Featured events at Hagley Museum change year-round and are a mix of annual traditions and new activities that engage the environment and history that surrounds us. Keep an eye out for our ever-changing events schedule and be sure to contact us if you have particular questions, suggestions, or feedback! 

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2 to 27
July 2025 to August 2025
Summer Nights at Hagley - Wednesdays June, July, & August
Held Wednesday evenings, June through August, from 5 to 8 p.m. Relax and enjoy an after-work stroll along the Brandywine’s most beautiful mile on summer Wednesday evenings. Bring the whole family for summer fun in a beautiful outdoor setting.  B…
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6 to 27
September 2025 to September 2025
Fishing on the Brandywine at Hagley
Enjoy a relaxing afternoon of fishing on the Brandywine — no fishing license required. See if you can catch a sunfish, bluegill, or even a largemouth bass! Bamboo poles will be provided with fishing line, bob, and hook. Poles will be pre-strung…
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28 to 23
June 2025 to August 2025
Summer Saturdays at Hagley
Spend a Summer Saturday at Hagley and relax with fun outdoor activities. These are drop-in activities, so feel free to join the fun at any time during the activity. Included in admission and free to Hagley Members. Check out Hagley's Science Saturda…
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26
October 2017
Author Talk — Private Pilots and the Rise of Civil Aviation
In his talk, Alan Meyer provides an engaging account of private aviation, taking the audience inside a community that required exceptionally high skill levels, celebrated facing and overcoming risk, and encouraged fierce personal independence. …
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15
February 2018
Research Seminar — “DuPont and the Limits of Corporate Environmentalis…
Adam Rome, University at Buffalo, will discuss his paper "DuPont and the Limits of Corporate Environmentalism." Author's abstract for the seminar paper: In 1989, Edgar Woolard began his tenure as CEO of the chemical giant DuPont by calli…
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26
March 2018
Spring Break Family Fun
Trying to find something fun to do with the kids during spring break? Plan a trip to Hagley! The second floor of the Visitor Center will feature fun activities for families and Easy Does It! will be open for visitors to explore. Activities begin at 1…
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18
June 2018
Summer Break Activities
School’s out for summer - don’t let the brain drain happen on your watch! Bring the kids to Hagley this summer and try some fun learning activities for families. The second floor of the Visitor Center will feature various activities daily all summer…
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4
July 2018
Independence Day
Celebrate Independence Day at Hagley! Enjoy cannon firings in the Hagley Powder Yard at 4:30, 5:30, and 6:30 p.m., and Hagley's Bike & Hike & Brews from 5 to 8 p.m. Free admission for military veterans.
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12
July 2018
Dinner with a View
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. We hope you can join us next time! Take advantage of this unique opportunity to enjoy dinner by the Brandywine and a guided walking tour through Hagley’s gardens. Includes a boxed dinner prepared by the Belin House Organic Caf…
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18
August 2018
Nineteenth-Century Faire with Flair
Join us for Hagley's Nineteenth-Century Faire with Flair! Experience fun games, food tastings, and activities from the nineteenth century. Coordinated by the Hagley Youth Leadership Program. Faire activities are included with admission. Rain date is…
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2
September 2018
Sights, Sounds, Smells Walking Tour at Hagley Museum
Visitors experience an in-depth, hands-on tour focused on gunpowder production in the Hagley Powder Yard and visit production areas rarely seen by guests. This tour ends with an explosive finish. Tour involves walking on uneven ground. Included in ad…
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20
September 2018
Research Seminar: Nadia Berenstein
Attendees are encouraged to read Berenstein's paper,  “A Flavor You Can’t Forget: NuGrape Soda, Synthetic Chemistry, and Modern Thirst,” which may be obtained by contacting Carol Lockman at clockman@hagley.org.  Free, reply reques…
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25
September 2018
Farm To Table Dinner
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. We apologize for any inconvenience. Remember to book early next year! The gardens at Hagley were used as food sources by the du Pont family and the powder yard workers and their families. For one-night only, we're hosting a…
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4
October 2018
Author Talk: Benjamin Gross - "The TVs of Tomorrow: RCA and the I…
Did you know that RCA was hard at work on a flat panel television in the 1950s? Ben Gross, vice president for research and scholarship at the Linda Hall Library, will explain how RCA’s imaginative leader David Sarnoff set his talented scientists and…
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11
October 2018
Member Appreciation Event: Hagley’s Harvest Happy Hour
Hagley members are cordially invited to our Member Appreciation Event: Hagley’s Harvest Happy Hour. Celebrate the fall season and meet other Hagley Members!  Listen to the sounds of The Acoustic Jam band, which plays blues, country, folk, p…
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25
October 2018
Research Seminar: Seth Lunine
Attendees are encouraged to read Lunine's paper, “Groundbreaking Technology: California Dynamite and the Eastern Frontier, 1866-1886” which may be obtained by contacting Carol Lockman at clockman@hagley.org.  Free, reply requested, call (30…
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8
November 2018
Author Talk: Sarah Igo, “Invasions of Privacy: An American History”
Privacy – and the threats to it – are everyday items in our news, and a worry to many in our digital age. Sarah Igo, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University, will explain how our concerns about privacy have a history stretching back to the la…
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9
November 2018
Hagley Center Fall Conference "Seeing like a Capitalist: Historie…
The 2018 fall conference of the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society will explore the history of commercial surveillance in the United States, from settlement to the present.  For more information, please see the call for…
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19
November 2018
Black Friday Membership Special
Special offer for current and new members! This holiday season, enjoy the many benefits of Hagley membership with this Black Friday special.  Join Hagley or renew your membership and save $15! Use this link and enter the code THANKS15 Offer…
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23
November 2018
Thanksgiving Weekend Family Programming
Bring your family and friends to enjoy the holidays at Hagley. While in the Visitor Center, visit Santa's Workshop (although Santa may not be home!) and view the entries of the gingerbread house competition. Visit Eleutherian Mills, the du Pont famil…
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6
December 2018
Research Seminar: The Transformation of the Cold War U.S. Military
Facing a military of unprecedented size and scope after World War II, leaders in the U.S. Department of Defense recruited managers from private industry to help them run the Cold War national security state. Attendees are encouraged to read Murp…
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10
January 2019
Research Seminar: Laura Puaca
DOMESTICATING DISABILITY: THE CREATION OF ASSISTIVE DEVICES FOR DISABLED HOMEMAKERS IN THE POST-WWII U.S. Thursday, January 10, 2019 This analysis of gender, technology, and disability will explore the creation and implementation of assistive devices…
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7
February 2019
Research Seminar: Jessica K. Burch
A NEW DEAL FOR DIRECT SALES: HOW DIRECT SALES FIRMS HELPED CREATE MODERN NON-EMPLOYMENT, 1910–1935 Direct sales firms utilize a model of independent labor that can be traced back to the peddlers of the colonial period. With the creation of the New De…
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16
February 2019
Hagley's Invention Space Station
Enjoy your favorite Invention Convention activities over four winter weekends at Hagley's Invention Space Station. Tinkering Tables - Take apart machines to see what makes them tick. Create an Invention - Build your own incredible invention and apply…
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7
March 2019
Author Talk: Julius Rosenwald: From Sears Executive to Passionate Phil…
Julius Rosenwald (1862–1932) rose from modest means as the son of a peddler to meteoric wealth at the helm of Sears, Roebuck. Yet his most important legacy stands not upon his business acumen but on the pioneering changes he introduced to the practic…
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27
March 2019
Apollo Spacesuits: History, Technology, and Culture
In July of 1969, the first men landed on the moon.  But did you know the suits that made those first steps possible were created here in Delaware?  In “Apollo Spacesuits: History, Technology, and Culture”, Dr. Lantry will discuss space suit…
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28
March 2019
Writers in the Round
Click here to purchase tickets A bit of Nashville is coming to Delaware with a concert by singer-songwriters. This concert presents four local songwriters who will showcase their original music and engage with the audience on the creative process of…
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4
April 2019
Research Seminar: Jennifer Black
POLICING FAKES: EARLY TRADEMARK REGULATION IN THE U.S.  This paper examines the problem of counterfeit goods in the antebellum years, contextualizing the rise of these products and their prosecution by the state within the "freewheeling mar…
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25
April 2019
Research Seminar: Regina Lee Blaszczyk
THE SYNTHETICS REVOLUTION AND THE SENSES This paper examines the synthetics revolution in fashion and fibers within the context of the new field of the history of the senses.  The story of the synthetics revolution—the introduction of man-made a…
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27
April 2019
MakerFest Presented by Agilent Technologies
Click here to purchase tickets. Hagley is looking for Makers for the MakerFest! Click here to apply. Enjoy a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement. This event features demonstr…
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5
May 2019
Stroll into Fall at Hagley presented by The Kenny Family Foundation/Sh…
Stroll into Fall at Hagley! Hagley's property will be open to give visitors a unique opportunity to take a leisurely walk to the residence and garden, normally only accessible by bus. The 3-mile roundtrip walk to the family home and back will be…
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9
May 2019
Author Talk: The Rise and Fall of Activist Entrepreneurs: How the 1960…
From fair trade coffee and organic foods to “shop small” and “buy local” campaigns, the notion of ethical consumption has pervaded many aspects of our daily lives.  In this talk, historian Joshua Clark Davis will uncover the roots of these movem…
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26
May 2019
Walking Tour: Sights, Sounds, and Smells
In this walking tour of the powder yard, guests experience an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the black powder process and can try their hand at graining some powder. The tour ends with an explosive finish! Tour involves walking on uneven ground.…
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27
May 2019
Memorial Day
Free admission for military veterans and their families.
