Modern advertisers using rhymes in their copy may have obtained the idea from pamphlets similar to the one issued by Oak Hall, Boston clothiers, in 1850, and preserved in the collection of the Business Historical Society.

Adventures in the South Seas, narrated in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson's “Treasure Island,” are reported in the log of the Ship Hope for the years 1806 to 1808, now possessed by the Business Historical Society. Opportunity for adventure was derived from the unusual character of the voyage.

When an English merchant set out to collect a debt from a recalcitrant colonial across the water, he was evidently put to it for a type of statement sufficiently imposing in appearance to bring the desired results. One document, bearing the date 1729, among the Society's acquisitions, illustrates the point. The reproduction of the first page which appears opposite gives evidence of the formality followed.

From Smith College word comes, to the Business Historical Society, of a new series of studies to be made in the field of business and economic history. Concerning this project the director, Dr. Esther Lowenthal, professor of economics at Smith College, notes in The Smith Alumnae for November, 1932: