Hagley Makes Film on African American Education in Delaware Available Online

CONTACT: Meg Marcozzi, Marketing Manager

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

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

            Wilmington, Delaware – Hagley Museum and Library announces that its film, A Separate Place: The Schools P.S. du Pont Built (2003), is available for viewing and downloading at www.hagley.org/separateplace/index.html.  A Separate Place: The Schools P.S. du Pont Built presents the connection between Pierre S. du Pont’s philanthropy and efforts by African Americans to obtain quality education in Delaware.

            “The era of racial segregation is a deplorable episode in our nation’s history,” said Hagley staff member Roger Horowitz, one of the film’s producers. “A Separate Place tells an uplifting story of how P. S. du Pont and the Black community in Delaware came together to create better education for young African Americans during those difficult times.”

            The voices of former students and teachers in the du Pont schools provide most of the film’s content, supplemented by commentary from Dr. Jeanne Nutter, the film’s executive producer and herself a product of a du Pont-built school. A shortened 25 minute version of A Separate Place, intended for elementary and middle school students, is available along with the full 53 minute film.

            A Teacher’s Guide, produced by Hagley’s Education Department, may be viewed and downloaded from the website. The guide supplements the film, especially for school use, with documents from Hagley’s research collections, such as before and after pictures of African American schools and letters from children to P.S. du Pont written in the 1920s.

            Directed by Alonzo Crawford and edited by Kendrick Simmons, A Separate Place is a production of the Hagley Museum and Library. It was generously funded by the Longwood Foundation with partial support from the Delaware Humanities Forum, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Hagley.

            The Hagley Library is the nation’s leading business history library, archive, 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 200,000 digital images and pages in the Digital Archives Department.  Hagley’s Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society, which coordinated production of A Separate Place, offers conferences, research seminars, and a public lecture series, and operates a research grant program.

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

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Victorine’s Valentine’s Day at Hagley Spreads Cheer to Elderly (Feb 2012)

CONTACT: Meg Marcozzi, Hagley Museum and Library Marketing Manager

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

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wilmington, Delaware – February 2012 – Celebrate Valentine’s Day by enjoying an afternoon of sweets and fun at Hagley Museum and Library on Sunday, February 12, from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Hagley welcomes adults and children to enjoy crafts, snacks, and activities during Victorine’s Valentine’s Day program.  This year, Hagley is asking families to create two Victorian-style valentines at its “Scrap” Valentine’s Day Card workshop – one to keep and one to give to a resident of a local nursing home. Program is included in the cost of admission. 

Indulge your sweet tooth with freshly baked gingerbread hearts baked from a woodstove and warm up with a cup of hot chocolate complete with toppings like mint, butterscotch, marshmallows, and whipped cream too!

Explore our exhibit on candy-themed treasures including a display of antique Valentines, cookbooks, and vintage candy bar wrappers. Children can decorate a candy bar wrapper of their own to give to their favorite Valentine and write love poems with a quill pen.

This annual event honors the memory of Victorine du Pont Bauduy, the eldest daughter of the DuPont Company’s founder, who spent time as superintendent of the Brandywine Manufacturers’ Sunday School during the nineteenth century. While Victorine lost the love of her life only ten weeks after her marriage, she found love again in her passion for teaching. Learn more about her story, read her love poems, and find out how she fell in love again at Victorine’s Valentine’s Day. 

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

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Interviews with Ed Loper Available Online

Click here to see interviews with Ed Loper, 1916-2011, in Hagley's documentary film, A Separate Place.

"Christmas at Hagley"

"Christmas at Hagley" runs through January 1, 2012.

For information on the exhibit and programs, please visit http://www.hagley.org/event-christmas.html.

Admission in December is free for children fourteen and under. Adults are $11, students and seniors $9.

Hagley’s Civil War Education Series Continues with the Story of a Quaker Solider

Wilmington, Delaware – October 2011 – Henry Gawthrop was one of several Quakers who served as commissioned officers in the 4^th Delaware Volunteer Infantry. Hagley Museum and Library presents the second lecture of its Civil War Education Series, “Quaker Soldier: The Civil War Experience of Henry Gawthrop of the 4th Delaware” by historian Justin Carisio, on Thursday, October 20, 7 p.m. The lecture will be held in the Copeland Room of the Hagley Library. It is free and open to the public. Use Hagley’s Buck Road East entrance off Route 100 in Wilmington, Delaware.

“Late in life, Henry Gawthrop drew upon his wartime diaries and letters to create an extended narrative of his military service,” says Carisio. “Bound as a book, this unique manuscript offers one of the most extensive views we have of a Delaware veteran's experience of the war.”

Mr. Carisio will share key episodes from this work including Gawthrop's decision to enlist, his account of the regiment's role in the June 1864 Assault on Petersburg, and the challenges he faced coping with his wounds in the war's immediate aftermath.

The last lecture of the Hagley Civil War education series will be December 1, 2011, with Jane Peters Estes. Her presentation of “Christmas Past” 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. 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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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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