Old Dartmouth Historical Society
Date of Source: 21 June 2011
Processed by Carole Foster and Theresa Smith; Finding aid encoded by Theresa Smith
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New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library Mss 107 [sub-group, series, sub-series, folder/volume as appropriate], [item]
These records were purchased from New England Demolition and Salvage Company by the Old Dartmouth Historical Society
in 2008 [Accession #2008.53]; an additional volume [Accesssion #2008.54] was donated soon after the purchase. Previously, all records were housed in the Hicks Building on William Street,
an adjoining building owned by the MB/MNB and accessed by a pass-through on the second floor mezzanine. When current, the records were located in the
book vault on the first floor in the main bank building and as they became non-current, they were moved to the upper floors and the adjoining
Hicks Building. Collection was arranged in the current manner after transfer to the ODHS in 2010 when when shelving was installed on the second floor of the Research Library.
The Old Dartmouth Historical Society conducted a two year project to arrange, describe and catalog over
1,000 volumes and 82 linear feet relating to the MB/MNB. Mainly consisting of financial records,
details of each volume were entered into an Access database [Merchants National Bank Collection
spreadsheet], cleaned, labeled, and shelved chronologically by type and size. Paper clips and acidic
blotter papers were removed, but pinned-in notes remain as important to the integrity of the volume.
Volumes needing additional conservation were placed separately and either treated or boxed.
The two linear feet of loose papers were foldered and boxed. Printed material consisting of 80 linear
feet was cleaned and boxed. Five volumes of financial information for the Acushnet Iron Foundry
[1848 – 1857] were removed from collection and processed separately.
A number of New Bedford Whaling Museum staff and grant-funded appointees contributed to the outcome of
the MB/MNB project. Michael Dyer, Maritime Curator and Project Manager, provided administrative skills
and conveyed the Research LibraryÂ’s needs in integrating the collection. Project Archivists Carole
Foster and Theresa Smith processed the collection as stated above and produced the finding aid. Robert
E. Wright, Nef Family Chair of Political Economy and Director of the Thomas Willing Institute for the
Study of Financial Markets, Institutions, and Regulations, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
answered numerous questions about economic and banking history. In addition, he wrote interpretive
articles using information contained in the MB/MNB collection. Peggi Mederios, local historian,
researched and documented facts about MB/MNB. Robert Hauser, Museum Conservator, and D. Jordan Berson,
Conservation Intern/University of Texas, Austin, shared their unique expertise as they assessed,
stabilized and repaired damaged volumes. Laura Pereira, Museum Librarian, produced reference material
and bank-related manuscript collections already in the Research Library.
Finding Aid Encoded by: Theresa Smith, 21 June 2011
The Merchants Bank/Merchants National Bank project was made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
Bibliography
The Black River Bank of Watertown.”
[access: May 15, 2011].
Norfolk: Donning Company Publishers.
Henry J. Gardner, Governor of the Commonwealth
Historical Sketch No. 64
1866, Volume 2
Whaling Industry
New Bedford: Wamsutta Mills.
Columbia University Press.
Archives of the Center for Jewish Culture, MC66; Vancini Paper, 1920-1999, MC62
Significance of Collection
The MB/MNB was a unit commercial bank (until the establishment of its branches in the early 20th century) of the incorporated,
joint-stock form, one of tens of thousands of such institutions created to serve local communities throughout the nation in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Despite their ubiquity, however, little is known about such institutions other than they
provided local economic entities (businesses, individuals, and governments) with financial intermediation services and supplied
the economy with money in the form of notes and deposits. Who interacted with such banks as borrowers, depositors, and stockholders
and why has been little studied because few records exist and those that do are largely inscrutable to historians and too detailed
to excite economists accustomed to dealing with aggregated data. And even bank historians have found the task of summarizing a
bankÂ’s operations so daunting that they have infrequently attempted the task and even more rarely succeeded in it. Due to a dearth
of large, publicly available bank collections, most general banking histories describe snapshots of different banks at different
times. The histories of individual banks, by contrast, tend to be commissioned pieces of varying, but usually low, academic merit.
The Merchants Bank of New Bedford collection is daunting due to its size and complexity but this finding aid has been designed to
make it more accessible to researchers ranging from family to financial historians. The records include the names of many thousands
of borrowers, depositors, stock and bond investors, and stockholders and provide clues about their business activities and
whereabouts at specific dates. They also detail the bankÂ’s business activities, including its lending practices in different eras,
its balance sheet management strategies, its efforts to combat counterfeiters and delinquents, and its overall efficiency and
profitability. Finally, the records show the bankÂ’s economic impact over a century, including its contribution to New EnglandÂ’s
money supply, its postbellum brokerage activities, and its role intermediating between savers (depositors and note holders) and
entrepreneurs (borrowers and issuers of securities owned by the bank).
More specifically, this collection should prove extremely useful to two types of researchers, those interested in the history of
New Bedford, Massachusetts and its people and environs and also to accounting, bank, business, economic, financial and social
historians of the U.S. during the “long 19th century” (to World War I).
Local and family historians will find in the collection not just the names of many local citizens and businesses but also an
indication of their business and personal activities. Because the records contain numerous precise dates, they can be used to
estimate or corroborate dates of arrival or departure from the city and even death dates. The records can also be used to turn
genealogical studies into fuller family histories by providing glimpses into ancestorÂ’s financial transactions, including the loans
and wages they received and the deposits and securities investments they made.
Historians of accounting will encounter interesting puzzles in the collection including the changing nature of interest rate calculations, balance sheet assumptions,
and internal control and auditing procedures, as well as an abortive experimental account system.
Business historians will likewise find much of interest herein, including the detailed baking activities over an extended period of
a wide variety of firms ranging from small businesses to whaling agents to large-scale industrial corporations. The collection
also contains clues about how the bank itself functioned as a business, particularly how it struggled to ensure its office
technology systems allowed it to collect, store, and analyze an ever-growing number of financial transactions. The records also
allow the bankÂ’s profitability (return on equity) and efficiency (return on assets) to be measured at least annually for over a
century.
Social historians will be interested to learn that the collection contains the names of numerous female borrowers and that
Portuguese and members of other immigrant groups patronized the bank in various capacities. One, William M. Wood, became a
director in MNB as well as America’s infamous robber baron “Wool King.”
For the bank, economic or financial historians,
century U.S. bank records readily available to the public.
overall size, the length of time it covers, and the variety of records it contains with other bank collections described in the
WorldCat OPAC. For details, see Appendix C). As such, its volumes can help to answer a number of questions important to both the
historiography of banking and to the policy debates about financial services regulation that arose in the aftermath of the
subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 and the financial panic of 2008:
• Why do some banks thrive for many decades when others fail soon after forming or at the first sign of trouble?
• Were most banks operated primarily for the benefit of their officers, directors, and major stockholders or did they provide
financial services to a broader segment of their respective communities?
first, and later on the president, vice president and cashier]? Did changes in control affect the bankÂ’s performance
as measured by it return on equity or return on assets?
deposits, obtained bank loans, and owned bank stock and how and why did those patterns changer over time?
their characteristics and roles changer over time?
• What financial regulations did 19th and 20th century banks nominally face and which actually constrained their activities?
how? Was it able to “capture” its state or federal regulators at any time and if so how?
banking and insurance services?
• How did local and regional bank clearinghouses function and were they effective at reducing transaction costs and mitigating
banking panics?
• How did community banks respond to changes in office technology and the increasing volume of transactions they had to record?
• How did the structure of the financial services market in New Bedford change over time? How did changes in the
degree of competition impact the bank and its customers?
Historical Note
Merchants Bank [MB], chartered June 18, 1825 with a capital of $150,000, was at one time the oldest and the largest (as
measured by capital or shareholder equity) banking institution in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts outside of Boston.
The bank combined the advice, expertise and business acumen of the leading whaling merchants of New Bedford who were the
founders, stockholders, and directors of the bank and its sister company, the Merchants Insurance Company [MIC]. MB and
MIC were founded within days of each other by the same merchants, and the two companies continued their mutually beneficial
relationship until the liquidation of the insurance company in 1849.
At the first MB stockholdersÂ’ meeting on July 25, 1825, incorporators voted to elect John Avery Parker [1769-1853] as president
and James B. Congdon [1802-1873] as cashier and to rent the south half of the first floor of dry goods merchant William H.
AllenÂ’s new storefront on Water Street at $200 per year. The original directors of the bank included Parker, Allen, Samuel
Borden, Job Eddy, Abraham Barker, Joseph Bourne, John Coggeshall Jr., Alfred Gibbs, and David R. Greene.
Like almost all banks incorporated before the Civil War, MB received its charter from the state government, in this case
the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives in General Court. The charter allowed the MBÂ’s founders to create a
business entity with the usual privileges of a corporation, including the right to perpetual succession and the right to
sue and be sued in the bankÂ’s name. The act of incorporation, however, also subjected the bank to the supervision of the
chartering authority, including all the capital requirements, rules, restrictions, and other provisions in place at the
time of charter. The bankÂ’s influence in New Bedford was sizable in the antebellum era primarily due to the interests of
its directors, stockholders, and borrowers, many of whom were engaged in the whaling industry.
ParkerÂ’s death in 1853 resulted in the election of Charles R. Tucker [1809-1876] as the bankÂ’s second president. Peleg C.
