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FINANCIAL DIVISION BULLETIN SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION CHAIRMAN E l e a n o r Lyons F i r s t National Bank of Boston 67 Milk Street Boston 6, M a s s . SECRETARY AND TREASURER VICE CHAIRMAN AND BULLETIN EDITOR G e r t r u d e Wright Kuhn, Loeb & Co. 30 Wall Street New York, N. Y. Janet Bogardus F e d e r a l R e s e r v e Bank of New York F e d e r a l R e s e r v e P . O. Station New York 45, N. Y. A P R I L 1956 VOLUME XVIII NUMBER 3 Page C o m m i t t e e on the History of the F e d e r a l R e s e r v e System The Bank of Canada L i b r a r y Lansing L i b r a r y Service . . . . . . . . 1 3 . 6 A m e r i c a n Stock Exchange Corporation F i l e s * 9 Convention News . 10 Bits and P i e c e s , , 12 COMMITTEE ON THE HISTORY OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM by Marguerite Burnett A r c h i v a l A s s i s t a n t to the C o m m i t t e e (and f o r m e r l y L i b r a r i a n of the F e d e r a l R e s e r v e Bank of New York). C h a r a c t e r i s t i c a l l y , no r o c k e t s w e r e sent up to c e l e b r a t e the second birthday of the C o m m i t t e e on the H i s t o r y of the F e d e r a l R e s e r v e System,, An attitude of cautious u n d e r s t a t e m e n t s e e m s to p e r v a d e the staff which w o r k s under a Rockefeller Foundation grant and with the cooperation of the Brookings Institution o Yet the work accomplished in that short span, and the p r o j e c t s now under way, hold a special i n t e r e s t for financial l i b r a r i a n s . In the f i r s t p l a c e , the Committee plans a group of books which will r e - e x a m i n e and shed new light on the h i s t o r y of the F e d e r a l R e s e r v e System., The first of t h e s e - a biography of Benjamin Strong, f i r s t Governor of the F e d e r a l R e s e r v e Bank of New York, with p a r t i c u l a r r e f e r e n c e to his p o l i c i e s , c a p a c i t i e s and a c c o m p l i s h m e n t s a s a c e n t r a l b a n k e r , i s now in the competent hands of D r . L e s t e r Chandler, a w r i t e r of note and head of the D e p a r t m e n t of E c o n o m i c s and Sociology at P r i n c e t o n University. O t h e r s a r e expected to be c o m m i s s i o n e d soon; Committee plans on t h e s e a r e still "cooking". Indexes In the second p l a c e , indexes and biographical and bibliographical aids a s s e m b l e d during the Committee 1 s f i r s t two y e a r s a r e r e a c h i n g the point w h e r e they can be made available to l i b r a r i a n s within touch of the Committee offices; t h e s e a r e lodged in the F e d e r a l R e s e r v e Bank at 33 Liberty S t r e e t , New York City, The indexes and other data, compiled in adjustable c a r d f o r m , i n clude two files known r e s p e c t i v e l y a s the " T i m e F i l e " and the " P e r s o n s F i l e , " The f i r s t is a r r a n g e d chronologically, a s well a s by subject, t o give a p a n o r a m ic view of the men who made and who o p e r a t e the S y s t e m - the leading officials, t h e i r c o n t e m p o r a r i e s in the White House, the Cabinet and the C o n g r e s s i o n a l C o m m i t t e e s m o s t concerned with their a c t i v i t i e s , the d e c i s i o n s they made and the p e r t i n e n t events that happened during the S y s t e m ' s lifetime 0 Legislation affecting the System and i m p o r t a n t litigation a r e included. The T i m e F i l e i s keyed to the P e r s o n s F i l e , which gives background data for the long sweep of officials listed on the chronological c a r d s . Some of this data was found in the p a g e s of Who's Who, but much of it was gathered from l e s s obvious s o u r c e s including the r e c o r d s of the twelve F e d e r a l R e s e r v e B a n k s . Old p a p e r s a c r o s s the country have been s e a r c h e d to r e n d e r this p e c u l i a r l y - 1 - valuable collection of data a s n e a r l y complete as cooperation and p e r s i s t e n c e could make it. The C o m m i t t e e ' s growing bibliography s p e c i a l i z e s on the h a r d - t o ~ locate unpublished m a t e r i a l and p e r i o d i c a l a r t i c l e s having to do with the h i s t o r y of the F e d e r a l R e s e r v e S y s t e m . P a p e r Chase The file on r e l e v a n t p r i v a t e p a p e r s is expected to be one of the C o m m i t t e e ' s important contributions to s c h o l a r l y inquiry. The staff now has r e p o r t s (with some indication of s i z e , condition and contents) on the w h e r e a bouts of 94 collections belonging to p e r s o n s having at some t i m e in t h e i r lives a close connection with the F e d e r a l R e s e r v e System, and the s e a r c h is by no m e a n s finished. Information concerning t h e s e collections is set forth in a v a r i e t y of w a y s , from the Selective Inventory of the P a p e r s of C a r t e r G l a s s to the simple " r e g i s t e r s 1 1 of data constructed on models furnished by the L i b r a r y of C o n g r e s s , The Selective Inventory was compiled by a distinguished econom i s t working amid the 423 boxes of C a r t e r G l a s s p a p e r s in the p o s s e s s i o n of the A l d e r m a n L i b r a r y at the University of Virginia. It is still in m i m e o g r a p h e d form. The Committee hoped to catalog for the use of m o n e t a r y s c h o l a r s other p a p e r s of s i m i l a r i m p o r t a n c e , but the p r o c e s s was found to be so e x pensive that after long discussion* and bowing to the advice of e x p e r t s , it was decided to c o n c e n t r a t e on efforts to p e r s u a d e p r i v a t e donors to move their p a p e r s to a qualified l i b r a r y which would then p r o c e s s the collections in a c cordance with their own r u l e s and s y s t e m s . A p o l i c y for specific r e c o m m e n dation has been worked out for each type of collection. It will be seen from the foregoing sketch that the C o m m i t t e e staff, which s t a r t e d with what might be called the survey and mapping point of view, is now engaged in setting up guide lines for those who will do the a c t u a l r e s e a r c h into F e d e r a l R e s e r v e h i s t o r y . F r o m the beginning, it has steadfastly refused to engage in any r a c e for h i s t o r i c a l m a t e r i a l or to a m a s s any a r c h i v a l collection of its own. Nor has i t , a s s o m e hopeful i n q u i r e r s have thought, any r , pilot plan 11 for a r r a n g i n g a r c h i v e s . Its chief function i s to p i o n e e r ahead of the s c h o l a r s and make the way e a s i e r by spotting the h i t h e r t o unmapped springs of knowledge as to how the F e d e r a l R e s e r v e System had i t s s t a r t and got its growth. - 2 -
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