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29
June 2019
Hagley’s Nineteenth-Century Faire
Step back in time to enjoy a festive fair with carnival games, period dancing, fresh lemonade, hand-cranked ice cream and so much more. Use Hagley’s main entrance off Route 141 in Wilmington, Delaware. Included with regular admission, free for m…
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30
June 2019
What’s for Dinner? A Tale of Two Gardens Walking Tour at Hagley Museum
Dig into two very different gardens – one fed the du Pont family and the other DuPont Company workers in the nineteenth century. This tour explores the socioeconomic factors influencing the architecture, produce, and the philosophies of each garden.…
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4
July 2019
Independence Day
Free admission for military veterans and their families.
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23
July 2019
"The Day We Walked on the Moon" - Special Screening
On July 16, 1969, hundreds of thousands of spectators and an army of reporters gathered at Cape Kennedy to witness one of the great spectacles of the century: the launch of Apollo 11. Over the next few days, the world watched on with wonder and raptu…
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28
July 2019
Explosions Tour at Hagley Museum
Despite DuPont's motto of "safety first" and the procedures they had in place to prevent them, gunpowder explosions at Hagley were inevitable. Learn about how they affected the lives of the workers and their families. Tour involves walking on un…
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12
September 2019
Research Seminar: Denise Sutton
MARKETING LOVE: THE GLOBAL EXPANSION OF ROMANCE PUBLISHING COMPANIES MILLS & BOON AND HARLEQUIN ENTERPRISES, 1930-1990 When Harlequin Enterprises acquired British publisher Mills & Boon in 1972, the merged firm became the world’s dominan…
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24
September 2019
Farm-to-Table Dinner
Please join us for the second annual members-only, family-style, Farm-to-Table dinner.  This unique experience will be held on Tuesday, September 24, at 6 p.m. at the Hagley barn.  Taste Catering of Columbus Inn has created a mouth-watering…
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3
October 2019
Fall Celebration Happy Hour
Hagley celebrates the return of the fall season with a member appreciation event on Thursday, October 3, at the Hagley Barn.  Entertainment will be provided by The Acoustic Jam, a band from Newark, Delaware, which plays blues, country, folk, pop…
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10
October 2019
Author Talk: Bright Signals: A History of Color Television
Susan Murray will offer the featured author talk at Hagley this fall on her new book Bright Signals: A History of Color Television. Drawing creatively on the David Sarnoff and RCA materials now held by Hagley’s library, Murray will trace color t…
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12
October 2019
Hayrides at Hagley
Take a hayride along the Brandywine to experience the beautiful fall foliage in the Powder Yard. Guests can create fall-themed crafts, and see a gunpowder explosion, roll mill in action, and working nineteenth-century machines. Included with admissio…
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8
November 2019
Center Fall Conference: “Commercial Pictures and the Arts and Technics…
The 2019 fall conference will convene an international group of scholars concerned with the power of pictures in the world of commerce. As pictures became a central feature of the advertising message in the second half of the nineteenth century,…
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14
November 2019
Explaining Hamilton Mania
An evening talk will explore Hamilton, the Tony-winning musical about American statesman and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.      Dr. Richard Bell, a University of Maryland associate professor of history, will review what its succe…
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1
December 2019
Museum Store Sunday
On Sunday, December 1, 2019, more than 700 Museum Stores representing all fifty states, ten countries, and three continents will offer relaxing, inspired shopping inside your favorite museums and cultural institutions.  Museum Store Su…
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12
December 2019
RESEARCH SEMINAR: DAVID SUISMAN
In 2015, the U.S. military spent approximately $435 million on music—nearly three times as much as the entire budget of the National Endowment for the Arts. This paper puts such an investment in historical perspective by examining the character and i…
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21
December 2019
Free Day at Hagley sponsored by Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate
On Saturday, December 21, admission to Hagley will be free for all visitors courtesy of Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate. The holiday season at Hagley is a busy one - visit the Holidays at Hagley page to see everything you can enjoy that day. Hagley th…
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23
January 2020
RESEARCH SEMINAR: DANIEL WORTEL-LONDON
Between the 1870s and the 1930s New York City underwent a fiscal crisis approximately every twenty years. This paper examines the causes of and responses to the periodic fiscal crisis of late 19th and early 20th century New York. It argues…
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27
February 2020
Author Talk: ACCESSIBLE AMERICA: A HISTORY OF DISABILITY & DESIGN
Have you ever hit the big blue button to activate automatic doors? Have you ever used curb cuts to roll a stroller across an intersection? If so, then you have benefited from accessible design—design for people with physical, sensory, and cognitive d…
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1
June 2020
Hagley Reopens!
Hagley will re-open on June 1, 2020, with visitation limited to Hagley Members. Click here for more information.
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27
June 2020
Member Preview Weekend
Hagley members are invited to preview Hagley's re-opening that will include the Powder Yard Trail Experience and Sunday cannon firings. Cannon firings will take place near the Machine Shop on Sunday, June 28, at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. Visitors are invited…
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29
June 2020
Free Admission Week
Hagley offers a week of free admission to all visitors from June 29 through July 5, 2020, to celebrate its reopening. No advance reservation is required, but admission will be monitored and capped at 250. If capacity is reached, new arrivals wil…
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4
July 2020
Independence Day
Free for all visitors as part of Hagley's Free Admission Week. No advance reservation is required, but admission will be monitored and capped at 250. If capacity is reached, new arrivals will wait until people exit to be admitted. At 1, 2, and 3…
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3
August 2020
History Hangout: Conversation with Joanne Yates and Craig N. Murphy
Roger Horowitz interviews JoAnne Yates and Craig N. Murphy about their recent book, Engineering Rules: Global Standard Setting since 1880 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019). JoAnne Yates (Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management, MIT…
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17
August 2020
History Hangout: Conversation with Ai Hisano
  Roger Horowitz interviews Ai Hisano about her recent book, Visualizing Taste: How Business Changed the Look of What You Eat (Harvard University Press, 2019). Hisano, a senior lecturer at Kyoto University, used Hagley materials about…
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31
August 2020
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH ISABELLE HELD
Gregory Hargreaves interviews Dr. Isabelle Marina Held about her recent research at Hagley, funded by one of our grants. Dr. Held, a recent PhD in the History of Design, used Hagley materials in her research on the “bombshell assembly line,” the adop…
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14
September 2020
History Hangout: Conversation with Laura Phillips Sawyer
Roger Horowitz interviews Laura Phillips Sawyer about her recent book, American Fair Trade: Proprietary Capitalism, Corporatism, and the 'New Competition,' 1890–1940 (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Sawyer, an associate profess…
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28
September 2020
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH KEVIN TENNENT
Dr. Kevin Tennent discusses his recent research at Hagley, funded by one of our grants. Dr. Tennent, Senior Lecturer at the University of York School of Management, used Hagley materials in his research on American industrial democracy between 1913 a…
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12
October 2020
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH BERNARDO BATIZ-LAZO
Gregory Hargreaves interviews Bernardo Batiz-Lazo about his book, Cash & Dash: How ATMs &Computers Changed Banking (Oxford, 2018). Batiz-Lazo, professor of FinTech History & GlobalTrade at Northumbria University, used Hagley collections r…
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26
October 2020
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH RACHEL LANCE
In In the Waves: My Quest to Solve the Mystery of a Civil War Submarine (Dutton, 2020) Lance documents how she developed and tested her own theory on the sinking of the HL Hunley, a Confederate submarine lost after sinking just  o…
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9
November 2020
Hagley HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH TRISH KAHLE
THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT: COAL & CITIZENSHIP IN THE AGE OF ENERGY CRISIS Gregory Hargreaves interviews Trish Kahle about her book project “The Graveyard Shift: Coal &Citizenship in the Age of Energy Crisis.” Kahle, assistant professor in the Edmun…
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23
November 2020
HAGLEY HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH SALEM ELZWAY
ARMS OF THE STATE: A HISTORY OF THE INDUSTRIAL ROBOT IN POSTWAR AMERICA Gregory Hargreaves interviews Salem Elzway about his dissertation project “Arms of the State: A History of the Industrial Robot in Postwar America.” In support of his research, E…
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27
November 2020
Thanksgiving Weekend Family Programming
Bring your family and friends to enjoy the holidays at Hagley. Head up to Workers’ Hill where you can sample individually wrapped cookies outside the Gibbons House and peek into a nineteenth century kitchen where cookies would have been baked in a wo…
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21
December 2020
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH SUNNY XIANG
Gregory Hargreaves interviews Sunny Xiang about her book project “The Transpacific Middle,” in support of which, Xiang, an assistant professor at Yale University, received an exploratory grant from the Hagley Center for the History of Business, Techn…
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11
January 2021
Museum Store Mondays
During Hagley's winter clousure, the Hagley Museum Store will open for limited hours on Mondays. The store features merchandise reflective of the beautiful grounds and history of the site as well as the museum’s public programming. Inside you will fi…
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11
January 2021
HAGLEY HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH SARA WERMIEL
Gregory Hargreaves interviews Sara Wermiel about her research project “Introduction of the Rolled I-Beam in the U.S.A. in the 1850s, Revisited.” In support of her research, Wermiel, an independent scholar & historic preservation consultant, recei…
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25
January 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH WENDY WOLOSON
Wendy A. Woloson is associate professor of history at Rutgers University – Camden. With a career as a museum curator, artist, and scholar of 19th century history, her new book is called Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America. In this book Wol…
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8
February 2021
HAGLEY HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH LOUISA IAROCCI
Gregory Hargreaves interviews Louisa Iarocci about her research project “Bin, Bag, Box: The Architecture of Convenience,” in support of which, Iarocci, an associate professor at the University of Washington at Seattle, received an exploratory grant f…
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24
February 2021
DR. WESLEY MEMEGER, JR. : SCIENCE INTO ART
When Wesley Memeger, Jr. started at DuPont in 1964, he was only the fourth African American with a doctorate in chemistry to join the firm. Over the course of a 32-year career, he amassed fourteen patents and left his mark on some of DuPont’s most fa…
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7
May 2021
AVON: AN INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON ITS ARCHIVE
Avon Products, Inc., is one of the oldest direct selling companies in America. It traces its origins to 1886, when David H. McConnell bought the Union Publishing Company and started manufacturing perfumes to give away with his books. McConnell d…
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23
May 2021
What’s for Dinner? A Tale of Two Gardens Walking Tour
Click here to reserve your walking tour ticket. NOTE: This ticket is for the tour only and does not include general admission (Hagley Members admitted free). Dig into two very different gardens – one fed the du Pont family and the other DuPont C…
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6
June 2021
H2 Oh! Waterpower Walking Tour
Click here to reserve your walking tour ticket. NOTE: This ticket is for the tour only and does not include general admission (Hagley Members admitted free). In the H2 Oh! walking tour, visitors discover the evolution of waterpower at Hagley fro…
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12
June 2021
DCAD Plein Air Drawing Marathon
Click here to register. This event is held at Hagley Museum and Library and hosted by the Delaware College of Art and Design Inspired by the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture, which founded the Drawing Marathon 25+ years ago…
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28
June 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH KEVIN BUNCH
Gregory Hargreaves interviews Kevin Bunch about his research into the early history of video games, and his innovative use of Hagley materials to recreate forgotten games. In support of his project, Bunch, a writer & communica…
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11
July 2021
Explosions Tour at Hagley Museum
Click here to reserve your walking tour ticket. NOTE: This ticket is for the tour only and does not include general admission (Hagley Members admitted free). Visitors will experience in-depth the devastating power of black powder while exploring…
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12
July 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH GRACE ONG YAN
Ben Spohn interviews Grace Ong Yan about her recent book, Building Brands: Corporations and Modern Architecture. In her book, Ong Yan explores the development of corporate Modernism through architectural branding. She does this by…
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26
July 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH DAN TRAFICONTE
Gregory Hargreaves interviews Dan Traficonte about his research into federal programs for technology development and their relationship with private industrial interests. In support of his project, Traficonte, a PhD cand…
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9
August 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH ROGER BAILEY
Gregory Hargreaves interviews Roger Bailey about his research into how naval officers’ regional identities and beliefs about race, slavery, & territorial expansion affected their command decisions. In support of his proje…
