New York Clearing House Association records, 1853-2006
New York Clearing House Association records, 1853-2006
Summary Information
Abstract
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#1464
- Bib ID:
- 7094252 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- New York Clearing House Association
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 154 linear feet (85 record cartons, 47 document boxes, 6 flat boxes, 3 card files, 84 ledgers in custom boxes, 9 scrapbooks in custom boxes)
- Language(s):
- English .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
-
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Mold remediation was performed on the clilppings scrapbooks in Boxes 228-234, during 2022-2023. Although all materials can be used in the reading room, patrons that are sensitive to mold may still experience a reaction to materials that have been cleaned.
Description
Summary
New York Clearing House Association (now The Clearing House Association) was founded in 1853 as the first banking clearing house in the United States. The records include amicus briefs, constitutions and amendments, letter books, meeting minutes, financial ledgers and statements, photographs, publications, and reports.
The collection includes documentation of the organization's governance, decision and policy making, membership, and advocacy work on banking and financial issues. These records include meeting minutes and files from the Clearing House Association, Clearing House Committee, Steering Committee, and other committees, such as the Bank Officers, Committee on Admissions and Loan Committees, as well as documentation of who served on these committees. In addition, the records include amicus briefs, annual reports, constitutions and amendments, exchange agreements, letter books, and publications.
The records also document the organization's daily work as a banking clearing house. For decades, daily exchanges were documented in the settlement statements in the collection's proof ledgers. The records include documentation of daily transactions for most of 1868-1972, as well as annual figures for 1853-1883. The records also include information on the health of both member and non-member banks, documented in the weekly and quarterly statements of member banks, state banks, national banks, commercial banks, and trust companies in the metropolitan area of New York City.
Lastly, the records include articles, photographs, publications, and general historical records that speak to the history of the organization, and document persons, buildings, and events associated with that history.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in nine series and several subseries.
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Mold remediation was performed on the clilppings scrapbooks in Boxes 228-234, during 2022-2023. Although all materials can be used in the reading room, patrons that are sensitive to mold may still experience a reaction to materials that have been cleaned.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Name of Collection; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Accrual
No additions are expected
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Three gifts were received from Clearing House Payments Company in 2008 and 2015.
Gift of Clearing House Payments Company, 2008, 2015.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Records processed (Boxes 1-42, primarily proof ledgers) in March 2009 by Justin Jackson, GSAS 2012. Additional records processed by Catherine C. Ricciardi, 2016-2018.
Finding aid, including the historical note, was written in March 2009 by Justin Jackson, GSAS 2012. Additions were made by Catherine C. Ricciardi, 2016-2018.
Separated Materials
A copy of Sections 2, 3, and 4 of Financial New York : a history of the banking and financial institutions of the metropolis by William Ten Eyck Hardenbrook was separately cataloged.
Revision Description
2009-05-02 File created.
2009-06-02 xml document instance created by Lea Osborne.
2016-10-25 xml document instance updated by Catherine C. Ricciardi.
2018-09-20 xml document instance updated by Catherine C. Ricciardi.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
2024-03-12 xml document instance updated by Catherine C. Ricciardi. Container information for Boxes 226-234 was added.
Historical Note
The New York Clearing House Association was the first and largest bank clearing house in the United States. Established before the Civil War, this entity was intended by its founders to systematize and rationalize previously disorganized exchanges and settlements between New York City's banks. These institutions which established the Clearing House became the very heart of American finance in the late nineteenth century as the nation developed a financial system increasingly autonomous from the English and European banks on which Americans had previously depended for credit and capital investment. During the American Civil War, the federal government intervened in a growing financial sector and developed fiscal and monetary policies adequate to the Union's military and industrial needs. In the war's aftermath, New York's banks, and the credit the banks made available, financed a rapid expansion of American industry and transportation infrastructure which made the United States a global economic power and conquered the American West by the end of the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, some of the New York Clearing House's member banks, symbolized in American society, politics, and culture by "Wall Street," came to represent both the awesome power of a robust American financial sector and the greed and irresponsibility which many believed precipitated the disastrous stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The California Gold Rush and an explosion in railroad construction marked the four years before 1853, when the Clearing House was founded. In this same period the number of New York City's banks more than doubled, from 24 to 57. Before the Clearing House, banks had settled their accounts in a laborious manner, employing porters to travel from bank to bank to exchange checks for gold specie. This process became a daily event as the number of banks multiplied. However, the actual reckoning of accounts between banks typically occurred on Fridays in front of a Wall Street bank, in what came to be called the "Porter's Exchange." This practice necessarily led to errors in records and abuse. Several bankers looked to London's Clearing House system as a model for resolving the cumbersome weekly settlement process as others expressed frustration with the current system. In 1831, Albert Gallatin, previously the Secretary of the Treasury for the United States and President of the National Bank of New York, wrote that the lack of a daily exchange of drafts among banks "produces relaxations, favors improper expansions and is attended with serious inconveniences."
