Special Collections in the Library of Congress:
Business, Economic, and Labor History

The special collections listed below contain materials of interest to researchers in a variety of disciplines, including U.S. business and labor history. Types of materials within each collection that may be of particular interest to the business/labor history researcher have been noted. Other business and labor related materials may also be located by searching the Prints and Photographs Division online catalog, the American Memory Collections, the Library of Congress finding aids to locate primary source materials and A Guide to the Microform Collections in the Humanities and Social Sciences Division of the Library of Congress.

• Adolph Caspar Miller papers, 1913-1947 Manuscript Division

  Economist, educator, author, and member of the first Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Correspondence, memoranda, minutes, proceedings, writings, reports, speeches, notes, press releases, printed material, memorabilia, and other papers relating chiefly to Miller’s service as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1914-1936.

• Albert Gallatin papers, 1761-1880. [microfilm] Manuscript Division
  Albert Gallatin papers, 1783-1847. Manuscript Division

  Albert Gallatin served as Secretary of the Treasury from May 14, 1801 to February 8, 1814. He founded the University of the City of New York in 1831 which in 1896, this university was renamed New York University Finding aid available in the Library of Congress Manuscript Reading Room.

• Alex. Brown & Sons records, 1796-1908 Manuscript Division
  

  Lettercopy and letterpress books (1802-1880), daybooks (1800-1867), cashbooks (1829-1876), ledgers (1796-1878), and other business records of the firm founded by Alexander Brown in Baltimore, Md., circa 1800 which grew from a mercantile business into an international banking house.

• Alexander Graham Bell Family Collection: Papers and Photographs of the Bell Family Manuscript Division
  

  Includes items relating to Bell's involvement in the first telephone company, patent disputes and early marketing of the telephone. Parts of the collection may be searched online.

• Alexander Hamilton papers, 1708-1903. Manuscript Division

  Delegate from New York to the United States Continental Congress, United States secretary of the treasury, United States army officer, statesman, and lawyer. Correspondence, speeches and writings, legal and financial papers, printed matter, and other papers relating to Hamilton's personal life and public career, especially his service as an aide to George Washington during the Revolutionary War, his participation in the United States Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, his service as United States secretary of the treasury, his New York law practice, and his service as inspector general of the army. Served as the first Secretary of the Treasury from September 11, 1789 until January 31, 1795.

• Andrew Carnegie papers, 1803-1935 Manuscript Division
  

  Industrialist and philanthropist. Correspondence, reports, memoranda, speeches, articles, book files, financial papers, printed materials, and other papers relating to Carnegie's steel manufacturing and other business and philanthropic activities.

• Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America, 1935-1955: Photographs by Samuel Gottscho and William Schleisner. Prints and Photographs Division
  

  Includes images of stores, factories. and offices primarily in the northeastern United States, and images of the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair.

• Around the World in the 1890's: Photographs from the World Transportation Commission, 1894-1896 Prints and Photographs Division
  

  Includes images of various modes of transportation, and city, street and harbor views from North Africa, Asia, Australia, and Oceania.

• Bank of the United States collection, 1774-1865. Manuscript Division

  Correspondence, account books, cancelled checks, promissory notes, receipts, and other papers, relating to the first and second Bank of the United States. Correspondents include John Jacob Astor, Nicholas Biddle, Henry Clay, William H. Crawford, J.J. Crittenden, Albert Gallatin, Richard Henry Lee, Isaac Melcher, James Monroe, Joseph Nourse, Richard Rush, John Sergeant, and Daniel Webster.

• Bank of the United States (Baltimore, Md.) records, 1795-1855 (bulk 1816-1846) Manuscript Division
  

  Records of the Congressionally-chartered commercial bank charged with central bank responsibilities for the United States and of its successor, the Merchants’ Bank of Baltimore. Correspondence and banking and legal records highlighting the business of the bank both as a Congressionally-chartered institution and as a state-chartered bank.

• Charles S. Hamlin papers, 1869-1968 (bulk 1880-1938) Manuscript Division
  

  Charles S. Hamlin was the first Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Correspondence, diaries, speeches, writings, biographical notes, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, printed matter, and other papers relating chiefly to Hamlin's service in the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System; Hamlin's civic affairs; and his family's social life in Washington, D.C. Topics include leaders and policies of the Democratic Party especially during the Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt administrations and Hamlin's law practice in Boston, Mass.