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15
August 2021
Walking Tour: Rocks and Roll Mills
Click here to reserve your walking tour ticket. NOTE: This ticket is for the tour only and does not include general admission (Hagley Members admitted free). Visitors explore the geology of the Brandywine Valley and its impact on the milling ind…
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20
August 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH LI CORNFELD
Program officer Gregory Hargreaves interviews Dr. Li Cornfeld about her research into the history of theatrical live performance as a means of unveiling and promoting novel technologies. In support of her proje…
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23
August 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH MARCIA CHATELAIN
In Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, Marcia Chatelain explores how fast food restaurants saturated black neighborhoods and became, as well, a focal point in the development of “black capitalism.” To tell thi…
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6
September 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH LARA FREIDENFELDS
Gregory Hargreaves interviews Lara Freidenfelds about her research into the history of marketers’ and advertisers’ intense targeting of pregnant women, and its implications for early pregnancy loss. In support of her pro…
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7
October 2021
AUTHOR TALK: KATINA MANKO
On October 7 Katina Manko will lead off the fall series with a talk based on her just-published book, Ding Dong! Avon Calling! The Women and Men of Avon Products, Incorporated. Founded in the late nineteenth century, Avon grew into a massive int…
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9
October 2021
Hayrides at Hagley
Families can take a hayride to experience the beautiful fall foliage at Hagley.  The hayride route offers unique views of Eleutherian Mills, including the meadow, orchard, garden, residence, and other historic buildings. The ride will last…
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18
October 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH REBECCA ALTMAN
Program officer Gregory Hargreaves interviews Dr. Rebecca Altman about her research into the intimate history of synthetic materials, industrial chemistry, & the human body. Altman, an environmental sociologist, has made extensive use of the Hagl…
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5
November 2021
Hagley Center 2021 Fall Conference
REACH OUT AND TOUCH SOMEONE: A CONFERENCE ON COMMERCIAL INTIMACY AND PERSONALIZATION A CONFERENCE AT HAGLEY LIBRARY, WILMINGTON DELAWARE CALL FOR PAPERS In today’s wired world, marketers have heralded their ability to use apps, social media, and othe…
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15
November 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH ERIC S. HINTZ
Did the American independent inventor ever go extinct? In his new book, American Independent Inventors In An Era of Corporate R&D, Eric S. Hintz argues that they persisted despite the development of corporate R&D during the twentieth cen…
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29
November 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH NICOLE WELK-JOERGER
Americans love cows. The United States possesses an entire economic sector geared for rearing, feeding, slaughtering, shipping, and eating the big-eyed ruminants. So all-encompassing is the American cattle-industrial complex that it helps determine w…
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2
December 2021
AUTHOR TALK: Eric S. Hintz
During the nineteenth century, heroic individual inventors such as Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell created entirely new industries while achieving widespread fame. However, by 1927, a New York Times editorial suggested that teams of corporate…
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13
December 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH SEAN DELEHANTY
What is the purpose of an American corporation? Is it to serve as an integral organ of society, generating plural benefits for owners, workers, communities, and the general public alike? Or is it strictly to generate monetary benefit for it…
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27
December 2021
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH PAULA DE LA CRUZ FERNANDEZ
Paula A. de la Cruz-Fernández’s book Gendered Capitalism: Sewing Machines and Multinational Business in Spain and Mexico, 1850–1940 explores how the gender-specific cultures of sewing and embroidery shaped the US Singer Sewing Machine Company’s opera…
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24
January 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH MATTHEW O'NEAL
Millions of black Americans left the Deep South fleeing violence and seeking opportunity during the Great Migration, one of the most dramatic demographic shifts in twentieth-century American history. Some communities welcomed these newcomers with ope…
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6
February 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH MEGAN ELIAS
Hilton Hotels started in Texas and swelled into a globe-straddling hospitality behemoth. Along the way company founder Conrad Hilton kept ideas about affordable luxury at the center of his business model. Among the affordable luxuries on offer in Hil…
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7
February 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH JONATHAN ROBINS
OIL PALM: A GLOBAL HISTORY Oil palms are ubiquitous—grown in nearly every tropical country, they supply the world with more edible fat than any other plant and play a role in scores of packaged products, from lipstick and soap to margarine and cookie…
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22
February 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH AARON VAN NESTE
THE NOT SO INEXHAUSTIBLE SEA: FISHERIES SCIENCE & MANAGEMENT, 1863-PRESENT How many fish can people catch before we exhaust the supply? Fisheries managers have deployed the language and techniques of science since the mid-nineteenth century in an…
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7
March 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH DEREK VOURI-RICHARD
INDUSTRIAL SEMIOTIC & VISUAL COMPLEXES: A STUDY OF THE UNITED STATES VISUAL CULTURE FROM THE 1880S TO THE 1950S Twenty-first-century Americans are saturated with visual imagery and punchy messages authored by large organizations. This was not alw…
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10
March 2022
Author Talk: Rachel Lance
Rachel Lance will speak about her successful detective work uncovering the story behind the sinking of the Confederate submarine the HL Hunley.  Deployed in the 1864 battle of Charleston har…
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15
March 2022
Hagley Up Close LIVE! With Lucas Clawson
When you take a tour at Hagley, where does the information you hear from our guides and read in our publications originate? How does the Hagley staff know what they know? How are decisions made on what to collect to support the work of our Museum, ou…
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21
March 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT CONVERSATION WITH JENNIFER KAUFMANN-BUHLER
OPEN PLAN: A DESIGN HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN OFFICE HISTORY HANGOUT CONVERSATION WITH JENNIFER KAUFMANN-BUHLER   Imagine an office without walls or hierarchies, a space that allows for the free and open exchange of ideas and a way to work… better…
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4
April 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH KELSEY MCNIFF
“PEOPLE OF SOME TALENT & SO MUCH VIRTUE”: FORGOTTEN LIVES OF DU PONT WOMEN HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH KELSEY MCNIFF Silence speaks volumes. Especially silences in historical memory, which reflect the values of a society as it chooses what…
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18
April 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH KELLY GOODMAN
TAX THE RICH: TEACHERS’ FIGHT TO FUND PUBLIC SCHOOLS HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH KELLY GOODMAN Education is among the largest public expenditures in the United States. How is school funding determined, and by whom? Between 1930 and 1980, teach…
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2
May 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH SAMUEL MILNER
Concentrated market power and the weakened sway of corporate stakeholders over management have emerged as leading concerns of American political economy. In his book, Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: Power, Profits, and Productivity in Modern America,…
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16
May 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH CODY PATTON
How many species had a hand in making that glass of beer? From the perspective of environmental history, human artefacts like beer result from more-than-human collaboration across time. Barley plants, hop vines, single-cell organisms, and a multiplic…
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30
May 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH JASON BARR
Economist Jason Barr, professor at Rutgers University - Newark, dug into the records of John J. Raskob and Pierre Samuel du Pont records held by the Hagley Library to uncover an insider’s story of the Empire State Building. Conceived by Raskob,…
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13
June 2022
CONVERSATION WITH SVEN KUBE
What did the Cold War sound like? How did political ideologies shape the differing experiences of musicians and consumers in the capitalist versus the communist world? Did the Iron Curtain muffle the raucous sounds of western popular music? Or were c…
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27
June 2022
CONVERSATION WITH PETER ASTRAS
Hudson Maxim wanted his lake, and he didn’t mind twisting some arms to get it. The early-twentieth-century investor in Lake Hopatcong property wished to make it a destination for well-heeled travelers and pleasure seekers. Making his plans difficult…
