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Manuscript Collections
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Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States Records, 1870–1919.
Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School.The Equitable Life Assurance Society ELAS was founded by Henry B. Hyde in 1859 and under his leadership became the largest life insurance company in the world. The collection includes family correspondence between Hyde and his wife and his son James H. Hyde, who later became vice president and majority stockholder after his father’s death. It also contains materials on the branch offices and the management and administration of the company from the New York office.
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Harris C. Fahnestock Papers, 1855–1914.
Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School.The papers of nineteenth-century investment banker Harris Fahnestock document a financial career that spanned more than half a century. The collection contains correspondence and documents relating to Fahnestock’s partnership in Jay Cooke & Co. from 1862 to 1873, including reports to Cooke on the solvency of the Washington office, and clippings and papers concerning the Cooke bankruptcy that date from 1873 to 1877.
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Henry Villard Business Papers, 1835–1900.
Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School.German-born Henry Villard was a journalist, railway promoter, and financier. Letters to and from Villard in English and German contain information on the crises of 1873 and 1893. Firms mentioned frequently include the Kansas & Pacific, Northern Pacific, and Wisconsin Central Railroads, and a number of Oregon firms. Deutsch Bank, Siemens & Halske, and Edison Electric are also covered. Correspondents include Lewis Tappan, C. A. Spofford, and Jay Cooke.
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James McCauley Landis Papers (1924-1945).
Special Collections, Harvard Law School.James Landis was a legal academic and federal regulator. The papers at Harvard Law School relate to Landis’ service in three governmental bodies: the Securities and Exchange Commission (1934-37), the U.S. Emergency Board, convened to resolve the wage controversy between railroad management and labor during the 1938 railway strike, and; and his work as a special trial examiner for the U. S. Department of Labor in the deportation case of Harry R. Bridges in the fall of 1939. There are also some personal letters. The Library of Congress holds the bulk of the Landis papers.
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Jay Cooke & Co. Papers, 1832–1915.
Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School.Together with the Cooke Papers at the Pennsylvania Historical Society, these papers document the banking house of Jay Cooke & Co. Baker Library’s holdings, which largely concern the activities of the firm in bankruptcy after the Panic of 1873, include manuscripts relating to the Northern Pacific, other smaller railroads, and land companies. A significant item in the collection is the memoir Jay Cooke wrote late in life. Also noteworthy are the agreements Cooke made with other firms, in particular an 1869 contract between Cooke and the Northern Pacific Railroad.
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Legislative History of the National Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Special Collections, Harvard Law SchoolThese ten volumes of manuscript material, compiled at the request of James M. Landis, document the conception and passage of the National Securities Exchange Act of 1934. They include previous bills introduced in Congress relating to securities exchange, preliminary drafts of the bill and President Roosevelt’s recommendations to Congress, mimeographed copies of drafts, the House and Senate bills together with their amendments, the bill in conference, memoranda and correspondence relating to the bill, and reports submitted to Congress.
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Materials Documenting the Genesis of the Federal Securities Act, 1933.
Special Collections, Harvard Law SchoolThis small collection contains materials collected by James M. Landis when chair of the Securities Exchange Commission that reflect the development of the Securities Act of 1933. The collection includes House and Senate bills, comparison and conference printings, and memoranda.
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Oriental Bank (Boston, Mass.) and Nahant Bank (Lynn, Mass.) Records, 1831-1844.
Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School.This collection consists of the papers of two banks that went into receivership after the Panic of 1837. Materials include stockholders’ and directors’ reports, bills, accounts, and incoming letters.
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Papers relating to the Ames Family and Union Pacific Railroad, 1861
Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School.This collection includes the scrapbooks and account books of Oakes Ames (1804–1873), who was a U.S. congressman, manufacturer, and financier of the Union Pacific Railroad. It also includes material gathered by Charles E. Ames in researching his book, Pioneering the Union Pacific, which was published in 1969.
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Suffolk Bank Records, 1818–1904.
Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School.The papers of this preeminent Boston bank include a complete set of directors’ and stockholders’ records spanning 1818 to 1904, as well as more extensive account books and letter books for the years 1900 to 1904.
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Waltham Watch Company Records, 1854–1941.
Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School.The Waltham Watch Company, known as American Watch Company from 1859 to 1885 and American Waltham Watch Company from 1885 to 1906, manufactured watches in Waltham, Massachusetts, until the 1950s. The collection includes treasurers’, directors’ and stockholders’ records; employee records include wage books, payrolls, and time books documenting productivity per worker.