• Civil War and the Confederacy [microform] : the business records of Fraser, Trenholm & Company of Liverpool and Charleston, South Carolina, 1860-1877 : from the Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool. [microfilm] Manuscript Division

  Fraser, Trenholm and Company was a prominent commercial house in Liverpool with close ties to the Confederate States. George A Trenholm, the senior partner of the Charleston office, became Secretary to the Confederate States Treasury in 1864. Contents listing available online.

• Clark M. Clifford papers, 1883-1999 (bulk 1946-1998) Manuscript Division
  

  Government official and lawyer. Correspondence, memoranda, speeches and writings, congressional testimony, printed matter, and other papers relating primarily to Clifford's personal and professional life, including his role as an adviser and counsel to four Democratic presidential administrations, his service as United States secretary of defense, 1968-1969, and his career as a lawyer in Washington, D.C. Chairman of First American Bankshares and whose name is commected to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal.

• Dell Paperback Collection Rare Book and Special Collections Division
  

  A substantially complete set Dell paperbacks, illustrating changes in marketing strategy and pricing over the years.

• Detroit Publishing Company Collection Prints and Photographs Division
  

  Includes photographs of industry, transportation and buildings from the 1880's to the 1920's. Portions of the collection may be searched online

• Ellis & Allan Company records, 1795-1889 Manuscript Division
  

  General merchants and tobacco traders. Business and personal correspondence, journals, ledgers, daybooks, cashbooks, tobacco books, and other mercantile records of the firms of Ellis & Allan, Thomas & Charles Ellis, Ellis & Sons, and Thomas and Charles Ellis & Company of Richmond, Va. Includes records of the counterpart firm in London, Allan & Ellis, as well as those of several subsidiary companies organized in Lynchburg and in Amherst County, Va., to buy and sell tobacco.

• Eli Whitney papers, 1716-1959. [microform] Manuscript Division

  Eli Whitney was an American inventor best known for inventing the cotton gin.

• The Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920 (Selections from the Collections of Duke University)

  This American Memory online collection presents over 9,000 images relating to the early history of advertising in the United States. The materials, drawn from the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University, include cookbooks, photographs of billboards, print advertisements, trade cards, calendars, almanacs, and leaflets for a multitude of products. Together, they illuminate the early evolution of this most ubiquitous feature of modern American business and culture. It should be noted that these primary historical documents reflect the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times. The Library of Congress and Duke University do not endorse the views expressed in these collections.

• The Extel records [microform] : archives of the Exchange Telegraph Co. Ltd., 1872-1966. Microform Reading Room

  Extel (the Exchange Telegraph company) was founded in 1872. Its first job was to lay down the first telegraphic cable on the Atlantic seabed to electronically connect London and New York.

• Farm Security Administration. Office of War Information (OWI) Collection: Photographs of American life taken by FSA photographers, 1935-42. Prints and Photographs Division
  

  Includes photographs relating to various US industries, individual companies, industrial facilities and office buildings, child labor, factory workers, migrant laborers, construction projects, shipbuilding, and railroads. Selected images may be searched and viewed online.

  [Related OWI materials on the spread and classification of rumors, and jokes told by students and other citizens about the war effort are available in the World War II Rumor Project Collection in the American Folklife Center. The Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division holds nearly fifty thousand acetate disc recordings of foreign and domestic radio broadcasts used in support of the war effort which were transferred to the Library of Congress by the OWI in the U. S. Office of War Information (OWI) Collection ]

• George S. Boutwell papers. [microfilm] Manuscript Division

  George Boutwell served as Secrtary of the Treasury from March 12, 1869 to March 16, 1873 and was first Commissioner of Internal Revenue under President Abraham Lincoln. He was also Governor of Massachusetts and also served in the House of Representatives and United States Senate.

• George Korson recordings of Pennsylvania coal miners American Folklife Center
  

  Pennsylvania mining songs forming part of American industrial folklore.

• Henry Morgenthau papers, 1795-1941 Manuscript Division
  

  Businessman and diplomat. Diaries, correspondence, letterbooks, family papers, speeches and writings, subject files, printed matter, memorabilia, and other papers relating chiefly to Morgenthau's service as ambassador to Turkey, other diplomatic efforts, involvement in Democratic Party politics, and as a philanthropist. Morgenthau was Treasury Secretary under President Franklin Roosevelt.