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11
July 2022
CONVERSATION WITH BEN SCHNEIDER
What happens to jobs when technology changes? How do new technologies change the ways people experience and think about work? Economic historian Ben Schneider, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Work Research Institute at Oslo Metropolitan University, …
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25
July 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH TIMOTHY YANG
In A Medicated Empire, Dr. Timothy Yang, associate professor at the University of Georgia, explores the history of Japan's pharmaceutical industry in the early twentieth century through a close account of Hoshi Pharmaceuticals, one of East Asia's mos…
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8
August 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH JEFFREY MULDOON
Which is better for business, keeping workers happy, or keeping workers in line? The movement for corporate social responsibility (CSR) argued that management and workers shared a partnership that could multiply productivity and profits if properly n…
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16
August 2022
(CANCELED) Hagley Up Close LIVE! with Max Moeller
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED. When you take a tour at Hagley, where does the information you hear from our guides and read in our publications originate? How does the Hagley staff know what they know? How are decisions made on what to collect to supp…
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22
August 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH ALEX FLEET
During the 1920s, major American corporations established in-house labor unions to address worker agitation. Labor historian Alex John Fleet, PhD candidate at Wayne State University, explores the phenomenon in his dissertation research. Click here to…
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5
September 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH JESSICA BORGE
From humble beginnings wholesaling at a small tobacconist-hairdresser shop in 1915, the London Rubber Company rapidly became the UK's biggest postwar producer and exporter of disposable rubber condoms. A first-mover and innovator, the company's conti…
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19
September 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH CORY FISCHER HOFFMAN
The Empire of Bethlehem stretched from a small eastern-Pennsylvania city across the United States and down to Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, and Brazil. It encompassed dozens of plants, concerns, and subsidiary firms, and touched the lives of millio…
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29
September 2022
AUTHOR TALK: WENDY WOLOSON
REGISTRATION VIA EVENTBRITE Wendy Woloson will lead off the fall series with a talk based on her book, Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America. She tells the history of “crap” by exploring its many categories: gadgets, knickknacks, novelty goo…
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3
October 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH GAVIN BENKE
Corporate futurists made a living with their imaginations. These professional prognosticators spent their time looking at the world around them, observing its apparent changes and trends, and reporting to business and political leaders proscribed met…
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17
October 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH REGINA BLASZCZYK
SYNTHETIC FASHION & THE MAD RUSSIAN DuPont was in the fashion business. The industrial giant cultivated markets for its novel synthetic textiles, such as Rayon, by interfacing with the wider world of fashion. This process brought one Alexis Ureyv…
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22
October 2022
Howl-O-Ween at Hagley
Halloween has gone to the dogs at Hagley! Bring your leashed canine companion (with or without a costume) to enjoy Halloween-themed activities designed especially for our four-legged friends. Go ghost hunting down the Bark-or-Treat trail and grab so…
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31
October 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: A CONVERSATION WITH PATRICIA CURTIN
WORKING RELATIONSHIPS: A LABOR-CENTRIC HISTORY OF THE U.S. PUBLIC RELATIONS PROFESSION Scholars have written histories of public relations. Scholars have written histories of labor. Scholars had yet to bring the two histories into conversation with o…
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1
December 2022
AUTHOR TALK: THOMAS ZELLER
REGISTRATION VIA EVENTBRITE Thomas Zeller will close the fall series with a talk based on his book, Consuming Landscapes: What We See When We Drive and Why It Matters. His book explains how what we see while driving reflects our view of societie…
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12
December 2022
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH KEVIN BUNCH
Kevin Bunch is a writer and communications specialist for the International Joint Commission and an independent researcher of video game history, centered his research at Hagley on RCA in the 1970s. In 1977 RCA released their own home video game cons…
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9
January 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH BENJAMIN KLETZER
Railroads unite. Across time and space the railroad has tied together diverse peoples and places with literal and figurative bonds. An outstanding example of this historical process is the transfer and elaboration of a railroad technocracy from origi…
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23
January 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH DAVID CORREIA
America at the dawn of the twentieth century ran on anthracite coal. Burning the hard, lustrous fossil fuel heated millions of homes and powered locomotives, steamships, foundries, and factories. Nearly all of this coal came out of the hills of easte…
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11
February 2023
National Inventors' Day
Come learn about the patent process and examples of early American ingenuity in our Nation of Inventors exhibit. In the "Tinker and Create” area, you can take apart electronics, use everyday household “junk” to create your own patent model, and submi…
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20
February 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH MARK H. ROSE
Since World War II the old industrial cities of the northeast and Midwest USA have repeatedly sought to end periods of decline by seeking to renew their downtowns. Convention centers, sports stadiums, hospitals, and tourist-oriented investment have a…
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6
March 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH IVANA ZIMBREK
Yugoslavian planners considered themselves to be architects of a third way “between the blocs,” aligned neither with the capitalist West nor the Communist East, but rather masters of their own socio-economic destiny. This ramified in the economy and…
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9
March 2023
Author Talk: Margaret Mulrooney
On March 9, Margaret Mulrooney will return to Hagley to discuss her book—Black Powder, White Lace: The Du Pont Irish and Cultural Identity in Nineteenth-Century America—and reflect on how it has stood up since its 2002 publication. She will trace the…
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20
March 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH DYLAN GOTTLIEB
Young urban professional (yuppies for short) emerged as an archetype close to the heart of transformations taking place in American society during the 1970s and 1980s. These highly-educated individuals were products and architects of a new American e…
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14
April 2023
Hagley After Hours: Behind the Scenes Tours of Nation of Inventors wi…
WINE down from your work week with a one-hour tour with Hagley curators! Hagley invites its members and guests to join Hagley curators Caroline Western-Osienski and Chris Cascio for a behind-the-scenes exploration of what it takes to transform o…
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17
April 2023
HOW FLORIDA HAPPENED
The distinctive landscape of south Florida has its roots in the attempt by mid-twentieth century developers to transform the “last frontier” in American into piles of cash. Where they succeeded there now reigns an over-developed suburban landscape of…
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11
May 2023
POSTPONED: Author Talk: Roger Biles and Mark Rose
This Author Talk has been postponed. A Good Place to Do Business: The Politics of Downtown Renewal Since 1945 will be the topic of the author talk by historians Roger Biles and Mark Rose. Their book chronicles efforts to reinvigorate the downtowns of…
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12
May 2023
Hagley After Hours: Mother’s Day Celebration – Women Inventors
In honor of Mother’s Day, we invite you to join Hagley curators on Friday, May 12, as we dive more deeply into the patent model collection focusing specifically on women inventors.  Women in the 19th century were inventing in the same…
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12
June 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH MINSEOK JANG
How does a movement unite the disparate interests of producer and consumers? By directing their shared ire against a powerful middleman. That is how opponents of the Standard Oil monopoly on kerosene refining and distribution joined forces to take on…
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26
June 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH JAMES LEACH
Cognitive changes occur across the human lifespan, with consequences for economic conditions. How people have understood these changes, and managed their interaction with life and work has changed over time. As industrialization sped up work, and enh…
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10
July 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH CYNTHIA MEYERS
