” Bonus Committees. These records describe the company about the time it
was taken over by three du Pont cousins, T. Coleman, Pierre S., and Alfred I.
du Pont in 1902, when it was the leading manufacturer of commercial explosives
and sport shooting powders. By the end of World War I, the company‘s acquisitions
and plant expansions had made it the largest supplier of munitions for the
Allies. Later volumes reveal DuPont’s strategy of diversification during the interwar
period as it established its presence in the dyestuffs, paints, plastics, and
cellophane markets. Thanks to its work on polymers during these years, leading
to the discovery of nylon, DuPont contributed to the
Allied cause in World War II through textiles as well as munitions.
About the Library
Hagley Library
is the nation’s leading business history library, archives, and research
center. Current holdings comprise 37,000 linear feet in the Manuscripts and
Archives Department, 290,000 printed volumes in the Imprints Department, 2
million visual items in the Pictorial Department, and more than 300,000 digital
images and pages in the Digital Archives Department. Hagley’s Center for the History of Business,
Technology, and Society organizes conferences, research seminars, and a public
lecture series; it also operates a research grants-in-aid program.
Hagley Museum and Library
Hagley
Museum and Library collects, preserves, and interprets the unfolding history of
American enterprise. Hagley is located on Route
141 in Wilmington, Delaware. For more
information, call (302) 658-2400 weekdays or visit www.hagley.org.
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