E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company began a research program in dyes in 1916. By the late 1920s, the DuPont Company was one of the four major U.S. dye producers and controlled twenty-five percent of the market. The Organic Chemicals Department, Dyestuffs Division records consist of notebooks and procedures on dyes, which describe the colors, uses, applications, tests, and fastness and dying properties for dyes manufactured by DuPont and its competitors. Our collections include correspondence regarding the assessment of sales volume of Swiss dye companies in 1926 and 1927, Dye Works panoramic photographs, DuPont Company automotive color bulletins, and the DuPont Company Ponsol dye poster.
DuPont (China), Inc. was a firm established to manage the exports of dyestuffs manufactured in China by the DuPont Company's Organic Chemicals Department. The DuPont (China), Inc. records consist of materials from DuPont's Organic Chemicals Department in China and a group of reports and notebooks describing the beginnings of DuPont's dyestuffs ventures in East Asia.
Jackson Laboratory Library collection Jackson Laboratory was created in 1917 to serve the needs of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in its move to enter the manufacture of dyes and related intermediates. It was located within the Dye Works at Deepwater Point, N.J., later renamed the Chambers Works after its first superintendent in 1945 It was originally a unit of the Miscellaneous Manufacturing Department (1917-1921), then the Dyestuffs Department (1921-1932) and then the Organic Chemicals Department (1932-1978).
DuPont Company, Chambers Works papers The Du Pont Company constructed the Chamber Works at Deepwater Point, New Jersey, in 1914 for dye production. This collection consists of materials about dyes and dyeing maintained by the analytical service's technical supervisor. Included are dye notebooks on silk, knitting, and hosiery; dye methods; a nylon textiles report; modern dye chemistry lecture notes; and translations of the Azo dye sections of a seminal German publication, "Fortschritte der Teerfarbenfabrikation und verwandter Industriezweige," by P. Friedlaender.
Hounshell and Smith oral history transcripts As part of their research for the book Science and Corporate Strategy, David A. Hounshell (1950-) and John Kenly Smith (1951-) conducted sixty-one oral history interviews. These interviews, with forty-seven current and former chemical engineers involved in DuPont's R & D programs, offer unique and invaluable insights into DuPont's research programs. They particularly shed light on the diverse personalities and the distinct organizational culture of the various DuPont research facilities.
Rolf Dessauer (1926-) was a research chemist specializing in dyes. He began a lengthy career with E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in 1952 as a research chemist at Jackson Laboratory, Du Pont's center for dye research. Intense research and patent studies led Dessauer and his colleagues to a new UVI – Ultraviolet Imaging technology. The Rolf Dessauer papers document his career as a noted scientist and chemist.
L. & R. Organic Products Co., Inc. records L. & R. Organic Products Co., Inc., was a small, independent firm of manufacturing chemists, founded by the brothers Harry L. Lobsenz (1884-1969) and Jack Lobsenz (1899-1968). It secured dyes from European, Japanese, and domestic manufacturers, mixed them in a small plant to customer specifications, and retailed them in the U.S., Latin America, and other foreign countries. Harry Lobsenz sold the business to other family members in 1964, and it was reorganized as the L. & R. Dyestuffs Corporation.
Ansco G. Bruinier, Jr. (1898-1993) was the Technical Advertising Manager for the Dyestuffs Division, Organic Chemicals Department at DuPont in the mid-twentieth century. The Ansco G. Bruinier, Jr. papers include both work and personal documents, giving insight into World War II and the post-war era corporate sales and advertising strategies. Included in his work papers are Du Pont's Dyestuffs Division advertisement samples (1935-1947) and advertisement proofs used in various trade journals such as American Dyestuffs Reporter, American Wool & Cotton Reporter, Textile Colorist, Rayon Textile Monthly, Paper Trade Journal, and others. The collection includes advertisement proofs for the Better Fabrics Testing Bureau, Inc.'s "Color Tested" seal for color fastness.
Gordon Derby Patterson (1897-1982) was a chemist who spent nearly forty years with the Central Research Department (formerly the Chemical Department) at the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. In addition to his early work in pigments and rayon, Patterson directed research in high-energy radiation generators, radioactive tracer techniques, nuclear magnetic resonance, electron microscopy, and absorption spectroscopy. The Gordon D. Patterson papers provide extensive documentation for these projects, giving particular emphasis on ideas and suggestions for possible areas of exploration.
The John J. Beer papers (2279) include notes on Nineteenth- and twentieth-century dye theories, 1861-1964. Other nineteenth-century collections include the business records for O. S. Janney (1857-1870) and Olcott, McKesson & Robbins/ McKesson & Robbins (1853-1878).
Dorothy Nickerson (1900-1985) worked in the Munsell Color Company's research laboratory from 1921-1926 and is known for her many contributions to color science. This photograph collection consists of materials from the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum.
Henry Hemmendinger (1915-2003) was one of the preeminent color scientists of his day. Hemmendinger's papers represent the span of his career and include contributions from various individuals and organizations working in color science.