What archive could possibly give you a total view of American business practice in the twentieth century? What industry touched and participated in nearly every other industry? What firm yields insight into a cavalcade of firms in one fell swoop? The…
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24
July 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH ALEX TAYLOR
In this episode of Hagley History Hangout Roger Horowitz sits down with Alex Taylor to discuss his new book, Forms of Persuasion: Art and Corporate Image in the 1960s, the first dedicated history of corporate patronage in post-war art. Taylor’s book…
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7
August 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH PETER KOVACS
The American tobacco oligopoly of five firms loomed large in the mid-twentieth century thanks to the addictive qualities of their products and the massive investment they made in broadcast marketing communications, influencing the media experience of…
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21
August 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH EMILY BAKER
Artists bring a unique perspective to historical archives. Like any other researchers, they read and examine documents and collections to learn about their subject. Where their methods diverge is to use archival sources to shape the form and meaning…
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1
September 2023
Walking Tour: Workers' World
Discover the fascinating stories of the immigrant workers who lived along the Brandywine and worked for the DuPont Company in the black powder manufactory. This is the only tour that offers in-depth commentary on Workers’ Hill. Tour involves walking…
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4
September 2023
HISTORY HANGOUT CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD POPP
New York City played a starring role in the story of American broadcast media, perhaps especially when it came to television. The city was both a major market for television, a proving ground for television techniques and technologies, and an on-scre…
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13
September 2023
RESEARCH SEMINAR: ADAM ROME
“SUSTAINABILITY ON THE CHEAP: WALMART AND THE CHALLENGE OF GREENING RETAIL” In 2005, Walmart stunned the business world by committing to become greener. That commitment seemed to go against the company’s core mission: Its slogan was “Always Low Price…
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25
September 2023
Sights, Sounds, and Smells Walking Tour (CANCELED)
This tour is canceled for Monday, September 25, 2023. Enjoy an in-depth, hands-on tour focused on gunpowder production in the Hagley Powder Yard and visit production areas rarely seen by guests. This tour ends with an explosive finish! Tour involves…
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5
October 2023
Uncovering Innovation: A Year of Discoveries in Hagley’s Patent Model…
Join Hagley for a celebration of the one-year anniversary of the opening of “Nation of Inventors,” as well as the grand opening of DuPont Discovery Loft! Hagley’s collection of nearly 5,000 patent models still has secrets to reveal. Patent model cura…
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5
October 2023
Author Talk: Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler
Anyone who has worked in an office is likely to be aware of the open plan concept. An author talk on October 5 will place these design efforts in a historical context. Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler’s book Open Plan: A Design History of the American Office…
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7
October 2023
Nation Of Inventors First Birthday Celebration
Hagley's Nation of Inventors exhibition is having its first birthday! We're celebrating with hands-on activities throughout the historic site on Saturday, October 7. Admission Special: Buy one full-price admission, get one free! Valid October 7…
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9
October 2023
Walking Tour: Trees of Hagley
Enjoy the natural beauty of the Hagley Museum property as we observe the many trees grown here and the history behind them. This tour will highlight a variety of trees across the property and the importance of nature’s bounty to the du Pont family an…
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25
October 2023
RESEARCH SEMINAR: AI HISANO
"EVERYDAY AESTHETICS: INDUSTRIAL DESIGN AND THE SENSES IN THE UNITED STATES FROM THE 1920S TO THE 1950S" “Our basic appreciation of design is ultimately dependent upon what we sense through vision, taste, hearing, smelling and feeling,” argued the in…
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2
November 2023
Celebration of Rear-Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont
Please join us to honor and celebrate the recent induction of Rear-Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont into the Delaware Maritime Hall of Fame! 6 pm • Welcome and light refreshments with archival items on display 7 pm • Presentation by Lucas Clawson,…
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16
November 2023
Author Talk: Al Churella
Al Churella returns to Hagley for a talk based on the second volume of his monumental history of the Pennsylvania Railroad. His talk, Inflection Points: W. W. Atterbury and the Destiny of the Pennsylvania Railroad, charts the company’s dramatic…
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26
December 2023
History Hangout: Clark Barwick
Americans love coffee, but the coffee in American cups has changed a lot over the years. Three waves of coffee consumer culture washed over the twentieth-century United States: the mass commodity wave, the differentiation wave, and the aficionado’s w…
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8
January 2024
HISTORY HANGOUT: TRISH KAHLE
The history of American electricity is often told through the experiences of engineers and managers, but these were only a handful of the many thousands of workers who built, maintained, and ran electrical utility systems in the United States. T…
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22
January 2024
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH MOEKO YAMAZAKI
In the 1970s, the National Association of Manufacturers organized a subsidiary, the Council for a Union-Free Environment, to provide member firms and managers with tools to prevent labor organization and union activity in their business operations. T…
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19
February 2024
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH TINA WEI
Work tires folks, and if fatigue is allowed to continue unabated, it can wear them right out. Studies of industrial and workplace fatigue during the first half of the twentieth century sought to address this pressing social and economic problem. But…
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22
February 2024
Hiding in Plain Sight: Identifying Black Inventors in Hagley’s Patent…
The United States patent system was one of the most democratic government systems when it was first established.  This is clearly demonstrated in Hagley’s unique collection of 19th-century patent models.  Unlike other parts of American life…
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29
February 2024
Author Talk: Jennifer Black
Want to know about the origins of the brands and trademarks that now fill our marketplaces and media? In her author talk on Thursday February 29, Jennifer Black will tell all, drawing from her new book, Branding Trust: Advertising and Trademarks in N…
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18
March 2024
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH REBECCA JANZEN
When miners go underground, they enter a spiritual realm distinct from that aboveground. Across time, places, and cultures, miners have made religious observance part of their work, building shrines, making offerings, and naming places after sacred p…
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29
March 2024
Science Sparks!
Science Sparks is a drop-in family program encouraging innovation and creativity as visitors are given a hands-on engineering challenge to complete. Visitors may build, test, and redesign their creation as they take on the role of engineer!  ••…
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30 to 27
August 2025 to July 2025
Cannon Firings
Have a blast during your visit to Hagley with a demonstration of our signal cannon! Be prepared, it may seem small, but really packs a punch! Current Cannon Firings Schedule: July: 4, 5, 6, 7, & 27August: 30 & 31September: 1 & 28October:…
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1
April 2024
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH CHRIS MORRIS
Nitrogen is the most abundant element in the Earth’s atmosphere, it is essential to life and biological processes, and yet it is virtually impossible to access nitrogen absent the mediation of something or someone that can “fix” gaseous atmospheric n…
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15
April 2024
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH AMY EDWARDS
The self-employed have many motivations for choosing or accepting their working arrangements. A business model that taps into the desire for people to “work for themselves” can mobilize the capital, networks, and labor of large numbers of people at c…
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9
May 2024
AUTHOR TALK: ROGER BILES AND MARK ROSE
A Good Place to Do Business: The Politics of Downtown Renewal since 1945 will be the topic of the author talk by historians Roger Biles and Mark Rose. It is rescheduled from last spring. Their book chronicles efforts to reinvigorate the downtowns of…
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13
May 2024
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH KEVIN KENNY
In this episode, Ben Spohn Interviews Kevin Kenny on his book Making Sense of the Molly Maguires which recently had a special 25th anniversary release.  The Molly Maguires were a secret organization operating in Pennsylvania’s Coal Region during…
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25
May 2024
Memorial Day Weekend
Free admission for current military members and veterans. Enjoy the most beautiful mile of the Brandywine and cannon firings!