Howland [1830-1885] replaced Congdon as cashier in 1858. Under its new leadership, MB continued to increase its stockholder
equity and to enjoy a sustained period of prosperity and public service.
On February 14, 1865, the bank reorganized under a federal charter as the Merchants National Bank of New Bedford [MNB],
presumably due to additional taxes levied on state-chartered banks by the National Bank Acts. By 1869, the bankÂ’s capital had
increased to $1,000,000. Despite the increase in capital, further balance sheet growth was stymied by structural economic
changes, including the demise of the Atlantic whaling industry and a shift in demand from whale oil to petroleum.
The election of long-time director Jonathan Bourne [1811-1889] as the bankÂ’s third president in 1876 coincided with a period of
economic upheaval in New Bedford. Bourne was one of New BedfordÂ’s most prosperous whaling agents and merchants, but his later
years saw him personally diversifying his investments to include railroads and the cotton mills of New Bedford and Fall River.
His ability to make the transition from whaling to manufacturing helped MNB maintain its prominence in the local financial
community.
By the time that Gilbert Allen [1831 -1899] was elected the bankÂ’s fourth bank president in 1889, cotton manufacturing
dominated New BedfordÂ’s economy. As president of New Bedford Copper, Allen had become familiar with corporate structures
and industrial plants. Under his leadership and that of his cashier Henry C. W. Mosher [1845-1932], MNB embraced New BedfordÂ’s
rapid growth by making short-term loans to textile companies and serving the banking needs of immigrants working as mill
weavers, spinners, loom fixers, hands, and operatives.
During the transition to cotton manufacturing and steady economic progress, New BedfordÂ’s waterfront became less important to
the interests of the city. Since 1835, the home of MB/MNB had been the Russell Warren-designed building at the foot of
William Street, a structure it shared with Mechanics Bank. The so-called “double bank” building was a local landmark in New
BedfordÂ’s financial district. In 1894, however, MNB moved to the corner of Purchase and William Streets, ostensibly because
Mosher thought it prudent to be closer to uptown borrowers, including mill men and merchants.
The third bank building was built on the former location of Liberty Hall, a well-known site for public meetings, lectures,
concerts, and theatricals. The “new” bank building was applauded for its dignity and reserve, its modern banking and office
equipment, and its intricate safeguards against burglary. With an increasingly wide-ranging customer base of local, regional,
national and international clients, and the added responsibility for handling many of the large mill payrolls in the city,
MNB set a standard for available financial services and stability.
By the turn of the twentieth century, New BedfordÂ’s industrial base had begun to broaden. In 1899, Henry C. W. Mosher, formerly
one of the bankÂ’s tellers and later its cashier, became the bankÂ’s fifth president. As the bankÂ’s first president with
significant banking experience, he was instrumental in maintaining the bankÂ’s leadership position during New BedfordÂ’s
transition into a diversified manufacturing city.
In 1912, the City of New Bedford made the decision to widen Purchase Street. MNBÂ’s leadership decided to continue business at
the corner of Purchase and William streets, to partially demolish the ten year old bank building to accommodate the street
widening, and to completely reorganize the remaining space with new improvements and services. The renovated structure opened
in 1916 as “an ornament to the city and a tribute to the progressiveness of its founders,” as Mr. Mosher wrote in his history
of the bank that year.
When Mosher retired in 1923, citing a desire to cut back on his duties, Edmund H. Leland [1890-1939] was elected the bankÂ’s
sixth president. Leland also was an experienced bank executive, having worked for banks in both New York and Boston. Leland
oversaw increasingly large capital investments from non-local sources and helped to finance the rise of New Bedford as the
preeminent manufacturer of fine cotton goods and yarns in the United States. In order to better service large numbers of mill
workers in the south end and north end sections of New Bedford, MNB in 1925 opened branches in those two areas.
The economic downturn of the 1930s proved a difficult time for MNB and New Bedford. Capital and investment in the region
diminished and civic pride took a tremendous blow. Leland resigned in 1933 due to ill health, and was replaced by Mark M.
Duff [1891-1967] in 1934. Duff, a prosperous local business man and MNB director since 1926, took up the challenge of guiding
the bank and the community back to prosperity and protecting the interests of the bankÂ’s stakeholders.
Merchants National Bank celebrated its one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary on September 1, 1950 with the slogan,
“Working Together for a Greater, Busier New Bedford.” Although cotton manufacturing continued to decline, mid-century New
Bedford remained a manufacturing and industrial center, and MNB prided itself on promoting the growth of the community.
Always willing to extend credit to “any sound productive purpose,” the bank made loans that reflected the needs of post-war New
Bedford including loans for commercial equipment and refrigeration, farm equipment, fishing vessels and the fishing industry,
G.I. business loans required under the G.I. Bill of Rights, home and business property improvement, and small businesses.
A sweeping series of changes in federal and state banking laws from 1963 to 2000 brought banks into the headlines. In 1966,
Baystate Corporation, a Boston-based bank holding company, purchased MNB, but retained both the name of Merchants National
Bank and the building on Purchase and William Street. In 1976, when Baystate Corporation changed its name to BayBanks, Inc.,
Merchants National Bank was renamed BayBank Merchants and continued to operate in the same location. BayBanks, Inc. entered
into an agreement with Bank of Boston in 1996 that combined those two entities into one and created Bank Boston, one of the
largest commercial banks in the United States at the time. Bank Boston closed the MNB bank office located at Purchase and
William streets in 1997. After a series of local purchases between 1998 and 2004, the Hicks Building and MNB main office
building were sold to separately to the United Way [Hicks Building] and Citizens Bank [MNB building].
Note: Conversion to current dollar figures from U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index.
[$4,347 in 2010 dollars] for up to six years
Merchants National Bank under National Banking Act
Purchase and William streets, for $110,000 [$2.62 million in 2010 dollars]
Scope and Content Note
The records of MB/MNB span the years 1825 – 1939 with the bulk of the collection falling between the years of the bank’s
incorporation in 1825 and 1919. The records constitute 1,063 financial volumes, 82 linear feet of books, pamphlets, and
miscellany and consist of seven series of records: Merchants Insurance Company stockholder records, financial volumes for both
customers and inter-bank transactions, letter books, customer miscellany, World War I fund raising efforts, and printed material.
The collection reflects the bookkeeping and accounting activities of the bank. Major focuses are the daily transactions of the
bankÂ’s customers involving deposits, withdrawals, loans, and stock purchases. Additionally, the records document the internal
workings of the bank and its balance sheet [assets, liabilities, and stockholder equity] through the years. Subject areas
represented include: business, economic and financial conditions, banking history, interest rates, securities brokering,
corporate governance, corporate finance, whaling business and finance, correspondent banking, bank note issuance, and bank
lending practices.
The Merchants Insurance Company record contains one volume of stock dividends. It shows the dividends paid semi-annually to
stockholders. Additionally, the final settlement and a copy of the instrument of settlement are contained in the volume.
Customer financial records include eighteen sub-series: journals, ledgers, discount books, waste/cash books, bills receivable,
acceptances, deposits, balances, collections, depositors/daily balances, offerings and discounts, broker/dealer records, loan
records, cashierÂ’s checks, inactive account ledgers, drafts, branch office records, and miscellany. The majority of the
records are in the form of handwritten hard or soft bound volumes.
Bank financial records include twenty-two sub-series: stockholderÂ’s records, cash make up books, volumes in account with
Suffolk Bank, Revere Bank, National Bank of the Republic, Merchants Bank [Boston] as well as various New York, Philadelphia,
and Federal Reserve Banks, statements, bank income and expenses, unidentified indexes, daily transactions, ledgers, standard
diary, tellerÂ’s daily balances, Clearing House proof, check lists, and payroll accounts.
Letter books consist of three sub-series with specific types of letters in each series: customer queries, letters of transmittals
with enclosure, and letters to other banks.
Customer and bank miscellany includes nine folders with examples of letters of transmittal, notes, cancelled checks, 19th century
MNB envelopes as well as items of interest to bank employees such as a Bryant and Stratton bulletin and vertical file information.
World War I fund raising consists of three volumes and 30 folders of material useful for the solicitation of funds amongst the
Jewish community, mill workers, and active duty military personnel for a variety of war-related funds. Also included are
printed MNB financial reports from 1914 – 1916, handwritten lists of names and addresses of local Jewish residents, infantry
fund raising sheet by mill, and lists of voters assessed for poll tax for Wards 1-6.
Printed material consisting of hard and soft-bound volumes reflects the interests of bank management prior to World War I
including current financial, commercial and investment news such as
Annual Report 1915 – Director of the Mint, and Poor’s Summary of Investment News
Numismatic Collection of the Mint of the United States at Philadelphia, Forms for National and State Banks, A Century of Sugar
Refining in the United States, 19th Annual Report of Union Pacific Railroad Company
represented in this series. In addition, publications highlighting legal decisions and reports pertaining to the banking
industry and taxation such as
Annual Report of the Bank Commissioner, Report of the Comptroller of Currency, Income Tax Laws and Regulations, The Federal
Reserve Act and Index, Massachusetts Combined Tax Services
Added Entries
Description
Series consists of one hardcover bound volume of stock dividends for Merchants Insurance Company
containing names of stockholders, amount of stock owned in dollars, number of shares, amount of dividends in dollars,
and to whom the dividend was paid with signature. Of particular note in this series is the range of bi-annual
dividends from the 1828 dividend of $12 per share to the 1849 dividend of $7.50 per share. Also of interest in the
volume are the letters of permission/powers of attorney for collecting dividends, a copy of indenture of settlement
and the final dividend of $10 at the time of dissolution of the company in 1849. Column headings include Date, Name,
Number of Shares, Amount Paid, By Whom Received. The final settlement of the assets of the Merchants Insurance
Company was October 29, 1859.