• John Glassford and Company records, 1743-1886 Manuscript Division

  Mercantile firm. Ledgers, journals, daybooks, inventories, cashbooks, and letterbooks of the various mercantile firms in Maryland and Virginia representing or succeeding the Glasgow, Scotland, firm of John Glassford and Company in the Chesapeake tobacco trade.

• Kern County Survey Collection: Photographs of agriculture and industry in Kern County, California, 1880's Prints and Photographs Division

  Includes photographs of ranch buildings, livestock, the processing of fruit and ground crops, methods of irrigation, and antimony mining operations. Captions provide geographical, historical, and commercial information for each scene.

• Maurice F. Neufeld papers, 1919-1990 Manuscript Division
  

  Labor historian, labor arbitrator, and labor relations consultant, and public official of New York. Correspondence, memoranda, diaries, biographical material, orders, reports, clippings, printed matter, and other papers relating chiefly to Neufeld's service in the New York State government; as an executive officer in the Allied Military Government, Italy; as professor at Cornell University's New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Ithaca, New York; and as labor relations consultant for the Xerox Corporation, Stamford, Connecticut.

• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Collection: Noncurrent records and photographs of the NAACP Manuscript Division and Prints and Photographs Division
  

  Includes material relating to the organization's concerns with segregation and discrimination in business and labor disputes.

• National Broadcasting Company history files, 1922-1986 Recorded Sound Reference Center, Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division

  The National Broadcasting Company History files document the activities of the first national broadcasting network in the United States. The collection includes memoranda, correspondence, speeches, reports, policy statements, and pamphlets covering the creation of the network, its growth in the field of radio, and its subsequent expansion into television broadcasting.

• National Child Labor Committee Collection Photographs by Lewis Hine Manuscript Division
  

  Includes official records, correspondence, speeches, reports, press releases, and clippings, accompanying the Lewis Hine Photographs in the Prints and Photographs Division [see below].

• National Child Labor Committee Collection Photographs by Lewis Hine Prints and Photographs Division
  

  Includes approximately 5000 photographic prints and 225 glass negatives. Accompanying records, correspondence, speeches, reports, press releases, and clippings are available through the Manuscript Division [see above].

• National Urban League records, 1900-1988 Manuscript Division
  

  Civil rights organization. Correspondence, minutes of meetings, speeches, reports, surveys, statistical data, financial and legal records, scrapbooks, printed material, and other records relating to the programs and policies of the league and its affiliates.

• New York World-Telegram and Sun Collection: News photographs, 1920-1960's Prints and Photographs Division
  

  Includes photographs relating to New York transportation, labor problems, and housing.

• Nicholas Biddle papers, 1681-1933 (bulk 1775-1846) Manuscript Division
  

  Nicholas Biddle was a financier who served as the president of the Second Bank of the United States. Banker, editor, diplomat, lawyer, and legislator. Correspondence, letterbooks, account books, and writings together with family papers concerning Charles, Clement, Edward, James, Nicholas, Thomas, and William S. Biddle.

• Octave Chanute papers, 1807-1955 Manuscript Division
  

  Civil engineer and aviation pioneer. The bulk of the collection relates to Chanute's experiments with gliders and his scientific and financial support of aeronautical pioneers. Other papers concern his career as a builder of railroads and his service as chief engineer of the Erie Railroad and railroads in Illinois and Kansas.

• Oliver Wolcott papers, 1759-1837. [microfilm] Manuscript Division

  Oliver Wolcott Jr. was appointed Comptroller of the Treasury in 1791 and later served as Secretary of the Treasury from February 3, 1795 to December 31, 1800. Son of son of Oliver Wolcott, Sr. a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.

• Palmer-Loper family papers, 1667-1994 Manuscript Division
  

  Seafaring and merchant families. Correspondence, logbooks and journals, ships' papers, financial and business records, and printed matter documenting the voyages and business activities of Nathaniel Brown Palmer, Alexander Smith Palmer, Richard Fanning Loper, and other members of these maritime families of Stonington, Connecticut.