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27
May 2024
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH HUNTER MOSKOWITZ
While it is often assumed that early industrialization was a spatially and socially concentrated phenomenon, associated primarily with white capitalists in the northwestern and northeastern corners of Europe and North America respectively, the histor…
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29
May 2024
RESEARCH SEMINAR: ANNA ANDRZEJEWSKI
(rescheduled from December 13, 2023) "MAKING PARADISE: LIVING IN SOUTH FLORIDA’S VACATION AND RETIREMENT COMMUNITIES" In the 25 years after World War II, the coastline of South Florida was transformed into a sprawling cultural landscape of leisure, m…
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10
June 2024
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH JACOB SAINDON
The “attention economy” has gotten lots of press in recent years as tech companies and advertising firms have begun to perceive human attention as a limited resource and to fight for their share of the potential revenue to be generated by it. However…
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24
June 2024
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH MAXWELL GREENBERG
The organization “Junior Achievement” was first conceived in 1916 when three wealthy, influential men decided that American youth needed to be educated on the values of hard work, thrift, and the developing hierarchy of corporate management. From tha…
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18
July 2024
HISTORY HANGOUT: CONVERSATION WITH ANDREA MATWYSHYN
In the United States, courts make policy through their interpretation of law and regulations. Through litigation, policy decisions are given the force of law. When litigation fails, then the object of regulation is often lost. This applies to the wor…
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24
July 2024
Hagley Museum Store: Christmas in July
It's Christmas in July at Hagley! At Hagley's Summer Nights event on July 24, visitors are invited to stop by the Hagley Store for our first-ever Christmas in July Sale! Enjoy special store discounts to celebrate the occasion, and get a picture with…
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30
July 2024
SOLD OUT: Landscapes, Ideas, & Intellectual Adventures: The Worlds…
(You can download the slides shown here) This event is sold out. Thank you for your interest in this program! Thanks to Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest for sponsoring this event with Hagley. Thomas Jefferson had a long association with the du…
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5
August 2024
History Hangout: Conversation with David Alff
Hagley’s Ben Spohn interviews David Alff about his recent book: The Northeast Corridor: The Trains, the People, the History, the Region. In this comprehensive history of America’s most  heavily-traveled rail line, Alff shows ow what began a…
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19
August 2024
History Hangout: Conversation with Sean Vanatta
American households are awash in expensive credit card debt. But where did all this debt come from? In this history of the rise of postwar American finance, Sean H. Vanatta shows how bankers created our credit card economy and, with it, the indebted…
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2
September 2024
History Hangout: Conversation with Grigorios Antoniou
Scholars often think and write about business diplomacy as something that happens between firms and national governments. But the historical pattern is more complex than that, with contacts between businesses forming a significant portion of the inte…
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16
September 2024
History Hangout: Conversation with Madison Krall
The DuPont firm was a leader in workplace and community safety communications during the twentieth century. This had been baked into the company culture from the first, as gunpowder manufacturing made essential. What changed over time were the techni…
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25
September 2024
Beer for Prosperity: A Drink and Find Adventure – Cancelled
Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience Raise a glass to the unsung Delawareans who fought prohibition, with a scenic view of the Brandywine and Wilmington Brew Works’ beer in hand. Make your…
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26
September 2024
Author Talk: Rachel Gross
Hagley’s fall author talk series will open on September 26 with Rachel Gross speaking about her new book, Shopping All the Way to the Woods: How the Outdoor Industry Sold Nature to America. In it, Gross explores the irony of how trips into nature usu…
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14
October 2024
History Hangout: Conversation with Sam Schirvar
The political meaning of industry depends upon its context. Following the Second World War, Native American tribal governments engaged in a program of industrial development meant to secure the political self-determination of their nations. Initially…
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28
October 2024
History Hangout: Conversation with Kara Schlichting
Excessive heat has presented a problem for public health officials in New York City since the mid-nineteenth century building boom that covered the island of Manhattan in bricks, concrete, and other heat-storing materials. Prior to that, however, Ame…
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1
November 2024
Hagley Fall Conference
Despite the central role that real estate development plays in the physical form and geography of buildings, cities, and suburbs in market economies, scholars have engaged in relatively little research on the inner workings of its figures and process…
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11
November 2024
History Hangout" Conversation with Margot Canaday
In this episode of Hagley History Hangout Roger Horowitz interviews Margot Canaday about her remarkable book Queer Career: Sexuality and Work in Modern America that received the received 2024 Hagley Prize for the best book in business history that ye…
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25
November 2024
History Hangout: Conversation with Stefka Hristova
The positive image cannot exist without the negative, and the relationship between the two reveals the fundamental nature of the image as fungible, media as a process, and truth value as a matter of interpretation. Scholarship and conservation theref…
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5
December 2024
Author Talk: David Alff
  David Alff will speak about his book, The Northeast Corridor: The Trains, the People, the History, the Region at the fall’s second author talk on December 5. It is the first comprehensive history of the most heavily-travelled train line in the…
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6
December 2025
Santa at Hagley
Santa stops by Hagley for a visit! Visitors are invited to include Santa in their festive holiday photo. Santa will be on break from 1 to 1:30 p.m. Gingerbread houses will be on display in the Hagley Barn for the annual Gingerbread House Contes…
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6
January 2025
History Hangout: Conversation with Jacob Bruggeman
Large technological systems can be vulnerable to manipulation, perhaps especially when they are centralized, monopolistic, and complacent. That was the situation in American telecommunications in the early 1960s when a generation of hackers developed…
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20
January 2025
History Hangout: Conversation with Yaxi Liu
Chinese plastic is cheap and abundant. It wasn’t always. The ubiquity of plastic in twenty-first century consumer culture belies its past rarity and the many cultural meanings it has borne over time. How did plastic come to play such a central role i…
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21
January 2025
School Program Guide Open House
Are you enthusiastic about inspiring a love of learning among school-aged children?  Hagley Museum is seeking energetic individuals who enjoy sharing stories and facilitating hands-on activities bringing 19th-century industrial history and techn…
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23
January 2025
Industrial Movie Night at the Screening Room at 1313
Hagley Museum and Library curator, Kevin Martin, will introduce a series of films sponsored by the Hercules Powder Company at the Screening Room @ 1313 in Wilmington, Delaware on January 23, 2025 at 7pm. Tickets will be available at the door or you c…
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1
February 2025
Golden Pheasants Game Dinner
The Game Dinner is SOLD OUT. Contact Kim Kelleher at kkelleher@hagley.org or (302) 658-2400, ext. 235, if you would like to be added to a wait list. Robin Kusumi, Golden Pheasants Committee Member, will discuss Hagley's Seagram Collection a…
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3
February 2025
History Hangout: Conversation with Emily Wells
The experience of girlhood in early national and antebellum America was both circumscribed and liberated by geography. Spaces defined who American girls were expected to be. Spaces, too, allowed girls to redefine themselves and to defend themselves a…
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30 to 25
June 2025 to August 2025
Special Tours - Mondays
Enjoy an in-depth, special guided tour at Hagley. Tours begin promptly at 11 a.m. at Hagley's Visitor Center. $25 for adults, $15 for children 6-14, free for children 5 and under (includes museum admission). $5 for Hagley Members. Tours may involve w…
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15
February 2025
Kid Inventors' Weekend
Hagley celebrates Kid Inventors' Weekend February 15 through 17 by offering activities that will ignite your kids’ creativity and curiosity. Participate in activities that celebrate the genius behind design. Learn about the patent process and se…
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27
February 2025
Author Talk: David Suisman
  On February 27, David Suisman will speak about his his new book Instrument of War: Music and the Making of America’s Soldiers. Whether the sounds came from brass instruments, weary and homesick singers, or a pair of heavily used earbuds, where…
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3
March 2025
History Hangout: Conversation with Katherine C. Epstein
Roger Horowitz talks with Katherine Epstein about her new book Analog Superpowers: How Twentieth-Century Technology Theft Built the National Security State (University of Chicago Press, 2024).  Click to read more
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17
March 2025
History Hangout: Conversation with Andrew Robichaud