Series contains official financial transactions for customers of two legal entities: Merchants Bank
[MB] [1825 – 1865] and Merchants National Bank [MNB] [1865 – 1939]. Series consists of eighteen sub-series:
journals, ledgers, discounts, waste/cash books, bills receivable, acceptances, deposits, balances, collections,
depositorÂ’s/daily balances, offerings and discounts, broker/dealer records, loans, cashierÂ’s checks, inactive
accounts, drafts, branch records, and miscellany. The bulk of the series is from 1825 – 1919. Note is made when
dates are missing, but it is not known if a volume actually existed for that time period.
Sub-series contains fifty-four handwritten hardcopy bound volumes showing chronological daily
transactions and balances of individual and business bank customers. Sub-series also includes a hardcover
handwritten savings department journal showing customer names and transaction numbers at the inception of this
department. Column headings include Name, Date, To Amount Balance Forward, By Amount Balance Forward, and after 1877,
Amount Brought Up. Arranged chronologically. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains sixteen oversized handwritten hardcover volumes, many quasi-alphabetical, showing
debits, credits and balances of bank customers posted from journals. Some volumes have an index in the front of the
volume; others have separate indexes as noted. Of particular note in Volume 5 is information pertaining to stocks,
real estate, old plate and new plate of MB. Volume 13 includes a general overview of MB transactions with other
banks. Column headings include Date, Account Name, and Account Totals. Sub-series is arranged chronologically with
separate indexes following related volume; gaps noted. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Consisting of fifteen handwritten hardbound volumes, this sub-series contains information concerning the
bankÂ’s discounting of notes [i.e., making loans], for individuals and businesses. Early books list the name of
borrower and the amount the bank paid for the note. Later volumes have pre-printed headings, and an index or a quasi-
alphabetical arrangement of names. Volume 11 notes at the bottom of each page “Copied from Old Book.” Column headings
include Date of Discount, As Payer, As Endorser, When Due. Arranged chronologically with separate index following
related volume; gaps noted. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains seventy-nine handwritten volumes with chronological daily list of cash transactions with individuals, other banks, and businesses. The format
changes over the years as the bankÂ’s business and staff expand. Some volumes include tellerÂ’s and cashierÂ’s daily cash balances; others only customer cash transactions. Twentieth century
volumes mention few individual customers. Beginning in the 1880s, volume headings and customer names are pre-printed with handwritten additions where needed. Volume 2 contains discussion
of costs of “double bank” building including laborer’s names. Volume 5 marks a format change from first entry book to bank/cashier’s accounts. In Volume 29 there is list of staff positions in the bank.
Of interest in Volume 43 is a notation “estimates of assets of Sagamore Mfg. Co. after paying dividends.” Column headings include Accounts, Credits, and Debits. Arranged chronologically with gaps
noted. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains sixteen handwritten hardcover volumes with chronological records of discounts, due
dates, account name, and amount of loan. Volume 10 includes “bonds and treasury notes deposited with the Treasury of
the United States to secure deposits, February 4, 1865, ” related to MB’s transition to a national bank. Volume 16 is
oversized. Columns include When Due, By Whom Payable, When Payable, Whom Sent, For Collection and When, For Whose
Account, When Discounted, Single Names, Two or More or Firm, Secured by Collateral, Total, Remarks. Arranged
chronologically. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series consists of four handwritten soft cover volumes containing a detailed chronological daily
list of transactions of individuals and businesses. Acceptances show individual accounts with the name of borrower,
item purchased and from whom, money owed and when paid. Volume 1 has both cash transactions and acceptances in the
same volume; also included in Volume 1 is a discussion of costs of the “double bank” building, 1831 – 1834, including
laborerÂ’s names. Column headings include Name of Borrower, Date, To Whom Owed, and Amount. Arranged chronologically
with gaps noted.
Consisting of one hundred nineteen volumes, this sub-series details a daily chronological list of cash
and non-cash deposits by individuals. Volumes are not alphabetical. Handwritten hardbound volumes also include
signatures of customers either on a page or pinned onto a page. Beginning with Volume 82, telephone calls with date,
time and charges incurred are tallied in back of volume. Column headings include Date, Name of Depositor, and Amount.
Arranged chronologically. * = on Conservation Shelf.
This sub-series contains twenty handwritten hardcover volumes of daily balances/statements for the
MB/MNB and transactions with other banks. Beginning with Volume 15, volumes have pre-printed names and printed column
headings. Column headings include Account Name, Debit, and Credit. Arranged chronologically with gaps noted.
Sub-series contains fifty-five handwritten hardcover volumes with a daily chronological list of amount
received on payable notes due. Information includes name of individual or business, what they owe, what was collected,
to whom they owe, and amount. Arranged chronologically with gaps noted. * = on Conservation Shelf.
This sub-series includes one hundred thirty seven oversized hardcover volumes with an alphabetical list
of individual and business depositors and the daily balance of the account. Beginning with Volume 14, names are pre-
printed with handwritten additions. Volume 14 also includes depositorÂ’s place of residence. Volume 73 and subsequent
volumes include adding machine tapes pasted in back pages of volume. Beginning with Volume 99, there are notations of
statements mailed to customers with name of recipient and address. Column headings include Account Name, Funds in
Account, and Date. Arranged chronologically with gaps noted. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series consists of fourteen handwritten hardbound volumes of “record of paper offered for discount at the Merchants Bank.” Volumes show
sequential loan numbers, date, amount, and individual. Volume 7 notes “account of dividends declared by the following named banks from and including April
1865” as well as note in back on postage charged on notes. Volumes 13 and 14 are loose leaf volumes with metal pronged covers. Column headings include Date
of Discount, Promissor or Acceptor, Drawer or Endorser, Endorser, Where Payable, Amount, Rate and Amount of Exchange, Directors Present, Time, Amount,
Discount, Proceeds. Arranged chronologically with gaps noted. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains seventeen handwritten volumes of investment transactions the bank undertook in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries on behalf of its brokerage clients. [Prior to passage of the law commonly known as the Glass-Steagall Act in 1933,
national banks like MNB could buy and sell securities for their customers]. Individuals and businesses are both represented, as well as
investment houses such as Kidder, Peabody and the Boston Stock Exchange. Volumes are mainly chronological listing of buy and sell orders
for stocks and/or bonds. Volume 2 is an account for “the Treasurer of the United States in a/c with Merchants National Bank of New Bedford”;
it also contains an edited letter “steps to be taken in view of the discontinuance of a national bank as depository of public monies.”
Volumes 7, 11 and 12 contain information devoted to investments by the Potter family, the Potter Drug and Chemical Company heirs. Arranged
chronologically by type of volume. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains seventeen oversized handwritten hardcover volumes with a chronological list of names of individuals and businesses
borrowing money from MNB with payment information. Volume 1, an experimental loan record by teller, G. B. Wright, has an index of notes, payments,
and collateral. Subsequent volumes differ in format with both time and demand loans. Mortgage and car loans present in most 1920s volumes. Column
headings include BorrowerÂ’s Name, Endorser or Collateral, Date, Amount, Maturity Date, Rate, Face of Note, Discount, and Net Amount. Arranged
chronologically. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains ten hardcover volumes with check stubs indicating purchaser, amount, date, and name of recipient of cashierÂ’s check.
Volumes 4 and 5 have a few examples of paid checks pasted on related check stub. Arranged chronologically with gaps noted. * = on Conservation
Shelf.
Sub-series contains sixteen oversized hardcover volumes of pre-printed names of individuals and businesses with little or no activity on their accounts.
Four pre-printed columns include Dates, Deposits, Checks, and Balance. Beginning with Volume 14, volumes contain index. Arranged chronologically with gaps noted. * =
on Conservation Shelf.
This sub-series consists of nine hardcover volumes with handwritten pre-printed forms of drafts for payment or collection with the following information: Drawee, Received From, Due, Amount, Accepted, Paid, Returned, and Remarks. Included are loans for both individuals and businesses. Volumes 4 and 5 have handwritten notes on rates of exchange glued into front of volume. Arranged chronologically.
Sub-series contains seventeen volumes of branch banking services available to customers living a distance from the main bank office. Services included
purchasing managers, certified and cashier’s checks and paying utility bills directly to the bank in lieu of mailing or personally delivering payment. Volumes 1 – 9
contain check stubs for checks authorized by a branch manager and destined for either New York or Boston. Volumes 10 and 11 contain a chronological carbon copy of
amounts and account numbers paid to the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Company at the South Branch. Volumes 12 – 17 have check stubs for certified and cashier’s
checks issued by the branches. Arranged chronologically by subject and branch location.