• Papers of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. [microform] / editor, Glenn Porter. Bethesda, MD : University Publications of America, c1991.
  

  Finding aids to the set are available online.
  Part 1: Business Correspondence [PDF format: 1.77 MB/57 p.]
  Part 2: Business Investements Correspondence [PDF format: 2.12 MB/72 p.]
  Parts 3 and 4: Office Correspondence, Index to letterbox [PDF format: 3.98 MB/134 p.]

• Pinkerton's National Detective Agency records, 1853-1999 Manuscript Division
  

  Private detective agency directed by the Pinkerton family to protect interests of clients in business and industry. The records include business and family correspondence, biographical and genealogical records, administrative records such as procedural guidelines and training manuals, and criminal case files which include correspondence, reports, photographs, legal documents, and printed matter.

• R.C. Leffingwell letterbooks, 1917-1920 Manuscript Division

  United States assistant secretary of the treasury. Letters relating to war debts and loans, post-World War I financing, and bond drives signed by Leffingwell during his term as assistant secretary of the treasury and by other Treasury Department officials.

• Railroad Maps, 1828-1900. Geography and Map Division
  

  Includes progress report surveys for individual lines, official government surveys, promotional maps and route guides by individual firms which help document the development of U.S. industry and agriculture.

• Richard Rush collection. 1795-1876, 1805-1852 Manuscript Division

  Richard Rush served as Secetary of the Treasury from March 7, 1825 to March 5, 1829. He was also Attorney General and Comptroller of the Treasury under James Madison.

• Riggs family papers, 1763-1945 Manuscript Division
  

  Merchant and banking family of New York, New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. Family and business correspondence, diaries, account books, writings, financial records, biographical and genealogical papers, printed materials, and other papers of Riggs family members.

• Russell & Co., Guangzhou, China, records, 1812-1894 Manuscript Division
  

  Trading house founded in 1819 by Samuel Russell in Guangzhou (Canton), China. Correspondence, financial and legal records, and miscellany relating to the company and its founder, Samuel Russell (1789-circa 1862), and members of his family.

• Salmon P. Chase papers, 1755-1898 (bulk 1824-1872). Manuscript Division
  

  Salmon P. Chase was U.S. Senator from Ohio, the 23rd Governor of Ohio, U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln; and sixth Chief Justice of the United States. Abolitionist, lawyer, United States senator, governor of Ohio, United States secretary of the treasury, and chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. Correspondence, memoranda, diaries, speeches, writings, financial and legal papers, biographical material, and other papers pertaining to Chase's career and personal life.

• Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Collections: Insurance maps of U.S. cities, late nineteenth and twentieth centuries Geography and Map Division
  

  Patrons onsite at the Library of Congress may use an online collection of these maps created from ProQuest Information and Learning's microfilm collection of 660,000 Sanborn Maps, which were filmed from the Library of Congress' collection. Includes more than 660,000 large-scale maps of over 12,000 American towns and cities.

• Theodor Horydczak Collection Prints and Photographs Division
  

  Includes images of Washington DC area industries and construction sites.

• Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941 American Folklife Center
  

  A multi-format collection documenting the lives of migrant and displaced agricultural workers living in Farm Security Administration camps in California.

• Whitney & Burnham (New Orleans, La.) records, 1835-1851 Manuscript Division

  Cotton mercantile firm. A diary, correspondence, letterbooks, bills, receipts, invoices, notebooks, purchase orders, and rent statements relating primarily to the cotton trade in Louisiana and Alabama.

• William Gibbs McAdoo papers. Manuscript Division

  William McAdoo was a U.S. Senator, United States Secretary of the Treasury (1913 to 1918) and director of the United States Railroad Administration (USRA).

• Working in Paterson Project collection, 1993-2002 American Folklife Center
  

  The collection consists of manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, artifacts, publications, and ephemera from an ethnographic field project conducted by the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, which documented occupational culture in Paterson, New Jersey in 1994. Subjects include the textile industry, industrial architecture, machine shops, labor unions, family owned businesses, dressmaking, and ethnic restaurants. A single manufacturing firm, Watson Machine International, was the focus of an in-depth study. The project focused on the ways in which community life and values are shaped by work and how the theme of work intersects with other themes, namely family, ethnicity, gender, neighborhood, religion, and change over time.