Lecture on Philanthropy Highlights du Pont Family Influence

Wilmington, Delaware – November 2011 – Hagley Museum and Library welcomes Dr. Olivier Zunz, Commonwealth Professor of History at the University of Virginia, to speak about his just-published book, Philanthropy in America: A History, on Wednesday, November 9, 7 p.m. in the Soda House auditorium. Zunz’s lecture will focus on the role played by the du Pont family in the development of modern philanthropy, especially during the Great Depression. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and to be signed by the author. This program is partially funded by a grant from the Delaware Humanities Forum. The lecture is free. Registration requested. Call (302) 658-2400, ext. 243.

In his lecture, Zunz will discuss how the du Ponts mobilized local resources, including their own, to stem economic decline. Additionally, they supported the coordination of local governments, local business, and local charity into a significant response to the downturn. Through these and other activities, Zunz will show how the du Ponts’ efforts contributed greatly to making philanthropy such a powerful force in American society.

Philanthropy in America: A History looks at the ways in which American philanthropy emerged, not as charity work, but as an open and sometimes controversial means to foster independent investigation, problem-solving, and the greater good. Zunz’s book ranges widely, examining the influential large-scale foundations established by tycoons such as John D. Rockefeller, Sr., and the mobilization of small donors by the Red Cross and March of Dimes, as well as the recent social advocacy of individuals like Bill Gates and George Soros.

            Dr. Zunz used the collections of Hagley Library for research for Philanthropy in America: A History. The Hagley Library is the nation’s leading business history library, archives, and research center. Current holdings comprise 36,000 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 100,000 digital images and pages in the Digital Archives Department. 

            This program is partially funded by a grant from the Delaware Humanities Forum, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Hagley Museum and Library collects, preserves, and interprets the unfolding history of American enterprise. For more information, call (302) 658-2400 weekdays or  visit www.hagley.org.

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Hagley Opens Records of Woodlawn Trustees for Research

Wilmington, Delaware – September 2011 – Hagley Museum and Library announces the records of the Woodlawn Trustees, Inc., are open for research. The Woodlawn Trustees have been influential in the development of Concord Pike, building the Wilmington neighborhood “The Flats,” and providing open space to the City of Wilmington, New Castle County, and the State of Delaware for the purpose of creating public parks. The collection includes ledgers and journals, correspondence, meeting minutes, maps, photographs, and promotional materials. A finding aid is available online at http://www.hagley.org/library/collections/manuscripts/woodlawn_abst.html. Access to the collection is onsite only.

            Hagley received the Woodlawn Trustees collection in 2008. The Woodlawn Trustees, Inc., dates to 1901 when it was formed by William Poole Bancroft and called “The Woodlawn Company.” Woodlawn’s mission has three initiatives: preserve green space, encourage planned development to benefit the community and support Woodlawn’s activities, and provide affordable rental housing to residents with modest means.

            William Poole Bancroft was born in 1835, son of Joseph Bancroft, the founder of Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company, and Sarah Poole, daughter of William Poole, the silversmith and miller.  When Bancroft was seven years old, he began working in his father’s cotton mills.  At age 14, he went to work full time and by 1865, at the age of 30, was made a partner in the business. It was through the successful operation of these mills that William Bancroft acquired the means to give of his time, money, and energy to housing, orderly development, and parks.

            The Hagley Library is the nation’s leading business history library, archives, and research center. Current holdings comprise 36,000 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 100,000 digital images and pages in the Digital Archives Department. 

            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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Sunday Hayrides at Hagley

CONTACT:     Meg Marcozzi, Marketing Manager

                        (302) 658-2400, ext. 238    mmarcozzi@hagley.org

            Wilmington, Delaware – October 2011 – Hagley Museum and Library is offering family hayrides Sundays in October (2, 9, 16, 23, and 30). From noon to 4 p.m., visitors can take a half hour hayride, sip apple cider, and make fall crafts. The rides are sponsored by Hagley’s Golden Pheasants (Hagley’s membership group for the young and young-at-heart) and are included in regular admission.. Use Hagley’s main entrance off Route 141 in Wilmington, Delaware.

            Each Sunday will feature a theme and craft (chart below). Families may play nineteenth-century games each week and color fall pictures. Hayrides will alternate between the upper and lower property each week. The last hayride begins at 4 p.m.