Sub-series consists of four miscellany volumes from the main branch. Included are a book of check stubs with handwritten entries; a handwritten
collateral book with two indexes mentioning both individuals and mills; a certified check volume with handwritten entries naming the purchaser, the payee,
and amount; and a handwritten travelerÂ’s check ledger for American Express sales. Arranged chronologically. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Official financial transactions for the two legal entities of the bank: Merchants Bank [1825 – 1865] and Merchants National Bank [1865 – 1935]. Series
includes twenty-two sub-series: MB/MNB stockholder records, cash make-up, accounts with Suffolk Bank, accounts with Mechanics Bank of New York, MB/MNB income and
expenses, accounts with Fourth National Bank of New York, accounts with miscellaneous banks, accounts with Revere Bank of Boston, cash make up for receiving tellers
only, unidentified indexes, accounts with National Bank of the Republic of New York, accounts with Merchants National Bank of Boston, accounts with Philadelphia banks,
daily transactions, accounts with First National Bank of New York, cash make up for paying tellers only, standard diary, tellerÂ’s daily balances, Clearing House proof,
accounts with the Federal Reserve Bank, check lists, and payroll accounts. These records contain information on administrative and internal bank matters with
stockholders and staff as well as transactions with other banks.
Sub-series contains fourteen volumes with information on bank stockholders including names and number of shares held. Volumes 1 – 3 are handwritten with
an index of names in front of volume. The Volume 4 subscription book is intended to show both stockholder and new stockholder investment in additional bank capital as
noted in front of volume. Volumes 5 -7 contain forms to be filled in as needed when a transfer of capital stock is desired. Volume 8 is a handwritten account of
stockholders by name, number of shares held, and taxes owed. Volumes 9 – 12 contain a variety of information on stockholder’s dividends including names, number of
shares, signatures of dividend recipient as well as amount of dividend. Volumes 13 and 14 give an alphabetical list of names and addresses of shareholders mailed
dividends on April 1 and October 1 of each year. Arranged by type, then chronologically. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains eighty-eight handwritten volumes with daily tallies of cash on hand broken down by name of local, regional, and national banks.
Vault contents include specie, bills, and foreign currencies as well as internal bank amount. Many volumes contain pinned-in credit notes. Volume 3 includes a
settlement of account with Suffolk Bank, Boston. Beginning with Volume 68, adding machine tapes are increasingly used to total accounts. Columns include Date,
Tallies, Vault, Notes, Specie, Bills, Payroll, Receiving Teller; arranged chronologically with gaps noted. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains fourteen handwritten hardcover volumes noting financial transactions with Suffolk Bank, Boston. Starting in 1826, Suffolk Bank acted
as a clearinghouse for regional banknotes and by 1836, it had become the clearinghouse for all banknotes circulating in New England. In addition, Suffolk Bank made
short-term credit advances to other banks. These volumes show settlements of account with Suffolk with daily entries, pinned-in credit notices, reconcilements, and
corrections. Volume 1 also contains transactions with Chemical Bank, New York. Volume 8 contains “the Boston Account Book with Merchants Bank.” Arranged
chronologically with gaps noted. * =on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains four handwritten hardcover ledgers showing MBÂ’s financial transactions with the New York-based Mechanics Bank. Information may
include settlements, names of individuals and businesses with New York interests, credit orders, and stop payments. Arranged chronologically.
Sub-series contains thirteen volumes showing a variety of bank income and expenses. This includes information on income from bank owned stocks and
bonds, specie/money exchanges, rental income from Liberty Hall and “new” bank building at Purchase and William. Expenses related to Liberty Hall and bank incidentals
such as coal, paper, stamps, etc. are included as well. Volume 5 contains copies of bills paid to a variety of local businesses; index of companies in front of
volume. Volume 6 contains amounts spent on office expenses. Volumes 6, 10 and 11 are oversized. Volumes 10 and 11 contain many WWI related investments. Arranged
chronologically by subject of volume. * =on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains seven volumes of ledgers related to internal bank transactions with the Fourth National Bank of New
York, which was established in 1864 as a New York depositor and financial agent for the United States. Arranged chronologically.
* = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains nineteen volumes of ledgers with other banks and bank cashiers. Most volumes have an index of bank
names in front of volume. Names of banks are pre-printed; handwritten amounts. Arranged chronologically with gaps noted.
Sub-series contains five volumes of handwritten transactions in account with the National Revere Bank
located in Boston. Named after Paul Revere, not the town of Revere, the bank was chartered in 1859, became a national
bank in 1865, and was liquidated in 1898. Arranged chronologically. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains sixty softcover volumes of handwritten entries by receiving tellers showing the
contents of their cash drawers at the end of each business day. Originally a teller handled both payment and receipts,
but due to the bankÂ’s growth in the late nineteenth century, additional staff was hired to perform more specialized
tasks. Volumes include columns for the other New Bedford banks – Citizens, Commerce, Mechanics and First National –
and large New Bedford companies as well as columns for specie, bills and loans. Many volumes contain lists of
long-distance telephone calls made. Beginning with Volume 38, information is for receiving teller only. Beginning
with Volume 45, adding machine tapes are pasted onto pages. Arranged chronologically with gaps noted. * = on
Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains three volumes of unidentified indexes; other indexes match with volumes in collection. It is
unknown if the collection contains the records indexed by these volumes. Volume 1 contains signatures of customers pasted into
volume. Arranged chronologically. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains two hardcover handwritten volumes of ledgers with bank transactions in account with the National Bank
of the Republic of New York. Organized in 1850 and rechartered as a national bank in 1865, the National Bank of the Republic was
acquired by the First National Bank of New York in 1901. Volume 2 contains the notation “balance carried to First National.”
Arranged chronologically.
Sub-series contains thirteen handwritten hardcover volumes of cash settlements and ledgers for the Merchants National
Bank of Boston. Many volumes have reconcilements included among accounts. Volume 5 includes a bank examination sheet pasted in
front of volume. Volume 13 is a reconcilement ledger with other banks. Arranged chronologically.
Sub-series contains five handwritten hardcover volumes with transactions, balance sheets, and reconcilements for a
variety of Philadelphia banks. Included are these Philadelphia banks: Merchants National Bank, founded in 1880 and eventually
merged into the First National Bank of Philadelphia, and Philadelphia National Bank founded in 1803. Small amount of pages
contain accounts for the following New York banks: Chase National Bank of the City of New York established in 1877 and
National City Bank established in 1812, later converted to the Federal National Bank in 1865. Arranged chronologically.
Sub-series contains forty-four handwritten softcover volumes with 9 to 10 column headings. Represents
unknown daily departmental transactions. Arranged chronologically with gaps noted.
Sub-series contains twelve volumes of transactions and reconcilements with First National Bank of New York,
founded in 1863 as the first national bank in that city. Arranged chronologically.
Sub-series contains seven handwritten softcover volumes of daily cash reconcilements for the paying
teller. All volumes contain adding machine tapes pasted onto pages and lists of banks, bills, specie, and totals.
Arranged chronologically.
Sub-series contains eight volumes of Counting House Calendar Standard Diaries showing a chronological
transfer of funds for unknown purpose. Columns include Date, Account, Percentages, Other Banks and Companies,
Account Totals, and Account Actions. Arranged chronologically.
Sub-series contains twenty-two handwritten softcover volumes of tellerÂ’s daily balances listing both
incoming and outgoing monies, cash and check items, vault contents, and other daily activities; probably maintained
by the Head Teller. Columns include Sundry Credits, Rec. Teller, Local Checks, Foreign Checks, Vault, Cash Items,
Sundry Items, Amounts, Cash Book Credits, Clearing House Credits, Cash Book Debits, and Clearing House Debits.
Arranged chronologically. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains three hardcover pre-printed volumes with handwritten figures showing exchanges
between associated banks – First National, Mechanics National, Merchants National, and New Bedford Safe Deposit
and Trust. The New Bedford Clearing House was established September 1, 1885 and comprised as its members the
national banks of New Bedford. Column headings include Due Clearing, Bank Debit, Bank Credit, and Due Bank.
Arranged chronologically.
Sub-series contains three hardcover ledgers detailing the bankÂ’s accounts with the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve was chartered as the United StatesÂ’ central bank in 1913 and MNB, as required of a nationally
chartered bank, became a Federal Reserve member in 1914. As a Federal Reserve member, the bank was required
to adhere to certain regulations for bank stock and to maintain reserves in [deposits with] the Federal Reserve
Bank of Boston. Arranged chronologically with gaps noted.
Sub-series contains two hardcover volumes with the entire volume filled with adding machine tapes.
Each tape contains amount of individual check, total of all checks, name of a business or institutional entity,
and a date. Names of entities on adding machine tapes include New Bedford Gas Dividends, Morse Twist Drill,
County of Bristol, C. F. Wing & Co., Steiger Dudgeon, Snell & Simpson, New Bedford Public Market,
Dartmouth Mfg. Co., Grinnell Mfg., Paul & Dixon, Booth Mfg., Potomska Mill, New Bedford Cordage, M. C.
Swift & Sons, and N. P. Hayes. Arranged chronologically.
Sub-series contains two hardcover volumes of payrolls. In the 1880s, MNB opened a payroll department
that paid the employees of local businesses requesting the service. Volume 1 is devoted to the payroll of the New
Bedford Rayon Company, incorporated June 1928. NB Rayon moved into the Manomet Mills plant and began production in
1929. Volume 2 consists of adding tapes with name of company and date of payroll. Arranged chronologically. * =
on Conservation Shelf.
Series contains ninety-four letter books representing three different types of letters sent and received by MB/MNB.
