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LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES

March 13, 2009


Dear Hagley Library Users and Friends,
Spring is just around the corner, and everything is coming up
green at the Library.
Researchers, collection development, and our digitization efforts
made for a busy few months. As you will see when you read the
articles below, Hagley has once again received some fascinating
new collections. We hope that you will visit us and enjoy these
A springtime view of the Hagley Library. new acquisitions.

Collections Storage – Hall of Records


The Hagley Museum and Library remains committed to its
responsibility of stewardship of our nationally significant
artifacts and library research collections. Our treasures are a
legacy worthy of proper care for the benefit of future generations.
One of the institution’s most pressing needs has been to build
an environmentally controlled space in the Hall of Records for
the museum collections and our business and technological
history library. The Hall of Records, a massive 32,000 square foot
structure, which originally served as DuPont’s records center,
required considerable updating for specialized collections storage.
The necessary work was extensive and included environmental
systems and controls, interior modifications, a new roof, enhanced
security, and museum storage equipment.
After first inspecting the Hall of Records, Michael Henry, of
Watson & Henry Associates, Hagley’s consulting architect
and engineer, termed it one of the best buildings he had ever
evaluated for conversion to museum and library collections
storage. Watson & Henry Associates are regarded as the leading
firm for this preservation work, with clients all over the world.
Our construction management firm, EDiS Company, is working

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with us to ensure that the design and construction specifications


of Watson & Henry are met, while simultaneously keeping the
project on schedule and on budget. After more than two years
of planning, analysis, and work, we believe we have developed a
project that meets national preservation standards. Construction
began in October of 2007, and renovations are substantially
completed, with only a few modest punch-list items remaining.
We are grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities for
$450,000 in support of an overall project budgeted at $4.6 million.
We also received extraordinary support from many individual
donors to our recently concluded capital campaign. This storage
project represented a significant goal of the campaign, and we
extend our gratitude to each and every contributor.
The improved and reorganized space guarantees that our
collections will be preserved for generations to come and ensures
many decades of storage room for future growth.

COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS

Communication Arts
In December of 2008, Robert Cipriani donated Communication
Arts to the Library Imprints Department. Since 1959, the
periodical has been well known for publishing the best in visual
communications from around the world and for sponsoring
creative competitions recognizing the finest talent in the industry.
Communication Arts showcases advertising design, illustrations,
photography, and interactive designs. Contact the Imprints
Department for more information.

Door knob signs for the Art with Heart


Eastman Kodak Stores Inc.,
program for hospitalized children.
“Illustration Annual,”
Historical Data Scrapbook
Communication Arts 44, no. 3 (2002). Hagley’s Pictorial Collections Department recently purchased a
scrapbook kept by employees of the Eastman Kodak Company’s
Boston branch store. The scrapbook documents over a century
of history for the photographic supply firm, from 1845 to 1963.
It is composed of photographs, news clippings, and ephemera,
accompanied by brief journal entries describing employee
news, thefts, and accidents. Of company-wide interest, the
journal mentions releases of new Kodak products and details
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Top left: After developing film dropped off


by amateur photographers, branch stores
of the Eastman Kodak Company returned
photographic prints to customers in
decorative envelopes like this one from 1918.

Top right: Employees of Robey-French


Company pose during the annual Christmas other important company events, such as the effect of the Great
party. Many of the young women seen here Depression on sales in 1933 and the rationing of Kodak film
continued to work at the store for decades and during World War II. The author writes:
were later honored by the Eastman Kodak
In June (1943) as during all the war years, film was rationed.
Company for their lifetime of service.
When a supply was put on the shelves there was, of course, almost
a ‘stampede’ for the public to purchase but one roll per customer.
Bottom right: Interior of Eastman Kodak
(Note: One of our counters was moved from its foundation from
Stores, Inc. During World War II, one
the force of the public endeavoring to obtain the film!!)
of the counters was moved from its
foundation as customers clamored to In 1902, the Eastman Kodak Company purchased the Boston
purchase rationed Kodak film. firm of Horgan, Robey & Co., retailers of photographic goods and
supplies. The new company was incorporated under the name
Robey-French Company. Robey-French continued to sell both
professional and amateur photographic supplies, in addition to
operating developing and photo-printing services. In 1927, the
business’s name changed to Eastman Kodak Stores, Inc.; in that
same year, the store opened a second branch in Boston’s Hotel
Stadler Building. As Eastman Kodak Stores, Inc., grew in success,
Hagley Library and Archives ~ March 13, 2009 ~ Page 4

the firm moved into a number of increasingly larger locations


around the city, with such amenities as a projection studio for
showing Cine-Kodak motion picture film. In 1961, the business
constructed a brand new facility on Needham Street to cater solely
to professional photographers.

