In this broad ranging conversation on Chinese railroad history Ben Kletzer discusses one of China's major developmental issues of the mid 20th century: How do you balance the country's need for a developed railway system with the needs of a rapidly developing manufacturing base when both sectors are dependent on difficult to access coal and copper deposits?

Women working in a factory that manufactures lipstick

The Hagley Vault brings beauty home to you this week with a ca. 1950 look at lipstick manufacturing in an Avon Products plant in Canada.

The photograph is part of Hagley Library's collection of Avon Products Inc. photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession: 1997.209). The company was founded in 1886 by David H. McConnell (1856-1937) as the California Perfume Company (CPC). During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, CPC expanded its line of products to include cosmetics, household cleaners, food flavorings, and toiletries, and is now one of the oldest direct selling companies in America.

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Daily Cannon Firings Bring History to Life at Hagley Museum

Popular demonstrations bring new excitement to the historic DuPont powder yards


WILMINGTON, Delaware (November 2, 2026) – History is booming at Hagley Museum and Library! Beginning Saturday, November 7, Hagley will fire its signal cannon every day the museum is open, making the popular demonstration part of the daily visitor experience.

slide with two men talking and the caption 'don't complain, you didn't vote'

We'll be joining a lot of you at work this week, which is why we're sharing this slide from the 1959 'Citizen at Work' audiovisual presentation by the National Association of Manufacturers.

The six-session political education seminar was created by the National Association of Manufacturers to counter the influence of the labor movement in American politics, and aimed to encourage executives and business owners to become more vocally engaged in the political process and in promoting an economic system based on free enterprise.

Participants in the seminar meet weekly to watch short films or film slide presentations, discuss the presentation and weekly reading assignments, and, on week five, talk with guest politicians. 

Teaching children about money and finances can be a way to equip young people with tools for adult life and decision making. Financial literacy initiatives can also be a way for interested business parties to shape the consumers and financial actors of tomorrow to their liking. During the period 1960 to 2010 the emphasis of children’s financial education in the USA and UK shifted from the former to the latter, reflecting changes in the political and economic environments.

Toddler in a clown costume

Whether you're creepin' it real or too much of a cutie to be spooky, it's time to eat, drink, and be scary. Hagley is going trick-or-treating this week with a young Thomas C. Marshall, Jr., seen here in a 1925 photograph.

This glass plate negative is from Hagley Library's Thomas C. Marshall photographs collection (Accession 1990.270). The Marshall family settled in the area now known as Yorklyn, Delaware in the mid-1700s. They became prominent members of the region after 1890, when Israel W. Marshall formed a partnership with his brother, T. Elwood Marshall, and Franklin Ewart to purchase the former Garrett paper mill in Yorklyn, renaming it the Marshall Brothers Paper Mill. 

The endeavor was profitable, and it allowed Isreal to build his family a Victorian mansion in 1897, now known as Auburn Heights, on a hill overlooking the paper mill. This mansion has remained in the family, belonging first to Israel's son, T. (Thomas) Clarence Marshall, and later to his son, Thomas C. Marshall, Jr. 

Hagley Library recently acquired a new collection of published and archival materials pertaining to the history of American hotels. The acquisition is a gift from collector Larry R. Paul. Mr. Paul has gifted materials to Hagley in the past, adding a rich assortment of business history publications to the collection and providing access to a database he created with historical information on over 20,000 U.S. hotels, from the 18th century to the early 21st century.

Pierre Samuel du Pont (January 15, 1870 – April 4, 1954) founded the Hagley Library (originally the Eleutherian Mills Library). Pierre and his brothers attended Phillips Academy and MIT, and Pierre graduated from MIT in 1890. During their time in school, the brothers documented the grounds, their friends, and their living spaces. Photographs of the dorm rooms show walls fully covered in mementos. Banners, framed and unframed photographs, flags, magazines, broadsides advertising sporting events, and newspaper pages were all used to adorn the spaces and showcase the brothers’ interests.

October is the season of mystery, and this year one turned up at my workplace. Tucked away on our shelves, I found an obscure publication that no one could account for. We call these “found on property” items, or FOPs: objects in our collection with no paperwork to explain where they came from. That origin story, known as an item’s provenance, is usually the first thing we record when we receive something, but some material, especially from the early days of Hagley, lack this important information.

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