Series includes three sub-series: copies of letters sent and received; records of enclosures sent; and copies of form
letter entries for enclosures to banks only. Earliest volumes contain handwritten copies of letters; later volumes are
the result of a copying process that used moistening appliances and a copy-press, the most cost effective method of
copying incoming correspondence until the 1950s.
Sub-series contains fifty-one hardcover volumes of copies of handwritten letters from/to individuals, other banks,
railroads, mills, and other businesses mainly produced by bank cashiers. Subjects of letters vary and can include account
information, enclosures sent, and credits due. Beginning with Volume 15, an index of names is included in front of each volume.
Copies of typewritten letters start appearing in Volume 45. Arranged chronologically. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains thirty pre-printed volumes of enclosure notations sent with letters from the bank. Columns include
handwritten entries for Date of Letter, Date of Acknowledgement, Name of Promissor or Drawer, When Due, Amounts, Amount of Check.
Beginning of volume contains miscellaneous entries, then separate sections for locations, i.e., Boston, New York, Philadelphia
or named banks, i.e., First National, Savings Deposit and Trust, etc. Some volumes have separate index. Arranged chronologically
with gaps noted. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Sub-series contains thirteen volumes of letters of transmittal sent to banks only. Volumes vary in format over
the years: some contain handwritten entries for forms sent, others have copy-press or typewritten copies of letters, still
others have carbon copies of form letter entries. Arranged chronologically by name of bank. * = on Conservation Shelf.
Nine folders of examples of miscellany removed from volumes, cardboard filing case, and strewn on the bottom of
storage boxes retrieved from New England Salvage. Folders 1 – 6 contain examples of MNB letterheads, checks, and informal
letters of transmittals. Folder 7 includes empty envelopes addressed to Wm. A. Hamilton & Co., Agents, Boston, Commissioner
of Internal Revenue, Washington, DC, samples of stationery, and an unaddressed envelope with a Union Pacific Railroad, New York
City return address. Folder 8 contains the 1918-1919 course descriptions of classes offered by Bryant & Stratton, a
commercial school located in Boston specializing in training office workers. Folder 9 contains information on a system for
vertical filing. Prior to the invention of the filing cabinet in 1898, letters were folded and stored in pigeonholes in desks
and in wall cases, a relatively inefficient way of storing and retrieving needed documents.
Series contains three volumes and 30 folders of documents related to revenue raising efforts for World War I. Included are
Liberty Loan accounts books, MNB financial reports, names and addresses for direct mail solicitations, and examples of types of local
funds. Material was found on bottom of box of financial volumes packed by New England Salvage.
In May 1917, Eliot D. Stetson, Vice-President of MNB, was asked by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston to organize a local committee
of banks and bankers to promote the sale of Liberty Loans. MNB was a member of the Federal Reserve and Mr. Stetson was a District
Reserve Elector making MNB a logical choice for this task. Eventually, MNB became the headquarters of all local WWI fundraising
efforts providing rooms for the various national non-profit organizations recruited by the federal government such as the Red
Cross [bandages and canteens], YMCA [recreation], American Library Association [reading material], Boy Scouts of America [scouts
could earn a War Service badge for helping the war effort], and the Animal Rescue League [funds for wounded military horses and dogs].
Local funds included the Anti-Aircraft Fund [to defend the city against possible air strikes], the Drafted MenÂ’s Fund for draftees
called to Battery D at Camp Devens, Ayer, Massachusetts [recreation], the Tobacco Fund [sending “smokes” to the troops], and a
variety of funds started by leading ethic groups in the city — French, British, Canadian, Polish, Jewish — to aid wounded veterans
and civilians of their country of origin. The success of the War Chest fundraising efforts during WWI, Folders 18 and 19, led to
the concept of the Community Chest and eventually to the United Way. Arranged chronologically by type.
Series consists of twenty boxes [78 volumes] and one oversized volume of a variety of books, magazines, and
pamphlets related to financial matters of interest to bank executives and directors. These were probably located either in
the Bank PresidentÂ’s office or in the DirectorÂ’s Room. Arranged by title, then date, then size.
Federal Reserve Act and Amendments,
Reserve Act, Volume 7,
1906 – 1914
Summary of Investment News
Chap. XXXVII –
An Act to incorporate the President, Directors, and Company of the MerchantsÂ’ Bank of New Bedford.
SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, That Joseph Rotch, Timothy G. Coffin, David R. Green, William H. Allen, Elisha Haskell, Gideon
Allen, Nathaniel Nelson, Elisha Dunbar, Robert Hillman, Ephraim Kemptem, Abraham Barker, Lemuel Williams, jun.,
Thomas Riddle, Job Eddy, William R. Rotch, Paul Spooner, Ichabod Clap, and Robert Ingraham, their associates,
successors and assigns, shall be, and hereby are, created a corporation by the name of the MerchantsÂ’ Bank, in
New Bedford, and so shall continue until the first Monday of October, which will be in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, and by that name shall be, and hereby are, made capable in law to sue and
be sued, plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, in any court of record or any other place whatever, and
also to make, have, and use a common seal, and to ordain and establish and put in execution such by-laws,
ordinances, and regulations, as to them may appear necessary and convenient for the government of said
corporation, and the prudent management of their affairs: Provided, such by-laws, ordinances, and regulations
shall in no wise be contrary to the constitution and laws of this Commonwealth, and said corporation shall
always be subject to the rules, restrictions, limitations, and provisions herein prescribed.
SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the capital stock of said corporation shall consist of the sum of one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars, in gold and silver, divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, which shall be
paid in at four equal instalments [sic], the first on the first day of September next, and the second, third,
and fourth instalments [sic] at any time thereafter, within twelve months from the passing of this act, or at
such earlier time as the stockholders, at any meeting thereof may order; and the stockholders, at their first
meeting, by a majority of votes, may determine the mode of transferring and disposing of said stock and the
profits thereof, which being entered on the books of said corporation, shall be binding on the stockholders,
their successors and assigns, until they shall otherwise determine; and the said corporation are hereby made
capable in law to have, hold, purchase, receive, possess, enjoy, and retain to them, and their successors and
assigns, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, to the amount of twelve thousand dollars, and no more at any one
time, with power to bargain, sell, and dispose of the same; and to loan and negotiate their monies and
effects by discounting on banking principles, on such security as they think advisable: Provided however, that
nothing herein contained shall restrain or prevent said corporation from taking and holding real estate in
mortgage or on execution, to any amount, as security for, or in payment of any debts due to said corporation:
Provided further, that no money shall be loaned, or discounts made, nor shall any bills or promissory notes be
issued from said Bank, until the capital subscribed and actually paid in, and existing in gold and silver in
their vaults, shall amount to seventy-five thousand dollars.
SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That the rules, limitations and provisions which are provided in and by the third
section of an act entitled, “an act to incorporate the President, Directors, and Company of the State Bank,”
shall be binding on the Bank hereby established, in the same manner as though specially recited in this act,
excepting that the bond required to be given by the Cashier shall be given in the penalty of thirty thousand
dollars; that the number of Directors to be annually chosen shall be nine, and five may constitute a quorum for
the transaction of business; and a majority of said Directors shall be residents of said town: And provided also,
that the amount of bills in circulation, issued from said Bank, shall not, at any one time, exceed their capital
stock actually paid in.
SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That said Bank shall be established and kept in the town of New Bedford.
SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That any committee, specially appointed by Legislature for that purpose, shall have
a right to examine into the doings of said corporation, and shall have free access to all their books and vaults,
and if, upon such examination, it shall be found, that after a full hearing of said corporation thereon, be
determined by Legislature, that the said corporation have exceeded the powers herein granted them, or failed to
comply with any of the rules, restrictions, or conditions in this act provided, this act of incorporation shall
thereupon be declared to be forfeited and void.
SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, That Joseph Rotch, Tim. G. Coffin, William H. Allen, Gideon Allen, David R. Green,
and Elisha Haskell, are authorized to call a meeting of the stockholders of said corporation at a convenient
time and place, by advertising the same three weeks successively, in the New Bedford Mercury and Gazette,
newspapers printed in New Bedford, for the purpose of making, ordaining, and establishing such by-laws,
ordinances and regulations, for the orderly conducting the affairs of said corporation, as the stockholders shall
deem necessary, and for the choice of the first Board of Directors, and such other officers as they shall see
fit to choose.
SEC. 7. Be it further enacted, That the Commonwealth shall have a right, whenever the Legislature shall provide
therefor [sic], to subscribe on account of said Commonwealth, a sum not exceeding seventy-five thousand dollars,
to be added to the capital stock of said corporation herein before provided for, and whenever the Commonwealth
shall become so interested in said Bank, the Governor and Council shall have a right to appoint four additional
Directors for the management of the same.
SEC. 8. Be it further enacted, That the said corporation shall be liable to pay any bona fide holder the original
amount of any note of said Bank, altered to a larger amount in the course of its circulation, notwithstanding
such alteration, and shall also be liable to pay any bona fide holder the amount of any note of said Bank
counterfeited, unless such a note is printed, or impressed with the stereotype plate; and that said corporation
shall not, at any place whatever, directly or indirectly, purchase, receive, pay or exchange any bill or note at
said bank, or of any other Bank incorporated within this Commonwealth, for any less sum than the nominal value
expressed on said bill or note; and no loan or discount shall be made, nor shall any bill or note be issued by
the said corporation, or by any person on their account, in any other place than said Bank.
