Muriel,
What we do with corporate records like
these (and I have them for lumber companies,
etc.) is to carefully describe each ledger
or item, especially commenting on the information
they contain. Frankly I get
very few researchers that ever look at these records unless we
can make them explainable for
others. For example, if a record contains not only the
name of the individual but their address,
age, how long they’ve lived there, etc. Some
records, while important to show the
transaction of business (posting ledgers for example)
provide poor information about a person or
business.
What I’m trying to say is that
records either tell you the history of a person or organization
or business, but if they don’t, they
may be quick candidates for disposal. You really have to
stop and analyze what information is
available and whether it is worth preserving.
To give you an idea, I’ve been given
thousands of cancelled checks of a defunct lumber
company. Traditionally
we don’t save these; several individuals thought we should make
an alphabetical index of all the payees
(clearly they are payroll checks) however except for
the date, amount of money, name of payee,
and lumber company logo, there’s nothing on
these checks – no indication of
hours worked, occupation of the payee, etc. I believe they
are probably payroll checks but they cover
from the 1940s to the 1970s, periods covered
by the phone books, city directories,
etc. For me their future use and usefulness is quite
low, they are good candidates for disposal
despite some pleas alleging their “genealogical”
importance. I shall keep
some of them for displays.
There is also the question of
completeness. Looking at your list, I don’t see any annual
reports, reports to the comptroller of the
currency, or paper files. I assume that the index
to loans corresponds to a loan number and
there would have been backup files for those
such as copies of mortgages, liens,
background/credit checks, and the like.
I pose these questions to help you think
about the balance between the bank records as
artifacts and as usable research
resources.
Dean
Dean DeBolt
University
Librarian, Special Collections
John C. Pace
Library,
850-474-2213
From: Archives &
Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Muriel Jackson
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2006
12:38 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Bank Records
August 22, 2006
Is there anyone with a Bank Collection who could offer some
good advice? I have a series of bank records that were donated in
1998.
Included are Check Registers 1892-1923
Farm Loans
books 1931-1943
Rent Book
1896-1899
Indexes to loans
1884-1920
Bank Draft books
1886-1916
Register
Transfer
1900-1926
Ledger and Journal Books
I am not sure how this should be handled. Should I
retain all of the items in the collection are some things duplicating
information. Several co-workers have offered advice as to what could be done
with the entire collection. But I don’t want to trash them and I do
not have the funds for microfilming. Unfortunately the bindings and
covers on the book have redroot occurring so they are very messy. Any
help would be appreciated.
Muriel M. Jackson
Archivist/Genealogy Librarian
Middle
(478) 744-0820 Phone
(478) 744-0839 Fax
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