Hagley Museum and Library
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Eleutherian Mills | |
|---|---|
| (U.S. National Historic Landmark District) | |
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| Nearest city: | Wilmington, Delaware |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1803 |
| Architect: | Unknown |
| Architectural style(s): | No Style Listed |
| Added to NRHP: | November 13, 1966 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000259 |
| Governing body: | Private |
The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution located in Wilmington, Delaware. Hagley Museum and Library collects, preserves and interprets the history of American enterprise.
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[edit] Hagley Library
Hagley's library houses a major research collection of manuscripts and archives, photographs, pamphlets, and books documenting the history of American business and technology. As a member of the Independent Research Libraries Association, the library serves scholars from this country and abroad. The library includes the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society which coordinates Hagley's interactions with the world of scholarship in the fields of American economic, business, and technological history. A scholar-in-residence program, competitive fellowships, seminars, and historical conferences make the center the intellectual heart of Hagley. The library and archival collections owned by Hagley are open to the public for research, with a catalog available online.
[edit] Overview
Hagley Museum is where the du Pont story begins in the Brandywine Valley and features the original du Pont mills, estate and gardens. The museum opened in 1957. Hagley extends over 235 acres (0.95 km²) along the banks of the Brandywine River. Exhibits and demonstrations bring this chapter in American history to life. Hagley tells the story of the people who worked for the DuPont Company in the nineteenth century, how they lived, and how their lifestyles changed during a century in tune with new machinery and new production methods in their workplace.
[edit] History
In 1802 a French immigrant, Eleuthere Irenee du Pont, chose the banks of Brandywine Creek to start his black powder mills. He chose the location because of the natural energy that the water provided; the availability of timber and willow trees (used to produce quality charcoal required for superior black powder); the proximity to the Delaware River (on which other ingredients of the powder, sulfur, and saltpeter chould be shipped); and the quarries of granite which would provide building materials for the mills. The E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's black powder manufactory became the largest in the world. In 1921 the mills along the Brandywine closed and parcels of the property were sold. It was on the occasion of the DuPont Company's 150th anniversary in 1952,that plans for a museum were established.
[edit] Origin of the name
Hagley historians only know that the name was already in use well before E.I. du Pont expanded downstream from Eleutherian Mills in 1813 by purchasing the land that became the Hagley Yards. An 1813 document refers to the land as Hagley and it had been called Hagley as early as 1797, when its owner, Philadelphia Quaker merchant Rumford Dawes, applied for insurance on buildings that were said to be located in a place called Hagley on the Brandywine. Dawes had acquired the property in 1783. Since the name Hagley did not appear on the documents transferring ownership at that time, it seems likely that Dawes gave this name to the Brandywine location.
It seems likely that Delaware's Hagley was named for an English estate that was well known in the second half of the eighteenth century. It is likely that Dawes chose the name based on an English narrative poem by James Thomson. Hagley Hall was the seat of Thomson's patron the Baron Lyttleton, and the poem's description of a sylvan dale is strikingly reminiscent of the Brandywine Valley. The Seasons was popular in Philadelphia at the time that Rumford Dawes acquired and named Hagley. No other place of that name is known to have existed in eighteenth- century Europe or America. The English Hagley estate is located in the West Midlands countryside approximately ten miles southeast of Birmingham.
[edit] Chronology
November 1952- The Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation, a non-profit, educational corporation received its charter from the State of Delaware.
May 1957- Hagley Museum was dedicated with the opening of the Henry Clay Mill building.
1961- The Longwood Library, founded in 1953 by Pierre S. duPont, merged with Hagley Museum and opened at the site of the original DuPont Company's powder works at Hagley.
1962- Eleutherian Mills, the du Pont family's ancestral home, was opened to the public.
1966- Designation of museum property as a National Historic Landmark.
1969- Restoration of the first DuPont Company Office was completed.
1971- Restoration of the E.I. du Pont Garden began.
1982- Workers' Hill opened. First fireworks show produced for Hagley members in honor of the museum's 25th anniversary. The annual fireworks continues on two weekends in June.
1984- Hagley Museum and Library was designated as the official name of the institution. (Eleutherian Mills- Hagley Foundation continues as the legal corporation name of the organization.)
1996- Hagley's first car show, 100 Years of Cars, held to honor 100 years of America's automotive heritage. The annual car show continues on the third Saturday in September.
1999- The kitchen in Hagley's Eleutherian Mills opens to visitors.
2002- Two new exhibits, "DuPont Science and Discovery" and "DuPont: The Explosives Era," open at Hagley in honor of the DuPont Company's 200th anniversary.
2007- Accessible entrance to Visitors Center welcomes visitors to the museum's 50th anniversary exhibit "Hagley at Fifty: Exploding with History."
The facility is located on 235 acres (0.95 km²) along the banks of the Brandywine River, the site of the gunpowder mill founded by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont in 1802, known as Eleutherian Mills. The museum and grounds include the first du Pont family home and garden in the United States, the powder yards, and a nineteenth-century machine shop. On the hillside below the mansion lies a Renaissance-Revival garden, with terraces and statuary, created by Louise Evalina du Pont Crowninshield (1877-1958) in the 1920s.
 Restored Gunpowder Mill |
 Mill Race |
 Restored Mill Equipment |
 Unrestored Gunpowder Mill |
 Machinery in Hagley's workshop |
 Hagley Museum steps |