SEC. 9. Be it further enacted, That said corporation, from and after the first day of October next, shall pay by
way of tax to the Treasurer of this Commonwealth, for use of the same, within ten days after the first Monday of
October and April annually, with half of one per centum on the amount of stock which shall have been actually
paid in.
SEC. 10. Be it further enacted, That whenever the Legislature shall require it, the said corporation shall loan to
the Commonwealth, any sum of money which may be required, not exceeding twenty per centum of the capital stock
actually paid in, reimbursable by five annual instalments [sic], or at any shorter period at the election of the
Commonwealth, with the annual payment of interest at a rate not exceeding five per centum per annum.
SEC. 11. Be it further enacted, That the capital stock of said Bank shall not be sold or transferred, but be holden
by the original subscribers thereto, for and during the term of one year from the time of passing this act.
And in case the same shall not be put into operation according to the provisions thereof, within the year
aforesaid it shall be void.
SEC. 12. Be it further enacted, That no dividend of profit shall be declared, or paid on the capital stock of said
Bank, until the whole of said stock shall have been paid conformably to the provisions of this act.
[Approved by the Governor, June 18, 1825]
Chap. XLII. –
An Act in Addition to “An Act to incorporate the President, Directors, and Company of the Merchants Bank of New Bedford.”
SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, That the President, Directors and Company of the Merchants Bank of New Bedford be, and they hereby are,
authorized to increase their present capital stock, by an addition thereto of one hundred thousand dollars, in
shares of one hundred dollars each, which shall be paid in such installments, and at such times, and shall be so
disposed of, as a majority of the Stockholders of said Bank, at any legal meeting, may direct and determine:
Provided however, that the whole amount thereof shall be paid in within one year from the passing of this act.
SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the additional stock aforesaid shall be subject to the like tax, regulations, restrictions,
and provisions, as the present capital stock of said Corporation is now holden by virtue of the act to which
this is in addition.
[Approved by the Governor, Feb. 4, 1898]
Chap. LVIII –
An Act to continue the Banking Corporations therein named, and for other purposes.
SECT. 1. BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of
the same, That the several Corporations hereinafter named, which by their respective charters have been heretofore
incorporated and established at the several places, and with the capital stocks hereinafter respectively mentioned,
be, and the same hereby are continued corporations for the purposes of banking, until the first day of October, which
shall be in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and fifty-one, notwithstanding any limitation in their
respective charters of incorporation to the contrary, to wit: The president, directors and company of the Atlantic
Bank in Boston, capital stock five hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the American
Bank in Boston, capital stock five hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Asiatic Bank,
in Salem, capital stock two hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Agricultural Bank
in Pittsfield, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Andover Bank
in Andover, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Bunker Hill Bank
in Charlestown, capital stock one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the
Beverly Bank in Beverly, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the
Boston Bank in Boston, capital stock six hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the
Barnstable Bank in Yarmouth, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the
Bedford Commercial Bank in New Bedford, capital stock two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the president,
directors and company of the Blackstone Bank in Uxbridge, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president,
directors and company of the Bank of Norfolk in Roxbury, capital stock two hundred thousand dollars; the president,
directors and company of the Commercial Bank in Salem, capital stock two hundred thousand dollars; the president,
directors and company of the Commonwealth Bank in Boston, capital stock five hundred thousand dollars; the president,
directors and company of the City Bank in Boston, capital stock ten hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors
and company of the Central Bank in Worcester, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors
and company of the Columbian Bank in Boston, capital stock five hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors
and company of the Cambridge Bank in Cambridge, capital stock one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the president,
directors and company of the Dedham Bank in Dedham, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president,
directors and company of the Danvers Bank in Danvers, capital stock one hundred and twenty thousand dollars; the
president, directors and company of the Exchange Bank in Salem, capital stock two hundred thousand dollars; the
president, directors and company of the Eagle Bank in Boston, capital stock five hundred thousand dollars; the
president, directors and company of the Fall River Bank in Troy, capital stock two hundred thousand dollars; the
Franklin Bank in Greenfield, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the
Falmouth Bank in Falmouth, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the
Franklin Bank in Boston, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Globe
Bank in Boston, capital stock ten hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Gloucester
Bank in Gloucester, capital stock one hundred and twenty thousand dollars; the Hampden Bank in Westfield, capital
stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Hampshire Bank in Northampton,
capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Hampshire ManufacturersÂ’ Bank
in Ware, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Housatonic Bank in
Stockbridge, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Lowell Bank in
Lowell, capital stock one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Leicester
Bank in Leicester, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Lynn
Mechanics Bank in Lynn, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the
Marblehead Bank in Marblehead, capital stock one hundred twenty thousand dollars; the president, directors and company
of the MerchantsÂ’ Bank in New Bedford, capital stock two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the president, directors
and company of the ManufacturersÂ’ and MechanicsÂ’ Bank of Nantucket in Nantucket, capital stock one hundred thousand
dollars; the president, directors and company of the Mercantile Bank in Salem, capital stock two hundred thousand
dollars; the president, directors and company of the MerchantsÂ’ Bank in Salem, capital stock four hundred thousand
dollars; the president, directors and company of the Mendon Bank in Mendon, capital stock one hundred thousand dollars;
the president, directors and company of the Merrimack Bank in Haverhill, capital stock one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars; the president, directors and company of the MechanicsÂ’ Bank in Newburyport, capital stock two hundred thousand
dollars; the president, directors and company of the Massachusetts Bank in Boston, capital stock eight hundred
thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the New England Bank in Boston, capital stock ten hundred
thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the North Bank in Boston, capital stock seven hundred fifty
thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Newburyport Bank in Newburyport, capital stock two
hundred and ten thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Plymouth Bank in Plymouth, capital stock
one hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of Pawtucket Bank of Pawtucket, capital stock one
hundred thousand dollars; the president, director and company of the Springfield Bank in Springfield, capital stock
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Suffolk Bank in Boston, capital
stock seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Salem Bank in Salem,
capital stock two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the State Bank in Boston,
capital stock eighteen hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Tremont Bank in Boston,
capital stock five hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Taunton Bank in Taunton,
capital stock one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Washington
Bank in Boston, capital stock five hundred thousand dollars; the president, directors and company of the Worcester
Bank in Worcester, capital stock two hundred thousand dollars; – and the said corporations respectively shall be
entitled to all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties, liabilities and requirements contained in
an act passed on the twenty eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
twenty nine, entitled “An Act to regulate Banks and Banking,” and the following sections of this act.
SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That, from and after the first Monday of October, which will be in the year of our Lord
one hundred thousand eight hundred and thirty one, no individual or corporation shall have the right to hold, or shall
directly or indirectly take, hold or own more than fifty per centum of the amount of the capital stock of any Bank
incorporated in this Commonwealth, exclusive of such stock as may be held bona fide, as collateral security, by such
individual or corporation.
SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That any corporation which may be or become a stockholder in any bank within this
Commonwealth, shall from and after the first Monday of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and thirty-one, be liable in its corporate capacity to pay and make good any loss or deficiency of the capital stock
in such bank, which shall arise from the official mismanagement of its Directors, and shall be holden for the payment
and redemption of all bills which may have been issued by said Bank, and remain unpaid when its charter shall expire,
in the same manner as individual stockholders are made by law made liable in their individual capacities; and such
corporations shall have the right to compel a contribution from other stockholders, on conditions and in the manner
prescribed by the fourteenth section of an act entitled “An Act to regulate Banks and Banking.”
[Approved by the Governor, February 28, 1831.]
Chap. CIV –
An Act in Addition to “an act to incorporate the President, Directors and Company of the Merchants Bank of New Bedford.”
SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, That the Merchants Bank in New Bedford be, and they are hereby authorized and empowered to increase
their present capital stock, by an addition of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars thereto, in shares of one hundred dollars each, which shall be paid in such
instalments [sic], and at such times, as the president and directors of said bank may direct and determine.
Provided, however, that the whole amount shall be paid in or on or before the first day of October, which will
be in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty one, provided also, that the said bank shall be
governed by all the rules, and subjected to all duties, limitations, restrictions, liabilities and provisions
contained in an act entitled “an act to regulate banks and banking,” passed on the twenty eighth day of February,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty nine, and the provisions of an act entitled
“An Act to continue the banking corporations therein named and for other purposes,” passed on the twenty eighth
day of February, on thousand eight hundred and thirty one.
[Approved by the Governor, March 17, 1831.]