Ernest Dichter and the Birth of an


American Icon: Mattel’s Barbie Doll
Ernest Dichter (1907-1991) was a Vienna-trained psychologist who
came to New York in 1938 to escape the Nazis. In this country, he
became a pioneer in the development of the marketing tool known
as motivational research, which used psychological techniques,
including the “depth interview,” similar to an analyst’s session,
to probe the consumer’s innermost desires and expectations
surrounding a given product or service. In Dichter’s “Living
Laboratory” in his hilltop mansion overlooking the Hudson River,
Ernest Dichter test groups and families watched commercials and interacted with
actual products in a facsimile of a typical middle-class family room.
Dr. Dichter was at the height of his fame and influence in 1958-
1959 when he received a commission from Mattel, Inc., of Los
Angeles to evaluate both parents’ and children’s reactions to
some of their products. Much of the work involved toy guns for
boys, but for girls, Dichter was to gauge responses to the new
Barbie doll, part of a trend toward older dolls for older girls who
used them to anticipate adolescent and adult behavior. As one of
Dichter’s subjects remarked, “Mine is a business woman. See the
navy suit and the flower hat. She is going out to dinner and maybe
dancing afterwards. Doesn’t she look smooth?”
From his sample of girls, Dichter found a few complaints. The
original doll had too much eye makeup, which was corrected, and
the neck was too long, which was not. All girls liked the realistic
accessories. Those under ten preferred the more spectacular
costumes, while those over ten imagined themselves in Barbie’s
place: “… look at the spike heels! I like these clothes…They are the
most! I would like clothes like that myself.” Not surprisingly, the
gold brocade ball gown was the most popular outfit; the cook-out
set was the least popular and eventually dropped. Barbie would
not spend much time working in front of a hot stove.
Most parents thought that Barbie’s sexiness made her an
objectionable playmate for girls under ten: “… they could be a cute
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decoration for a man’s bar.” However, all mothers were impressed


with the quality of Barbie’s wardrobe: “… the fine seams are better
than some of the clothes I buy for the children.”
Dichter concluded, “The doll should be promoted as a toy which
helps develop desirable traits and habits in the children. If this
is done, the parents’ own attraction to the doll will become a
motivating force in favor rather than against the purchase.” He
also noted the importance of peer pressure in boosting sales and
suggested ways to get parents to start with a few basic outfits that
could be expanded by repeat purchases. And so they did.
The Mattel report is but one of almost two thousand that
Dr. Dichter prepared between 1938 and 1988, which survive
among his papers at Hagley. All contain equally candid and frank
assessments by potential consumers in the U.S., Canada, Western
Europe and Mexico, providing a unique window into popular
attitudes and reactions to goods and services, especially in the
boom years of the 1950s and 1960s. All of Dr. Dichter’s reports
and proposals are now open to researchers. Other sections of the
archive will follow during the year.

ON-LINE DIGI TAL A RCH I V ES


The Library has recently put four collections of newly digitized
collection material into the Hagley Digital Archives (http://digital.
Image of a 1937 bomber from the hagley.org).
Lammot du Pont Aeronautical Collection.

Lammot du Pont Aeronautical Collection


Lammot du Pont, Jr., assembled a large collection of materials
related to aeronautics and the history of flight from the first balloon
flights in 1783 through the 1940s. The collection was donated to
the Hagley Library in 1965. Approximately 400 images from the
collection have been digitized so far, and more will be added in the
future. The collection includes images of balloon races, the round-
the-world flight of the Graf Zeppelin, bombers and fighter planes,
and more than forty images of Charles Lindbergh.

P. S. du Pont/Longwood Collection
This collection, partially digitized with a generous grant from
the Longwood Foundation, includes approximately 3,500 images
collected by Pierre S. du Pont during his lifetime. More than 1,000
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images from the collection show the development of Longwood


Gardens. Also included are photographs of the du Pont family,
travel images, and a variety of other photos documenting the
interests and activities of P. S. du Pont.

Hagley Research Reports on the History of


the Brandywine Valley
This is a selection of forty-six research reports produced by Hagley
staff and scholars beginning in 1953 for the purpose of developing
the museum’s exhibits and interpretations program. The digitized
reports cover the industrial development of the Brandywine River
Valley and surrounding area, with a particular focus on the early
history of the DuPont Company. All of the reports were produced
using manuscript and secondary sources from the Hagley Library.

Lukens Steel Company Collection


This digital collection contains almost nine hundred images
selected from the Lukens Steel Company photograph collection.
It includes images from woodcuts showing the early history of
the mill, interior and exterior views of factory buildings, various
depictions of machinery, employees both at work and leisure, and
twentieth-century aerial views of the Lukens physical plant. Other
items vary, from philanthropic activities supported by Charles L.
Huston, photographs of the Lukens and Huston families, and the
elaborate celebrations associated with Lukens Steel anniversaries.

Miss America Programs


This collection comprises thirty-two Miss America Pageant
programs, from 1945 to 1967, taken from the Joseph Bancroft
and Sons collection. Joseph Bancroft and Sons served as the
primary corporate sponsor of the pageant from 1945 to 1967. The
programs include information about the pageant and contestants,
Cover from the 1946
as well as advertising from businesses in Atlantic City and the
Miss America Pageant yearbook.
surrounding area.
To access these digital collections, visit http://digital.hagley.org.

New Online Exhibit: “Building the Lydonia II”


The Hagley Library is pleased to announce the launch of “Building
the Lydonia II,” an online exhibit of nineteen images from the
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Pusey and Jones Company that traces the construction of the steam
yacht Lydonia II from the laying of its keel to its first sea trial.
Completed Lydonia II docked
at the Pusey and Jones Company The Pusey and Jones Company of Wilmington, Delaware,
in Wilmington, March 1, 1912. maintained a photographic record for many of its shipbuilding
and machine contracts from 1870 to 1955. This collection of
photographs was acquired by the Hagley Library in 1970. While
the content varies, the shipbuilding images typically document
important points in the construction process, that is, laying of the
keel, on the shipway, christening, launching, fitting out, and the
sea trial.
The Lydonia II series is the only set scanned in its entirety, but
it is representative of other sequences in the Pusey and Jones
Photograph Collection. Visit this exhibit and other online exhibits
at www.hagley.org/library/exhibits. Approximately 800 of more
than 6,700 images in the Pusey and Jones collection are available
online in the Hagley Digital Archives (http://digital.hagley.org).
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RESEA RCHER SPOTLIGHT

Who Uses the Resources of the Hagley Library?


As an internationally regarded research facility dedicated to the
history of business and technology, the Library’s top priority
remains scholars. It was a busy year for the Library, with more
than 21,794 different reference transactions (letters and e-mails,
researcher visits, photo orders, and circulated items) conducted
by Library staff in the Imprints Department and the Pictorial
Collections Department. The Digital Archives is also exponentially
expanding access of the collections to users. From the middle of
May through December of 2008, 33,669 unique visitors consulted
355,775 library informational pages or collection items in the
digital archives.
The collections used in the Library during the past year ranged
from the nineteenth-century merchant and manufacturing records
to twentieth-century industrial design collections. More frequently
consulted collections used this year include the DuPont Company
and the du Pont family, National Association of Manufacturers,
Pennsylvania Railroad Records, J. Howard Pew papers, and this
year, the Ernest Dichter research reports. At the same time, the
range of topics researched remained vast and impressive.
Scholars who need access to large amounts of our materials are
able to apply for a grant to come for a period of time to do their
research here. If you live in the Wilmington area, it is easy to visit
the Hagley Library in person to read our books in the beautiful
setting of our reading rooms. But we serve a public far beyond the
scope of those who venture to our site; this is done through our
active participation in the Interlibrary Loan program.
In 2008, Hagley received more than seven hundred loan requests
from other libraries. Our library is a special collection and many
items are rare. We loan our imprints material to academic and
special libraries in this country if proper handling is ensured. If
an item cannot be loaned, we will attempt to make photocopies,
provided the item will not be harmed in the process.
We carefully balance the opportunity to share our holdings with
as many people as possible with the need to protect the materials
themselves. For example, we had to decline a request this month
for the loan of a book published in Italy in 1597, but we were able
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to fill a request for a photocopy of a rare pamphlet published in