Ice, ice, baby. In nineteenth-century America ice was everywhere. Extracted from northern ponds and shipped around the world, ice became a valuable commodity and a vital input in numerous industries.   Click to read more
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31
March 2025
History Hangout: Conversation with Maia Müller
The mid-twentieth century emergence of multinational corporations wealthier and more powerful than many nations presented a problem for organizations tasked with overseeing international cooperation and development. How to create a regulatory framewo…
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14
April 2025
History Hangout: Conversation with Rebecca Geoffroy-Schwinden
Where can you find music in the archive? Everywhere, if you know how to look. So argues our guest musicologist Rebecca Geoffroy-Schwinden, associate professor at the University of North Texas and former NEH-Hagley postdoctoral fellow. Click to read m…
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21
April 2025
Food Drive at Hagley
Hagley is teaming up with the Food Bank of Delaware for a Food Drive, running from Monday, April 21, through Friday, June 6. Because of a gap in essential resources and funding cuts, there is a critical need to keep Delawareans fed. Donatio…
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26
April 2025
Hagley’s 5K Along the Brandywine
Join us for the Seventh Annual Hagley 5K/1K run/walk along the Brandywine River through the beautiful grounds of Hagley Museum. Hagley's 5K along the Brandywine - Registration fee is $25 through March 23, $35 beginning March 24.…
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28
April 2025
Special Tour: Hagley Highlights Library tour
From coded telegrams to early computer games, connect with technologies past and present on this tour. Join our Head of Reference Services for a guided jaunt through our new library exhibit, "Just Text Me! Telecommunications and Computing History at…
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8
May 2025
Author Talk: Lisa Jacobson
Lisa Jacobson will speak about her new book, Intoxicating Pleasures: The Reinvention of Wine, Beer, and Whiskey after Prohibition. Following prohibition’s end in 1933 alcoholic beverage producers struggled for decades to restore alcohol’s respec…
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22
May 2025
RESCHEDULED: Hagley Industrial Movie Series
This event is held at the 1313 Screening Room in Wilmington, Delaware. For times and tickets, click here. The theme for the evening is Hollywood at the Hagley. Kevin Martin, Curator at the Hagley Museum and Library, will showcase films from Hagley’s…
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24
May 2025
Summer Kick-Off Celebration at Hagley
Enjoy the unofficial start of summer this Memorial Day Weekend at the Summer Kick-off Celebration at Hagley! On Saturday, May 24, Hagley has something for everyone with special programs, engaging tours, and hands-on activities that will “inspire all…
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13 to 27
September 2025 to September 2025
Fishing on the Brandywine
Enjoy a relaxing afternoon of fishing on the Brandywine — no fishing license required. See if you can catch a sunfish, bluegill, or even a largemouth bass! Bamboo poles will be provided with fishing line, bob, and hook. Poles will be pre-strung…
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13
June 2025
Fireworks at Hagley - June 13 & 20, 2025
Don’t miss Delaware’s best fireworks show! This members-only event is a spectacular evening of family fun held two Fridays every Summer. This year, Hagley's Fireworks Shows will be held on Friday, June 13, and Friday, June 20, 2025. Rain dates a…
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13
June 2025
Fireworks at Hagley Presented by M&T Bank and Wilmington Trust
Don’t miss Delaware’s best fireworks show! This members-only event is a spectacular evening of family fun held two Fridays every Summer. This year, Hagley's Fireworks Shows will be held on Friday, June 13, and Friday, June 20, 2025. Rain dates a…
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28
June 2025
Science Saturday Presented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP…
Learn about the Summer Solstice and why we have different amounts of daylight throughout the year. Create your own model of the sun and earth! Visitors of all ages are invited to discover solutions to science and engineering challenges. This is a dr…
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12
July 2025
Science Saturday Presented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP…
Find out how sound is produced and create a musical instrument that will vibrate to make sound. Visitors of all ages are invited to discover solutions to science and engineering challenges. This is a drop-in activity, feel free to join the fun at an…
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14 to 9
July 2025 to July 2026
Summer Camp at Hagley JUL 14-18 & AUG 4-8
Summer Camp at Hagley offers day camps with experiences ranging from STEAM discovery to old-school fun. Campers can journey back to the 19th century or use STEAM concepts to complete challenges and bring new ideas to life. Ages: 7-12. Prices: $290 to…
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26
July 2025
Science Saturday Presented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP…
Discover how thermal energy is transferred and use these concepts to free treasure trapped in ice. Visitors of all ages are invited to discover solutions to science and engineering challenges. This is a drop-in activity, feel free to join the fun at…
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9
August 2025
Science Saturday Presented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP…
Learn how to gauge the health of our local waterways by observing the variety of critters living in and around it.  Visitors of all ages are invited to discover solutions to science and engineering challenges. This is a drop-in activity, feel f…
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23
August 2025
Science Saturday Presented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP…
From grocery bags to clothing to slime, polymers are everywhere! Discover what makes polymers so useful in our everyday life. Visitors of all ages are invited to discover solutions to science and engineering challenges. This is a drop-in activity, f…
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13
September 2025
Science Saturday Presented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP…
There is a whole world of things we can't see with our eyes at the nanoscale. Get a glimpse of this tiny world and its unique properties! Visitors of all ages are invited to discover solutions to science and engineering challenges. This is a drop-in…
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21
September 2025
Hagley Car Show - Sunday, September 21
The Hagley Car Show brings together hundreds of antique and restored cars for what has been called “The Best Car Show in Delaware!”  This year’s show includes more than 500 cars from the early 1900s through the late 1990s. The theme for Hagley's…
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27
September 2025
Science Saturday Presented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP…
Transforming trash is fun! Up-cycle plastic bags and scrap paper to make new materials. Visitors of all ages are invited to discover solutions to science and engineering challenges. This is a drop-in activity, feel free to join the fun at any time.…
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11
October 2025
Science Saturday Presented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP…
Give yourself a "lift" by learning about the fundamentals of flight. Make a paper airplane and hoop glider that fly far!  Visitors of all ages are invited to discover solutions to science and engineering challenges. This is a drop-in activity,…
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18 to 19
October 2025 to October 2025
Hagley Craft Fair OCT 18 & 19
Advance online tickets: $10 for adults, $8 for children 6-14. Hagley Members and children under 6 are free and do not need advance tickets. Onsite tickets: $15 Adults, $10 children 6-14, free for Hagley Members and children under 6. Celebrating…
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25
October 2025
Science Saturday Presented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP…
Discover why we need bones and what happens if our bones aren't strong. Build a free-standing chair of bones to take home. Visitors of all ages are invited to discover solutions to science and engineering challenges. This is a drop-in activity, feel…
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25
October 2025
Halloween at Hagley
Looking for a safe place to trick-or-treat this Halloween?  Children are invited to come in costume and visit treat stations throughout the beautiful surroundings of Hagley’s powder yard. Halloween at Hagley features a trick-or-treat trail …
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5
November 2025
Hagley Unboxed
To mark International Games Month in November, Hagley will host weekly board-game nights at the new Hagley Unboxed event. All month long, people are invited to play reproduction versions of historical games  in Hagley’s archives. These games are…
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8
November 2025
Science Saturday Presented by Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP…
Find out how robots are built and programmed and visit with a local robotics team to test out their designs! Visitors of all ages are invited to discover solutions to science and engineering challenges. This is a drop-in activity, feel free to join…
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9 to 11
November 2025 to November 2025
Veterans Days
Free admission for current military members, veterans, and their families, November 9, 10, & 11. Enjoy cannon firings at 1, 2, and 3 p.m.  
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27
November 2025
Holidays at Hagley - November 27 through January 1
Holidays at Hagley Holidays at Hagley will feature Holiday Home and Garden Tours, the eighth-annual Gingerbread House Contest, Santa Day, Holiday Nights Tours, and more.  November 27, 2025, through January 1, 2026 CLOSURES: Hagley closes at 2 p…
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9 to 18
December 2025 to December 2025
Holiday Nights at Hagley
Enjoy a rare opportunity to see Eleutherian Mills, the first du Pont family home built in America, dressed for the holidays and illuminated with softly glowing lights. This year’s theme, “Our Storied Past” reminisces upon holiday tales and traditions…
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