David E. Reyam

Born into a wealthy Jewish family in New York, David Reyam studied in Paris. Upon his return he was active in the Wilmington, Delaware, area starting in the 1910s. He frequently worked for the du Pont family. Reyam supervised the Federal Art Project's Delaware division of the Index of American Design, which recorded, in meticulous drawings, examples of American craft—from quilts to communion silver to ships' figure heads—in private collections. During World War II he opened an art school. Reyam also invented various household devices; he shared patents with E. E. du Pont for ornamental tiles and an automobile heater.