Philadelphia in 1825.
We also get direct requests from people from all over the world.
While we never loan print materials to individuals, we are
able to make photocopies of many rare pamphlets and trade
catalogs. Recently Linda Gross, reference librarian, was able to
provide copies of an Illustrated Price List of Microscopes, Microscopic
Apparatus, and Optical Instruments, published in 1876, and a catalog
of Adjustable Holders for Incandescent Lamps, published in 1894.
We encourage everyone with an interest in our collections to
search our online catalog at www.hagley.org/library. If you find
something that you would like to see, but you are unable to come
to our library in person, contact your university interlibrary loan
librarian about borrowing it, or contact Hagley’s interlibrary loan
librarian, Linda Gross (lgross@hagley.org), about obtaining a copy.

The Model Builders


Much effort and attention is spent in research libraries to
The layout for this model is based on the work with students of history who seek to understand the past
industrial landscape of the Great Lakes region intellectually. However, a portion of our library patrons here at
in the 1940s and 1950s. This HO scale Hagley fall under the category of model builders, or people who
model was built by Mike Rabbitt from scratch seek to understand a subject by literally reconstructing the past.
and shows a typical steel plant complete Unfairly, model builders can be dismissed as hobbyists rather
with all steelmaking facilities and working than historians. The product of their research may not be written
commercial and industrial railroads. in books, but working models have a marvelous ability to capture
people’s imaginations and teach them about their world.
A natural evolution in methodology tends to play out among
modelers. Many novices start out looking solely for props and
scenery to augment a model railroad set. To an exacting mind,
however, the process cannot stop there. To build an accurate
model of a particular railroad, factory, place, or even a moment
in time, modelers will often visit the scene they wish to recreate.
Even then, the built environment can offer only so many clues, as
buildings and technologies are replaced over time. The quest for
source information gradually leads serious modelers to research
libraries and historical societies, where they can examine written
records and photographic evidence to refine their models. In some
cases, the historical research process itself can ultimately become
more consuming than the model building.
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Lehigh Avenue and Broad Street Stadiums The industrial landscape lends itself to such modeling efforts,
(Dallin Photo ID 70.200.05174). and the extent of Hagley’s research collections in the realms
of industry and technology is unparalleled. Hagley’s holdings
The 1929 photo from the Dallin Aerial Survey include the archives of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation,
shows the area around the Reading Railroad’s Pennsylvania Railroad Company, E. I. du Pont de Nemours &
North Broad Street Station in Philadelphia. Company, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Sun Oil Company,
A detailed examination of this and other and the Westmoreland Coal Company, to name just a few. We also
street-level photos by Ron Hoess allowed hold the Dallin Aerial Survey, which contains 15,000 aerial views
him to create model row houses to reflect the of the Delaware Valley and adjacent areas, taken between 1925 and
neighborhood housing for his railroad model. 1940. Detailed descriptions of these and other archival collections
can be found in our online catalog via the library home page at
www.hagley.org/library. Our digital archive of photographs and
full-text documents can be accessed from the library home page as
well. And, of course, we welcome any questions at (302) 658-2400,
ext. 227.
Thanks to Mike Rabbitt and Ron Hoess, two of our regular library patrons,
volunteers, and model builders, for consulting on this article.
Hagley Library and Archives ~ March 13, 2009 ~ Page 11

EVENTS

Lecture Series
The 2008 lecture series brought four excellent speakers to Hagley.
On October 1, 2008, Dr. Kevin Borg, an associate professor in the
Department of History at James Madison University and former
Hagley Fellow, gave a lecture on his book titled Auto Mechanics—
Technology and Expertise in Twentieth-Century America. Dr. Borg
grew up in a “car household,” as his family owned an auto repair
business; he augmented his personal interest with many years of
research. Following his lecture, Dr. Borg signed copies of his book
and entertained questions from the audience; twenty-nine people
attended the program.
Nicholas Lowry, lecturing at Hagley. On October 15, Nicholas Lowry, director of the Poster Division
The lecture complemented the poster exhibit. of the Swann Auction Galleries in New York City, presented
an entertaining lecture, “Posters as an Art Form.” This lecture
complemented the “Give It Your Best: Workplace Posters in the
United States” exhibition in the Visitors’ Center. Lowry drew from
his extensive experience with Swann, as well as his experiences as
a guest appraiser on PBS’s “Antiques Roadshow.”
Dr. David Kirsch, an associate professor at the Robert H. Smith
School of Business, University of Maryland, talked about his
book, The Electric Vehicle and the Burden of History, on November
19. Given the economy and the current status of the car industry,
Kirsch’s lecture proved both timely and informative. After the
lecture, audience members, totaling seventy-seven, viewed
several electric vehicles brought by the University of Delaware
and other audience members.
The final lecture, on December 10, by Dr. W. Barksdale Maynard,
featured his newly published book, Buildings of Delaware. The
audience, our largest at 189, responded with great enthusiasm to a
topic of local interest which highlighted the beautiful architecture
that is part of the history of Delaware.

