E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. Employee Relations Dept.

The Personnel Division was created as an autonomous division in 1918 when the Executive Committee concluded that with the workforce rapidly expanding during the First World War there was a need to centralize personnel practices relating to hiring, firing, and safety. Prior to 1918 the general manager of each of the operating departments was responsible for personnel policy.

R.R.M. (Ruly) Carpenter was the first head of the Personnel Division, which reported directly to the Executive Committee until the mid-1920s, when it was placed in the Service Dept. During the 1930s under the direction of Willis Harrington, the Personnel Division administered the Du Pont Company employee representation and share-the-work programs. After non-personnel functions were gradually removed from the Service Dept., it was renamed the Employee Relations Dept. in 1951.

From the description of Records, 1901-1980. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122355350