Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subject Categories: Banking

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Banking
Creators:
Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
Dates:
1724-1975
Languages:
Collection is in
English
with some materials in
French
,
German
,
Spanish
,
Chinese
, and one additional unidentified language.
Physical Description:
13.66 Cubic feet
consisting of 30 boxes, 2 folders, 6 oversize folders.
Repository:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Banking and Banks forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Most of the banking documents are 19th century (1830-1890) commercial banking correspondence on letterhead stationary between banking customers and clients and their banks, banking houses, dealers and exchanges (rather than bank to bank correspondence) and cancelled checks from large banks such as Shawmut Bank, Bank of Kent, Bank of Whitehall, and Wells Fargo. Correspondence topics include loans, foreign currency exchanges, mortgages, estates and taxes.
Banking regulations, bank annual reports, state and congressional legislation, stock certificates, and bond certificates are also present.
Notes of exchange (first, second and third exchanges), what appears to be scrip issued for currency requirements, promissory notes ("I promise to pay"), complaints concerning non-payment, and a few documents on banknote companies are among the materials.
Bank-issued booklets on various subjects such as saving money, the effect of various depressions, including The Great Depression, may be included in the folder of the publishing bank, and a few other related publications are in the subject series.
Some early material on investment banks (Kidder Peabody, Brown Brothers) and a large number of items from The Manhattan Company, an early bank type organization is also included.
Most of the material comes from the northeastern United States, with a large amount from New York. The vast majority of items are organized by name of the issuing bank, or the name of the bank that cashed the check, with names like "Bank of Kent" filed under "Kent, Bank of". Banks named First National Bank of... are filed under "F" and banks with names like State Bank of New York are filed under "S". Those items that do not contain an identifiable bank name have been filed in Checks and Records by state.
Documents where no bank name or geographic origin is discernible are in folders organized by document examples, e.g. Bankruptcy and Foreclosure.
A small number of documents and checks from non-U.S. banks are included in Box 29.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The original arrangement was completed by Archives Center Staff (date unknown). Minor modification was made to the arrangement during additional processing. The collection is arranged into three subseries.
Series 1: Business Records and Marketing Material, 1724-1975
Series 2: Genre, 1836-1913
Series 3: Subjects, 1857-1967
  • Business Records and Marketing Material
  • Genre
  • Subject

Administration

Author
Nicole Blechynden
Sponsor
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Banking and Bankers is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Processing Information
In 2016, with funding provided by the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund, the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History implemented the use of minimal level processing standards to increase information about and facilitate access to more of our collections. Arrangement and housing (box and folder) were completed at an earlier date by the Archives Center staff, which also included a preliminary Scope and Content note. Non-archival housing was replaced for long-term stability, but staples and other fasteners have not all been removed.
Folder contents were verified with date(s) added; the scope and content note was enhanced, folder-level description was completed, and a machine-readable, encoded finding aid was created by Nicole Blechynden, May 2017.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Preferred Citation
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Banking, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Conditions Governing Use
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Publications -- Business Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business cards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Print advertising Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising history Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Legal correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Letterheads Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Promissory notes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertisements Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Savings bonds Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Legal records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wills Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business letters Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Financial records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Commercial correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Stock certificates Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Banks and banking, American -- 19th century Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Education -- finance Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Land titles -- Registration and transfer Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bankers Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Illustrations Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Stock records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Banking Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Receipts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Money Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising cards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
advertising -- Banks Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Printed ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Periodicals Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Caricatures Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bank statements Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Invoices Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Advertising mail Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Receipts (financial records) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Loans, Personal -- 18th century Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Legal documents Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business records Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publications Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Land titles Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
Suite 1100, MRC 601
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
Business Number: Phone: 202-633-3270
Fax Number: Fax: 202-786-2453
archivescenter@si.edu