Chap. 217 –
An Act in relation to the Renewal of Bank Charters.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the
same, as follows:
SECT. 1. The several corporations hereinafter named, which, by their respective charters, have been heretofor
incorporated and established at the several places named herein, be, and the same are hereby, continued corporations,
for the purposes of banking, until the first day of January, which shall be in the year one thousand eight hundred and
seventy; notwithstanding any limitation in their respective charters of incorporation to the contrary viz: – The
president, directors, and company of the Boston Bank in Boston; the president, directors, and company of the City
Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company of the Eagle Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and
company of the FreemanÂ’s Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company of the Granite Bank, in Boston; the
president, directors, and company of the Mechanics Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company of the New
England Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company of the Shawmut Bank, in Boston; the president,
directors, and company of the State Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company of the Danvers Bank, in
Danvers; the president, directors, and company of the Warren Bank, in Danvers; the president, directors, and company
of the Gloucester Bank, in Gloucester; the president, directors, and company of the Lynn Mechanics Bank, in Lynn; the
president, directors, and company of the Marblehead Bank, in Marblehead; the president, directors, and company of the
Asiatic Bank, in Salem; the president, directors, and company of the Exchange Bank, in Salem; the president,
directors, and company of the Salem Bank, in Salem; the president, directors, and company of the Appleton Bank, in
Lowell; the president, directors, and company of the Railroad Bank, in Lowell; the president, directors, and company
of the Newton Bank, in Newton; the president, directors, and company of the Fitchburg Bank, in Fitchburg; the president
, directors, and company of the Leicester Bank, in Leicester; the president, directors, and company of the Blackstone
Bank, in Uxbridge; the president, directors, and company of the Citizens Bank, in Worcester; the president,
directors, and company of the Northampton Bank, in Northampton; the president, directors, and company of the
Greenfield Bank, in Greenfield; the president, directors, and company of the Agawam Bank, in Springfield; the
president, directors, and company of the Lee Bank, in Lee; the president, directors, and company of the Dedham Bank,
in Dedham; the president, directors, and company of the Quincy Stone Bank, in Quincy; the president, directors, and
company of the Wrentham Bank, in Wrentham; the president, directors, and company of the Fairhaven Bank, in Fairhaven;
the president, directors, and company of the Massasoit Bank, in Fall River; the president, directors, and company of
the Marine Bank, in New Bedford; the president, directors, and company of the Merchants Bank, in New Bedford; the
president, directors, and company of the Bristol County Bank, in Taunton; the president, directors, and company of the
Taunton Bank, in Taunton; the president, directors, and company of the Old Colony Bank, in Plymouth; the president,
directors, and company of the Wareham Bank, in Wareham; the president, directors, and company of the Barnstable Bank,
in Yarmouth; and the said corporations, respectively, shall be entitled to all the powers and privileges, and shall
be subject to all the duties, liabilities, requirements, and restrictions, contained in such acts as are now in
force, and to such other acts may hereafter be passed, by the General Court, in relation to banks and banking.
SECT. 2. The several corporations hereinafter named, which, by their respective charters, have been heretofore
incorporated and established at several places named herein, be, and the same are, hereby continued corporations,
for the purposes of banking, until the first day of January, which shall be in the year one thousand eight
hundred and seventy-five; notwithstanding any limitations in their respective charters of incorporation to the
contrary, viz: – The president, directors, and company of the Boylston Bank, in Boston; the president, directors,
and company of the Columbian Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company of the Exchange Bank, in
Boston; the president, directors, and company of the Globe Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company
of the Grocers Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company of the Hamilton Bank, in Boston; the
president, directors, and company of the Merchants Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company of the
North Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company of the Shoe and Leather Dealers Bank, in Boston;
the president, directors, and company of the Tremont Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company of
the Washington Bank, in Boston; the president, directors, and company of the Village Bank, in Danvers; the
president, directors, and company of the Haverhill Bank, in Haverhill; the president, directors, and company of
the Bay State Bank, in Lawrence; the president, directors, and company of the Grand Bank, in Marblehead; the
president, directors, and company of the Commercial Bank, in Salem; the president, directors, and company of the
Mercantile Bank, in Salem; the president, directors, and company of the Naumkeag Bank, in Salem; the president,
directors, and company of the Cambridge Bank, in Cambridge; the president, directors, and company of the Bunker
Hill Bank, in Charlestown; the president, directors, and company of the Framingham Bank, in Framingham; the
president, directors, and company of the Lowell Bank, in Lowell; the president, directors, and company of the
Waltham Bank, in Waltham; the president, directors, and company of the Lancaster Bank, in Lancaster; the
president, directors, and company of the Central Bank, in Worcester; the president, directors, and company of
the Holyoke Bank, in Northampton; the president, directors, and company of the Hampshire Manufacturers Bank, in
Ware; the president, directors, and company of the Springfield Bank, in Springfield; the president, directors,
and company of the Chicopee Bank, in Springfield; the president, directors, and company of the Agricultural Bank,
in Pittsfield; the president, directors, and company of the PeopleÂ’s Bank, in Roxbury; the president, directors,
and company of the Neponset Bank, in Canton; the president, directors, and company of the Union Bank of Weymouth
and Braintree, in Weymouth; the president, directors, and company of the Fall River Bank, in Fall River; the
president, directors, and company of the Bedford Commercial Bank, in New Bedford; the president, directors, and
company of the Mechanics Bank, in New Bedford; the president, directors, and company of the Hingham Bank, in
Hingham; the president, directors, and company of the Plymouth Bank, in Plymouth; the president, directors, and
company of the Falmouth Bank, in Falmouth; the president, directors, and company of the Pacific Bank, in
Nantucket; and the said corporations, respectively, shall be entitled to all the powers and privileges, and shall be
subject to all the duties, liabilities, requirements, and restrictions, contained in such acts as are now in
force, and to such acts as may hereafter be passed, by now the General Court, in relation to banks and banking.
SECT. 3. If there be, on the part of the stockholders, or any of them, any remonstrance against the continuance
of any of the said corporations, the said remonstrance shall be made in writing, to the several cashiers of such
banks, on or before the first day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty; and no one of
the said corporations whereof persons so objecting legally represent one fourth part of the capital stock, shall
be entitled to the benefit of this act.
SECT. 4. There shall be appointed by the governor, with the advice of council, three commissioners, who shall
exercise the powers, and perform the duties hereinafter specified, until the fifteenth day of January, in the
year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one: provided, that the governor, with the advice of the council, may,
at any time, remove from office one or all of said commissioners, and fill all vacancies. And said commissioners,
or any two of them, shall visit each and every bank in this Commonwealth, whose charter is, by present
limitations, to expire in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and shall have free access to their
vaults, books, and papers; and shall thoroughly inspect, and examine, all the affairs of said corporations; and
make any and all such inquiries as may be considered necessary, to ascertain their condition and ability to
fulfil [sic] all the engagements made by them; and whether they have complied with the requisitions of the
statutes, in regards to banks and banking. And said commissioners may summon and examine, under oath, all the
officers of said banks, and such other persons as may be thought proper, in relation to the conduct and affairs
of said banks.
SECT. 5. Before they shall enter on the duties of their office, the said commissioners shall formally make oath
before some justice of a court of record, or before any two justices of the peace of this Commonwealth, that
they will, faithfully and impartially, discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon them, in their said
office.
SECT. 6. It shall be the duty of said commissioners to make careful examination of the general laws of this
Commonwealth, relating to banks and banking, and of the operation of the same, in providing a currency best
adapted to the wants and interests of the people; and, within ten days from the commencement of the next session
of the General Court, to report the result of their investigations, and whether any and what alterations may be
made in said laws, which shall be mutually advantageous to the banking institutions and the community.
SECT. 7. Said commissioners, in the month of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, shall
make a report to the Legislature, within ten days from the commencement of the session thereof, of the general
conduct and condition of the corporations visited by them; and if the said commissioners shall be of opinion
that any one of said banks is insolvent, or that its condition is such as to render its farther progress
hazardous to the public, or that such bank has so far exceeded its powers, or has so far failed to comply with
the rules, restrictions, and conditions of the statutes, in relation to banks and banking, that it should not be
continued a corporation beyond the time now limited by law; and if the said commissioners shall file a
certificate thereof, in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth, on or before the fifteenth day of
January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, then such bank shall not be entitled to the
benefits of this act.
SECT. 8. Each of the said commissioners shall receive, as a compensation for his services, five dollars, for each
and every day employed by him, and at the rate of one dollar for every ten miles actually travelled by him, in
the performance of the duties prescribed by this act; and the governor is hereby authorized to draw his warrants
on the treasury thereof.
[Approved by the Governor, May 2, 1849.]
Chap. 228 –
An Act to increase the Capital Stock of the Merchants Bank in New Bedford.
BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the
same, as follows:
SECT. 1. The president, directors and company of the Merchants Bank, in New Bedford, are hereby authorized to
increase their present capital stock by an addition thereto of two hundred thousand dollars, in shares of one
hundred dollars each, which shall be paid in such instalments [sic] as the president and directors of the said bank
shall determine: provided, that the whole amount shall be paid in before the first Monday in April, in the year
one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
SECT. 2. The additional stock aforesaid, when paid into the said bank, shall be subject to like tax, regulations,
restrictions and provisions to which the present capital stock is subject.
SECT. 3. Before the said bank shall proceed to do business on each such additional capital, a certificate, signed by
the president and directors, and attested by the cashier, under oath, that the same has been actually paid into the
said bank, shall be returned into the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth.
SECT. 4. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.
[Approved by the Governor, May 22, 1851.]
Act of February 25, 1863, ch. 58, 12 Stat. 665. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=012/llsl012.db&recNum=696
Act of June 3, 1864, ch. 106, 13 Stat. 99 http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=013/llsl013.db&recNum=128
Appendix B
Column headings include
upfront or in other words where the bank pays the present value of the note offered for discount to the borrower in
return for the right to collect the full face value of the note upon its maturity, generally some 30 to 120 days
later. The modern formula for calculating present value is PV [present value of price] – FV [future or face value or
principal value/(1+i)n where i is the interest rate (expressed as a decimal) and n is related to the length of the
loan. The bank, by contrast, calculated the discount by multiplying FV by the annual interest rate (generally 6% or
.06) and then dividing that number by 360/number of days to maturity. For example, on September 2, 1825 the bank
discounted a note with a $160 face value for 63 days by paying the borrower $158.32. It calculated the discount by
multiplying $160 by .06 ($9.60), which it then divided by 360/63 (5.714286) to obtain the $1.68 discount it then
subtracted from $160 to calculate the sum paid to the borrower. This volume shows notes and other financial instrument
s discounted at the bank. Column headings include
effective June 16, 1933 and introduced the separation between investment banks and depository or commercial banks.
