Brandywine Valley oral history interviewees' photographs

About this collection

    The Oral histories on work and daily life in the Brandywine Valley (Accession 1970.370) collection contains oral history interviews conducted by Hagley staff between 1954 and 1990 with individuals who had worked at the DuPont Company powder yards on Brandywine Creek during the yards’ final decades of operation, or who had lived near the yards as spouses or children of DuPont Company workers. Click here to visit the digital collection for these recordings and transcripts.
    Some of the interviewees donated, lent for copying, or provided information about photographs depicting the workers' communities and powder yards. These photographs now form the Brandywine Valley oral history interviewees' photographs (Accession 2017.255) collection.
    Image: DuPont Co. workers enjoying a drink near the Club House at Thompson's Bridge. Click to view.

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Wooden keg mill (cooper shop) on Breck's Lane
Gentieu caption: "Factory where wood kegs are made. Man in center (Gailey Mathewson) has worked here for 50 years and is 77 years old and has only one lung, but seems good for many years yet." The following provided by F.L. Mathewson, grandson of Gilbert Mathewson, in 1966: Main Cooper Shop is building at far right, soaking pits were to right, off picture. Had slate roof and slate shingle siding. Pancake Run is in foreground, flowing under bridge to left. Left to right: Harry Carter (?); Gilbert Mathewson, boss of cooper shop; Frank Applegate; William Roe [Rowe?].
Ice jam on Creek Road (Main Street) along Brandywine Creek in Henry Clay, Delaware
Buildings left to right: Charles I. du Pont house, Pigeon Hole Row, Long Row. Rolling mills visible at far right.
High water on Creek Road (Main Street) along Brandywine Creek in Henry Clay, Delaware
Buildings left to right: Charles I. du Pont house, Long Row.
Road bed and stone wall construction before beginning of Peoples Railway on Creek Road (Main Street) in Henry Clay, Delaware
Buildings left to right: Charles I. du Pont house, Long Row, New Machine Shop in Hagley Yard.
Employees in New Machine Shop at Hagley Yard
Identification by Edward L. Bader: Back row left to right: E.M. Taylor (Shop Superintendent), Ed Bader, and Fred Ivins. Front row left to right: William Waterbury, Duncan Thatcher.
Hagley workmen in saloon, possibly Robinson's saloon in Wilmington, Delaware
Left to right: Walker Mathewson, bartender Bill Hearn, Jeff Blakeley, and Les Robinson.
Powder workmen's farewell at Nemours, home of Alfred I. du Pont
The following people are identified: Ed Bader, machinist; Frank Haley, clerk; Tom Tulley, clerk; John Dougherty, clerk; Will Beatty, pattern maker; Seitz, foreman of woodwork shop; Bob Millin, tinsmith.
Powdermen's Outing
Front Row: Man with crutch - Pierre Gentieu, Next to him - Alfred I. du Pont (on Gentieu's left), Man kneeling on front row in straw hat - Mike Maloney (blacksmith). Last row, fourteenth from right, lower deck: Mr. Hoover (standing).
Maxwell family
Seated are Joseph Maxwell (1833-1911) and Mary Ellen Warrick Maxwell (1838?-1912). The young women standing behind them are presumably the Maxwells' granddaughters, Mary Esther Campbell and Martha Ellen Campbell.
Alfred I. du Pont farewell party
The following people are identified on a tracing paper overlay: Alfred I. du Pont, Ernest du Pont, two unnamed drivers, Lynch (plumber), Joe Haley, John Andrews who "ran off with barn burning detectives who were pretending to be religious group," Mike Mahony's dad, Thomas Knox (Bader's brother-in-law burned in explosion of 1898), "old foreman," Dorman who "worked in packing house," Albert "Yabba" Buchanan who "ran ? plant with trains," and the Rowe brothers (cooper and painter). See tracing paper overlay for locations in photograph.
Alfred I. du Pont and DuPont Co. powder yard workers at company outing
From left (identification by donor): Mike Maloney, Peter Pursue, Sam Ferraro (seated, hand on walking stick), Victor Sauspin (thin face, large black hat, back of Ferraro), Harry Broden (derby, rear, right of Alfred I. du Pont), Felix Flanigan (behind Alfred I. du Pont), Tom Leach (next to Felix Flanigan), Pat Welsh (next to Leach), James Marten (right, front, straw hat, folded hands), Don Shields (left of Marten, white mustache, derby), Benny Watson (next to Shields), Gene Marten (second from right), Philip Dougherty (far right), Harry Muller (seated, far right), William Horty (next to Muller), and Alfred I. du Pont (center with knickers).
Alfred I. du Pont's Orchestra in Breck's Mill
Taken in Breck's Mill Electric Shop. Left to right: William Hearn, Michael Maloney, George Gentieu, Alfred (Charles) Maxwell, James Casey (Pat's Son), Walker Mathewson, and Alfred Mathewson.
Foundry yard workers in the foundry yard behind the Machine Shop
Left to right: Billy Walters, foundry boss and pattern maker; unidentified laborer; Harry Dadds, molder.
Laboring gang in Hagley Yard
Left to right: Unidentified, Sam Ferraro, unidentified, Benjamin Griffiths, possibly Louis Boubell.
William Betty family at Wagoner's Row
Left to right: William Betty, George Betty, Mrs. Betty, Faith Betty (Mrs. Lattomus).
DuPont Co. employees, farm workers
Left to right: William Snyder, Robert Betty, William G. Betty. South side of Eleutherian Mills Barn.

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