Participating Libraries

Hagley Museum and Library is located on the historic site of the gunpowder works founded by E I du Pont in 1802, encompassing 235 acres along the banks of the Brandywine in Wilmington, Delaware. The museum and site itself provides an example of early American industry including restored mills, a workers' community, and the ancestral home and gardens of the du Pont family.

The library and archives at Hagley hold a wealth of material specializing in the study of business and technology in America. The collections include papers belonging to key individuals as well as company records ranging from eighteenth-century merchants to modern telecommunications, illustrating the impact of the American business system on society.

Almost 60 years ago, collector and horticulturist Henry Francis du Pont (1880–1969) opened his childhood home, Winterthur, to the public. Today, Winterthur is the premier museum of American decorative arts, with an unparalleled collection of nearly 90,000 objects made or used in America between about 1640 and 1860. The collection is displayed in the magnificent 175-room house, much as it was when the du Pont family lived here, as well as in permanent and changing exhibition galleries.

Winterthur is set amidst a 1,000-acre preserve of rolling meadows and woodlands. Designed by du Pont, its 60-acre naturalistic garden is among America’s best, with magnificent specimen plantings and massed displays of colour. Graduate programs and a preeminent research library make Winterthur an important centre for the study of American art and culture.

Davidson Library, Department of Special Research Collections

The Donald C. Davidson Library is named in honour of Donald C. Davidson, who served as University Librarian from 1947 to 1977. The Department of Special Research Collections acquires, preserves, and makes accessible rare, valuable, or unique materials that support UC Santa Barbara students, faculty, and research programs, as well as the scholarly community.