Dr. Eugene McGowan Film


Eighty-four people attended the February 8 premiere of the
Hagley Museum and Library film on Dr. McGowan, Delaware’s
first black psychologist in the public school system. A
Conversation with Dr. Eugene McGowan: African American School
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Psychologist and Community Activist covered his involvement in


the National Health Association, Delaware Committee for Fair
Practices, Delaware Leadership Council and the Wilmington
and Delaware State chapters of the NAACP. Jeanne Nutter
was the film’s executive producer, and it was funded by the
Delaware Humanities Forum, Delaware Heritage Commission,
Bloomfield College, and the Longwood Foundation. The
premiere took place at the Delaware Center for Contemporary
Art on Wilmington’s waterfront.
The film is based on an interview with Dr. McGowan
conducted ten years ago for the film A Separate Place: The Schools
P. S. du Pont Built, which presented the influence du Pont had
on African American education in Delaware. Hagley has forty-
In the audience at the film premiere: five hours of oral interviews with African Americans who
Dr. McGowan, front row. Seated in the row taught or attended schools built by P. S. du Pont in the 1920s
behind him, from left to right, are and has produced two other films drawn from these interviews:
Dr. Patricia Turner Debnam and Conversation with Jane Mitchell: African American Nurse and
Littleton Mitchell.Edward Loper. is Rev. Maurice J. Moyer: Civil Rights Activist. A short version of A
seated directly behind Dr. McGowan. Separate Place is available with a curriculum guide composed of
materials from our collections and suitable for classroom use;
it may be accessed on Hagley’s web page at http://www.hagley.
org/teacher-resources.html.
To obtain copies of any of these films ($10 each), please contact
Roger Horowitz at extension 244 or e-mail rhorowitz@hagley.org.

UPCOMING EVENTS
April 4 – Saturday - 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Hagley Fellows Conference: “Unintended Consequences”
Seemingly rational actors make decisions, create institutions,
shape environments, or develop technologies expecting certain
outcomes, but things do not always go as planned. “Unintended
Consequences” seeks to explore the enormous influence of these
inevitable yet unexpected occurrences. Registration required.
Contact Carol Lockman at clockman@hagley.org.
April 16 – Thursday – 6 p.m.
Research Seminar
Ross Thompson, University of Vermont, presents his paper,
“The Continuity of Wartime Innovation: The Civil War Experience,”
in the Copeland Room of Hagley Library. Based on broad research
on American manufacturing, Thompson explains how the
Hagley Library and Archives ~ March 13, 2009 ~ Page 13

production needs stimulated by the Civil War had a dramatic


impact on the productivity of American industries. The lecture is
free. Participants are asked to read the paper in advance; obtain a
copy by contacting Carol Lockman at clockman@hagley.org.

CON TAC T US
Can’t get enough news from the Hagley Library? Good news! We
are now blogging. Check out the new Hagley Library and Archive
blog at http://hagleylibrary.blogspot.com.
If you have questions about the collections highlighted here or
about using our collections, please contact one of our reference
librarians/archivists at (302) 658-2400.
Marge McNinch, Manuscripts and Archives
Ext. 330, mmcninch@hagley.org
Judy Stevenson, Pictorial Collections
Ext. 277, jstvenson@hagley.org
Linda Gross, Imprints
Ext. 227, lgross@hagley.org,
If you have questions about Center programs, please contact Carol
Lockman at ext. 243 or clockman@hagley.org.
Please direct general questions to Terry Snyder at ext. 344 or
tsnyder@hagley.org.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our new collections,
researchers, activities, and upcoming events. We hope that one or
more of these inspire you to come to Hagley and experience all
that we have to offer. I look forward to seeing you here, and in the
meantime, please accept our best wishes,

Sincerely,

Terry Snyder
Deputy Director, Library Administration

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