The New York Historical Society, at 170 Central Park West, New York City, was founded in 1804, and for one hundred and thirty years has been gathering and preserving historical materials, through generous gifts and considered purchases. Its founders were scholarly gentlemen of varied interests, and for many decades the Society was not considered so specialized as libraries tend to be now. In consequence, there are many things here, besides New York material, which a stranger would not expect to find in the library of a society designated the New York Historical.

Like the majority of the states, Pennsylvania has never completely concentrated her archives. Various groups of material currently administered by a bureau or department, such as the land records in the Land Office, should not be concentrated until they cease to be a part of the Government's daily business. But aside from these, there are tons of non-active files which will some day be moved, when the Archive Division of the State Library can house them. Under such conditions no one can state absolutely and concisely what there is; and as one result of this difficulty, research work that might utilize business documents is severely handicapped.

For at least twenty years prior to the formation of this Society, there were men in this country interested in the collection of records pertaining to the history of the railroads. Many of them the writer knew by personal acquaintance or through the medium of correspondence. With the Great War came the high price of scrap paper, and the railroads seized this opportunity of disposing of many of their old records in such fashion. Realizing that the individual could do but little toward the preservation of these records, two close friends, living in or near Boston, together with the writer, formed this Society.

There has developed within the city limits of Pittsburgh, and the adjoining territory that rounds out the boundaries of Allegheny County, and for more than a score of miles along the three rivers that converge at the Point, a region that is known as “the workshop of the world.” The tremendous industrial and commercial expansion of this area in recent years is well known, but “the roots of the present lie deep in the past” and the origin or background of this development is somewhat shrouded in obscurity.

In order to reconstruct the story of West Virginia's growth and in turn to throw light on the State's connection with our national development, the West Virginia University Collection of Historical Manuscripts at Morgantown was established in 1931. Since then, voluminous material pertaining to various significant events in the political, economic, and social evolution of the State has flowed into the Library. It is the purpose of this article to review the economic and business aspects of this collection, although, of course, it is recognized that the institution gives equal emphasis to other phases of history.

When Illinois was still a part of the American frontier, the Chicago Historical Society began collecting and preserving manuscripts and museum pieces important in the development of the great Northwest. It was in 1856 that a group of Chicago's foremost citizens, led by Dr. William Barry, founded the Society. A year later the organization was incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois. According to the articles of incorporation, the purpose of the Society is “to institute and encourage historical inquiry and to collect and preserve the materials of history especially concerning the states carved from the Old Northwest Territory.” In this broad field, the activities of the institution have been chiefly of two sorts, the assembly of manuscripts and other material for its Library and the collection of historical pieces for its Museum.

For several years the Society has been active in securing action photographs of industrial processes for deposit in the Baker Library, and during the past year the organization has carried on an intense campaign to enlarge this collection. Because of these efforts, the number of pictures has been increased to a point where there are now over two thousand items.

It would be difficult to find a person who has displayed a greater amount of assiduity in unearthing papers and manuscripts on business history than has the Society's president, Mr. Charles H. Taylor. Corporation records, shipping and whaling papers, log books, estate management papers, indentures, deeds, and in fact manuscripts and documents on almost all phases of business history have been lodged in the Baker Library as a result of Mr. Taylor's activities. Among the countless historical documents brought to light by him is an item that does not have a great deal of business significance, nevertheless is sufficiently entertaining to justify its publication.

Business may connote a humdrum, monotonous routine, and yet it need not necessarily do so. Romance and adventure were tied up closely with the shipping business of the middle nineteenth century. Especially was this true when that shipping business happened to center around romantic Hawaii as was the case with the James Hunnewell enterprise, the papers of which are available in the Baker Library.

Elegantly equipped fire engines, automatic ladders, and pumps capable of spouting streams of water far into the air were not available in 1762; but citizens of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, were cognizant of the need for protection against fire; and so they organized the Friendly Fire Society. Detailed regulations of the organization are recorded in the “articles” of the group possessed by the Business Historical Society.

The story of that epochal day when Europe and America were first successfully connected by cable is told in the “Diary of the Great Eastern Telegraph,” written on board the ship that completed the task in 1866. A copy of this diary, one of the few actually printed on board the ship, and autographed by Cyrus W. Field, is available in the Baker Library.

The eastern merchant who dealt with the West in the early nineteenth century was faced with many problems. But the western merchant was still worse off. Both sets of difficulties, particularly those of the latter, are illustrated in the correspondence between Christian Shultz and his various partners, of Maysville, Kentucky, and the metal-selling firm of Nathan Trotter & Co., of Philadelphia. These letters are found in the Trotter collection in the Baker Library.

An interesting chapter in the currency history of this country is called to mind by one original document and several photostatic copies of original documents concerning the Merchants' Note scheme of 1733, found in the archives of the Society.

The recent acquisition by the Baker Library of two booklets on Wall Street, one of them issued by a broker in the days of the Civil War and the other issued by another broker about 1880, calls to mind the many changes, not only in the physical appearance of the Street but also in the procedure of conducting business, that have taken place since 1850.

That the Boston collector of custom in the year 1843 was a proverbial “Jack of all trades” is revealed in a letter-book of the Boston Custom-House in the files of the Baker Library. Detector of criminals and smugglers, benefactor of sailors in distress, counsel for importing merchants, and adviser for foreign consuls — these were all tasks within the range of duties of this custom-house.

Since this issue of the Bulletin marks the eighth anniversary of the publication, it provides a fitting time to review the activities of the Society in the last eight years.

In the development of a great industry or a new territory there is quite often one man who stands out as a symbol of its evolution. Such was the case in the development of the upper peninsula of Michigan. The man was Peter White; and the truth of this statement is borne out by even a hasty perusal of the voluminous papers, account books, and letters in the White collection held by the Baker Library.

The status of labor has been markedly changed since the early days of our country. In general it may be said that the worker has tended to acquire a position of even greater bargaining power relative to the employer (indeed, today there are instances where labor holds the superior position.) Of course certain types of laborers have always possessed an advantageous and strategic bargaining power position, but on the whole the tendency toward greater freedom for labor as a class is not disputable. Evidences of this evolutionary movement in the worker's status toward more freedom of contract may be found in the numerous labor agreements and labor indentures in the Baker Library.

In collecting historical material, a society such as ours counts itself fortunate if from time to time the inflow of material, valuable because of its prospective usé, is sweetened by the appearance of items valuable because of their scarcity — and so usually valuable in a monetary sense.

Who discovered the first Baldwin apple tree? A reminder of this much mooted question, which was apparently settled some years ago, was brought to light recently, when a map of Wilmington, Massachusetts, showing the site of the original tree was found among the Baldwin papers of the Baker Library.