	Theme	Craft	Location
October 2	Dolls and Dolls	Corn husk and clothespin dolls	Wheelwright Shop
October 9	Apples	Apple wreaths	Barn
October 16	Leaves are FALLing	Fall leaf prints and rubbings	Wheelwright Shop
October 23	Frame It!	Fall frames	Barn
October 30	Pumpkins	Jack o’Lantern pouch	Wheelwright Shop

The museum is located on Route 141 in Wilmington, Delaware. GPS Address: 200 Hagley Road. Admission to the entire 235-acre museum is $11 for adults, $9 for students and senior citizens, $4 for children six to fourteen, and free for members and children five and under.

Hagley Museum and Library collects, preserves, and interprets the unfolding history of American enterprise. For more information, call (302) 658-2400 weekdays or visit www.hagley.org.

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Hagley Film Showcase Airs New Documentary about the Most Famous Entrepreneur You’ve Never Heard Of

CONTACT:  Meg Marcozzi, Marketing Manager

                          (302) 658-2400, ext. 238  mmarcozzi@hagley.org

Wilmington, Delaware – September 2011 – Join Hagley Museum and Library at 3 p.m. on Friday, September 23, for a viewing of a new documentary on the life of Bill McGowan ,“Long Distance Warrior.” Film will be shown in the Auditorium of the Hagley Soda House. Use Hagley’s Buck Road Entrance off Route 100. This program is free and open to the public. “Long Distance Warrior” is a presentation of WTTW Chicago, American Public Television and the Hagley Museum and Library.

            Bill McGowan transformed long distance service from a luxury to a cheap commodity as he built a tiny company called MCI into a telecommunications powerhouse. He took on the most powerful monopoly of his time—AT&T, and its Bell System of local phone companies—and won against all odds. He helped usher in the Information Age by unleashing the forces of competition and change.

            Hagley received the records of MCI in August of 2000. The collection contains approximately 750 linear feet of material including annual reports, correspondence, photographs, and interviews. Hagley’s online exhibit, “William G. McGowan’s MCI 1968-1991” is accessible at http://www.hagley.org/library/exhibits/MCI/.

            The Hagley Library is the nation’s leading business history library, archive, and research center. Current holdings comprise 36,000 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 100,000 digital images and pages in the Digital Archives Department.  The Library operates a research grant program, and offers conferences, research seminars, and a public lecture series. 

            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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CONTACT:  Meg Marcozzi, Marketing Manager

                          (302) 658-2400, ext. 238  mmarcozzi@hagley.org

About “Long Distance Warrior”

            “Long Distance Warrior” a new one-hour film directed by Sarah Holt and produced by Holt and Bestor Cram, is a colorful portrait of a man whose vision and enthusiasm inspired so much loyalty that his former employees still hold annual reunions 25 years after his death. Fast-paced, dramatic and imbued with McGowan’s famous sense of humor, the film will premiere on public television beginning in September 2011 (check local listings).

            And yet Bill McGowan’s extraordinary story is now largely forgotten. His company, once analyzed and dissected daily by the media, has disappeared. Only his legacy remains: the dazzling world of information technology, lightning-fast communications, and inexorable innovation we now take for granted.

            It’s a world that was the stuff of science fiction and fantasy just fifty years ago, when everyone had a black telephone they rented from Ma Bell and thought twice about calling long distance because of its cost. Progress was stymied by a risk-averse corporate behemoth, and competition was stifled at every turn.

            “Long Distance Warrior” chronicles McGowan’s rise from his hardscrabble Pennsylvania roots to Harvard Business School to the CEO of MCI. A risk-taking, rule-breaking workaholic who delighted in a challenge, McGowan refused to accept the status quo and dared to take on AT&T when no one else would.

            Told through interviews with former colleagues, historians, and journalists, “Long Distance Warrior” is a compelling film that is long overdue. It brings a major figure in American business history back into the public spotlight and presents a gripping case study of the kind of vision, determination, and calculated risk-taking it takes to spark real progress. But above all, it shows us how we got to the present by taking us back to the past, so we can follow the path of a man who saw the future, and then made it happen.

            It is, in essence, a classic American success story.

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The Libby Prison Minstrels will perform Civil War Era music at Hagley

CONTACT:     Meg Marcozzi, Marketing Manager

                        (302) 658-2400, ext. 238    mmarcozzi@hagley.org

What:               The Libby Prison Minstrels will perform Civil War Era music  at Hagley

Where:             The Soda House at Hagley Museum and Library (Buck Road Entrance off Route 100)

When:              7 pm. On Thursday, September 29, 2011

Admission:      Free

Briefly:            

            The Concert by the Libby Prison Minstrels is the first program in Hagley’s Civil War Education Series. The Civil War Education Series complements Hagley’s exhibit, “An Oath of Allegiance to the Republic: The du Ponts and the Civil War.”

           The Libby Prison Minstrels is a five-piece band with guitars, banjo, mandolins, bass, harmonica, whistles and percussion that feature three-part harmony.  It is modeled after a group of Union prisoners who performed in the infamous Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War. The band’s repertoire includes soldier songs (North and South), Irish-American ballads, sea shanties, spirituals, period fiddle tunes, and Early American dance music.

 The Hagley Civil War education series will continue in October with historian Justin Carisio, and his lecture, " Quaker Soldier: The Civil War Experience of  Henry Gawthrop of the 4^th Delaware;" and December with Jane Peters Estes, and her presentation of “Christmas Past,” which will explore the origins of many of                                      our holiday traditions and highlights Christmas customs observed during the Civil War.

            Hagley Museum and Library collects, preserves, and interprets the unfolding history of American enterprise. For more information, call (302) 658-2400 weekdays or visit www.hagley.org.

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Hagley Concert Features Civil War Era Music

Wilmington, Delaware – September 2011 – Hagley Museum and Library welcomes the Libby Prison Minstrels to the Soda House on Wednesday, September 29, 2011, at 7 p.m. to perform music from the Civil War era. Admission is free. Use Hagley’s Buck Road East entrance off Route 100 in Wilmington, Delaware.

The Libby Prison Minstrels is a five-piece band with guitars, banjo, mandolins, bass, harmonica, whistles and percussion that feature three-part harmony.  It is modeled after a group of Union prisoners who performed in the infamous Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War. The band’s repertoire includes soldier songs (North and South), Irish-American ballads, sea shanties, spirituals, period fiddle tunes, and Early American dance music.

The Hagley Civil War education series will continue in October with historian Justin Carisio, and his lecture, " Quaker Soldier: The Civil War Experience of Henry Gawthrop of the 4^th Delaware;" and December with Jane Peters Estes, and her presentation of “Christmas Past,” which will explore the origins of many of our holiday traditions and highlights Christmas customs observed during the Civil War.

The current Hagley exhibit in the Visitor Center, “An Oath of Allegiance to the Republic: the du Ponts and the Civil War,” explores the roles played by several du Pont family members, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., and the local community in response to the Civil War. It also delves into their involvement at the state, national, and international levels in resolving the most devastating conflict Americans have ever seen.

Hagley Museum and Library collects, preserves, and interprets the unfolding history of American enterprise. For more information, call (302) 658-2400 weekdays or visit www.hagley.org.

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Explore the Brandywine with Hagley’s Creek Kids

            Wilmington, Delaware – August 2011 – Join Hagley’s Creek Kids for two afternoons along the Brandywine, Tuesday, August 16, and Sunday, August 21, from 1 to 4 p.m. Today we can access power with a flip of a switch, run to the grocery store to pick up food for dinner, and stop by the shopping mall if we need new socks or a shirt. Life in the nineteenth century was not the same. Come watch, learn, and experience how the people who lived and worked along the Brandywine depended on natural elements for their daily tasks. From growing fruits and vegetables in gardens to using water from the Brandywine to power the mills, the environment of the Brandywine was a vital part of this community. Activities are included in admission and free for members.

            The afternoons’ activities will explore the natural world of the Brandywine. Parents and children can try their hands at fishing with a bamboo pole or take a walking tour of the water power process. Local artisans will be discussing textile arts and demonstrating the use of old-fashioned spinning and weaving wheels. Other activities will include making lavender sachets, peeling willow branches, and learning about the Workers’ Garden.

Hagley's Creek Kids is a youth leadership and development program. High school students undergo extensive training from November through August to learn how to develop and implement a public program. Training includes lessons on leadership, instruction in history and science content, brainstorming and planning session, and hands-on exercises. Students apply this training during public programs at Hagley.

            The Creek Kids program is supported, in part, by Capital Growth Management, LP., and Mercer Health & Benefits Company.

The museum is located on Route 141 in Wilmington, Delaware. Admission to the entire 235-acre museum is $11 for adults, $9 for students and senior citizens, $4 for children six to fourteen, and free for members and children five and under.

Hagley Museum and Library collects, preserves, and interprets the unfolding history of American enterprise. Call (302) 658-2400 weekdays for more information or visit www.hagley.org.

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