Named after sponsors Senator Carter Glass and Congressman Henry B. Steagall, the bill was intended to prevent bankers
from acting as securities brokers.
double-entry bookkeeping either for recording transactions of particular class [as sales or cash transactions] or for
recording transactions not covered in specialized books. Column headings include
Appendix C
• Ascutney Bank, Windsor, VT, 1847-1881
• Unknown Bank, Athens, GA, 1857-1857
Athens, GA
• Bank of Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, 1852-1955
• Bank of Boulder, Boulder, MT, 1890-1930
• Bank of Cape Fear, Hillsborough, NC, 1815-1846
• Bank of Charleston, Charleston, SC, 1837-1874
• Bank of Charleston, Charleston, SC, 1836-1912
• Bank of Columbia, Georgetown, Washington DC, 1794-1828
• Bank of Darien, possibly from McIntosh County, GA, 1820-1824
• Banks of Delaware General Collection, 1795-1930
• Bank of Endicott, Seattle, WA, 1903-1935
• Bank of Ithaca, Ithaca, NY, 1831-1849
• Bank of Kentucky [Unknown], Louisville, KY, 1807-1810
• Bank of Kentucky [Branch], Louisville, KY, 1835-1908
• Bank of Lansingburgh, Lansinghburgh, NY, 1850-1855
• Bank of Leadville, Leadville, CO, 1879-1888
• Bank of Mississippi, Natchez, MS, 1811-1811
• Bank of Newburgh, Newburgh, NY, 1810-1830
• Bank of North America, Philadelphia, PA, 1780-1923
• Bank of North Carolina [Branch], Windsor, NC, 1852-1870
• Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and its Branches, KY, 1821-1850
• Bank of the State of Mississippi, Natchez, MS, 1804-1846
• Bank of the United States, Philadelphia, PA, 1790-1842
• Bank of the United States [Unknown], PA, 1822-1861
• Bank of the United States, Boston, MA, 1792-1794
• Bank of the United States, Natchez, MS, 1830-1846
• Bank of Washtenaw, Ann Arbor, MI, 1836-1875
• Bank of Willows, Glen County, CA, 1880-1905
• Black River Bank, Black River, NY, 1844-1874
• Bloomington Bank, Bloomington, IL, 1857-1937
• Brigg’s Bank, Clyde, NY, 1854-1864
• Burlington Savings Bank, Burlington, VT, 1854-1895
• Chemung County Banks, Elmira, NY, 1835-1977
• Cheshire Bank, Keene, NH, 1833-1913
• Citizens Bank, New Orleans, LA, 1836-1902
• City Bank, Binghamton, NY, 1852-1952
• City Bank, New Orleans, LA, 1832-1852
• City National Bank, Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, 1852-1950
• Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, Cleveland, OH, 1816-1939
• Commercial Bank, Natchez, MS, 1835-1864
• Corinth Deposit Bank, Corinth, KY, 1890-1976
• Dedham Bank, Dedham, MA, 1815-2003
• Donohoe, Kelly & Co. Banking Company, [Unknown], CA, 1863-1917
• Economy Cooperative Bank, [Unknown], MA, 1895-1930
• Emigrant Savings Bank, [Unknown], NY, 1841-1945
• Evanston Bank, Evanston, IL, 1874-1976
• Exchange Bank [Branch], Abington, VA, 1839-1860
• Exchange National Bank, Atchinson, KS
• Exchange National Bank, Spokane, WA, 1880-1930
• Farmers’ Bank, Lansingburgh, NY, 1854-1861
• Fidelity Mutual Savings Bank, [Unknown] WA, 1907-1982
• First National Bank, Butte, MT, 1877-1958
• First National Bank, Candor, NY, 1881-1977
• First National Bank, Central City, CO, 1881-1930
• First National Bank, Denver, CO, 1860-1974
• First National Bank, Fort Worth, TX, 1870-1995
• First National Bank, Helena, MT, 1865-1903
• First National Bank, Missoula, MT, 1866-1965
• First National Bank, Portland, OR, 1865-1910
• First National Bank, Pullman, WA, 1887-1964
• First National Bank, Seneca Falls, NY, 1864-1882
• First National Bank, Watertown, NY, 1855-1887
• First Pennsylvania Banking and Trust, Philadelphia, PA, 1809-1957
• Florida National Bank, Jacksonville, FL, 1887-1994
• Fort Worth National Bank, Fort Worth, TX, 1884-1988
• German Security Bank, Louisville, KY, 1867-1951
• Goldome Bank, [Unknown], NY, 1800-1980
• Gosport Bank, Gosport, IN, 1856-1931
• Hagerstown Bank, Hagerstown, MD, 1814-1852
• Hartford National Bank and Trust, Hartford, CT, 1792-1976
• Herald R. Clark Collection of Bank Records, Provo, UT, 1882-1935
• Hibernia Bank, San Fransisco, CA, 1859-1971
• Home Savings Bank, Boston, MA, 1871-1945
• Iowa City National Bank, Iowa City, IA, 1857-1906
• Jefferson County Banks, NY, 1816-1959
• Jefferson National Bank, Jefferson, VA, 1914-1998
• Kentucky Title Savings Bank, Louisville, KY, 1870-1974
• Kountze Family and Colorado National Bank, [Unknown], CO, 1860-1987
• Lanchlin McLaine Bank, Volcano, CA, 1860-1883
• Lewiston Bank, Lewiston, NY, 1829-1839
• Lincoln Savings Bank, Louisville, KY, 1905-1960
• Lockport Bank, Lockport, NY, 1829-1854
• Lockport Bank and Trust Company, Lockport, NY, 1835-1898
• Louisiana State Bank, New Orleans, LA, 1817-1888
• Madison State Bank, Virginia City, MT, 1879-1923
• Mediapolis State Bank, Mediapolis, IA, 1915-1933
• Merchants Bank, Helena, MT, 1865-1903
• Merchants Bank, New Bedford, MA, 1825-1939
• Merchants Bank, New Orleans, LA, 1857-1860
• Morris State Bank, Pony, MT, 1899-1928
• Morris State Bank, Pony, MT, 1899-1927
• National Bank of D.O. Mills and Company, Sacramento, CA, 1847-1927
• New Jersey Bank, [Unknown], NJ, 1789-1932
• Banks of the City of Newburgh, IN, 1902-1929
• Niagara County Savings Bank, Niagara, NY
• Onondaga County Savings Bank, Onondaga, NY, 1855-1900
• Oswego River Bank, Fulton, NY, 1855-1905
• Otesgo County Bank, [Unknown], New York, 1830-1940
• Pheonix Bank, Charleston, MA, 1832-1857
• Planters and Mechanics Bank, Petersburg, VA, 1883-1886
• Planters Bank, [Unknown], LA, 1835-1844
• Planters Bank, Savannah, GA, 1816-1870
• PNC-Riggs Bank, [Unknown], 1809-1998
• Portland National Bank, Portland, ME, 1824-1946
• Pullman State Bank, [Unknown], WA, 1893-1950
• Real Estate Bank of Arkansas and State Bank of Arkansas, [Unknown], AR, 1838-1855
• Rochester Savings Bank, Rochester, NY, 1858-1941
• Rocky Mountain National Bank, Central City, CO, 1867-1890
• Root River State Bank, Chatfield, MN, 1856-1966
• Saint Matthews Bank, Jefferson County, KY, 1906-1954
• Santa Rosa Bank, Santa Rosa, CA, 1873-1925
• Savannah Bank and Trust Company, Savannah, GA, 1869-1982
• Savings Bank, Manchester, CT, 1905-2004
• Searsport National Bank, Searsport, ME, 1898-1921
• Second National Bank, Helena, MT, 1881-1896
• Second National Bank, Lansing, MI, 1864-1886
• Second National Bank, Santa Fe, NM, 1872-1893
• Security State Bank, Colton, WA, 1895-1963
• Security Trust and Savings, Los Angeles, CA, 1914-1954
• Shawmut Worcester Bank, Worcester, MA, 1843-1981
• Bank Collections of Southport, CT, 1854-1904
• St. Anthonay Falls Bank, Minneapolis, MN, 1891-1966
• State Bank, Pamplin, VA, 1905-1931
• State National Bank, Denver, CO, 1882-1902
• Suffolk-Franklin Bank, Boston, MA, 1861-1949
• Union National Bank, Little Rock, AR, 1915-1992
• Union Savings Bank of Boston, Boston, MA, 1865-1958
• Waltham Savings Bank, Waltham, MA, 1853-1954
• Western Montana National Bank, Missoula, MT, 1889-1969
• Woburn Five Cents Savings Bank, Woburn, MA, 1854-1989
• Worcester Banks, Worcester, MA, 1831-1901
• York Bank, York, PA, 1814-1923
• York National Bank and Trust, York, PA, 1814-1999