In 1851, George D. Lyman, a New York bank's bookkeeper, suggested in an anonymous article that banks should consider sending and receiving checks through a central office. On August 18, 1853, he repeated his proposal in another article to which he affixed his name, and asked interested cashiers to contact him if they endorsed his plan. The city's banks responded enthusiastically. On October 4, 1853, the New York Clearing House was officially established by a group of cashiers led by Francis E. Edmonds of the Mechanics Bank. On October 11, in the basement of 14 Wall Street, 52 banks participated in the first transaction, exchanging checks worth $22.6 million. Two decades later, the average daily clearing approached $100 million. At the new Clearing House, specie certificates replaced gold as the means of settling balances. Porters exchanging certificates for gold deposited at the Clearing House's member banks now no longer exchanged specie, thus experiencing fewer errors and risks. The use of specie certificates also relieved the strain of the banks' cash flows and reduced the potential for runs on deposits. Requirements for all member banks, such as weekly audits, minimum reserve levels, and a daily settlement of all balances, ensured increasingly efficient and regularized exchanges.
Lyman retired from his position as manager of the Clearing House in 1864, and was succeeded by William A. Camp. Camp had previously been appointed in 1855 as a discount clerk in the Importers and Traders' Bank of New York. Appointed first teller of the Artisans' Bank the next year, Camp in 1857 was hired as the assistant manager at the Clearing House. He was manager for the Clearing House for the years in which the first volumes of these records began to be kept. "To executive ability of a high order," Albert S. Bolles wrote of Camp and his Clearing House in Practical Banking (1884), Camp "unites unusual accuracy and promptness in the dispatch[sic] of business, as well as a wide acquaintance, both theoretical and practical, with financial subjects...":
"It speaks volumes for the care and scrupulous accuracy with which the business has been conducted, that in the entire history of the Clearing-house, extending over nearly thirty-one years, its transactions have always balanced to a cent. The only instance on record of an error in any statement emanating from it occurred a few years ago in the weekly bank statement, and this was due to an error of one of the clerks in transcribing the figures. In making the entries, the officials at the Clearing-house and their subordinates use ink only. The clerks sent by the banks may at their option make their entries in pencil."
The New York Clearing House naturally became an instrument of financial self-regulation in the numerous economic downturns and financial panics that occurred on average every five-and-a-half years between 1853 and 1913, in a rapidly expanding American economy. Leading Clearing House member banks first attempted to stabilize a tottering financial system in the 1857 panic. When specie payments were suspended, Clearing House banks, in an effort to shorten the panic's duration and increase public confidence, started to issue "Clearing House Loan Certificates." Effectively a kind of currency, these certificates were backed not by gold but by discounted county and state bank notes held by member banks. Printed with the words "Payable Through the Clearing House," these loan certificates were the joint liability of all Clearing House member banks, making them a far more secure form of payment. They were issued in smaller denominations in the 1873 panic, and were maintained by member banks as a substitute currency in later financial crises, including the depression which began in 1893-1894. Though it has been argued that these certificates violated federal laws against privately-issued currencies, a contemporary once wrote that the Clearing House's loan certificates "performed so valuable a service...in moving the crops and keeping business machinery in motion, that the government...wisely forbore to prosecute."
Because of their stability during financial panics, the Clearing House Loan Certificate's value became a reliable measure of the financial health of the American economy as a whole. Bolstered by discounted collateral, each Loan Certificate was worth more than its dollar equivalent. The currency premium, or exchange rate, between Clearing House money and greenbacks (or gold specie) thus operated as an indicator of the gradual restoration in bank money. When the premium dropped to zero, a one-to-one relationship obtained between certificates and currency, making substitution unnecessary. In 1913, the passage of the Federal Reserve Act by the U.S. Congress established a clearing house system at the federal government level, modeled after the private New York Clearing House and other similar financial exchange institutions across the nation. The Federal Reserve system subsequently and effectively assumed the role which private clearing houses had played in stabilizing and regularizing exchanges and mitigating financial panics.
Since the creation of the Federal Reserve System, the New York Clearing House Association has concentrated on facilitating the completion of financial transactions by clearing the payments involved in these transactions. The Clearing House also continues to function as a banking association, and promotes the interest of its members, while also serving as a proactive resource to promote common interests and help shape the United States banking industry.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Series I: Associations and Committees, 1853-2004
This series contains minute books for the Clearing House Association, Clearing House Committee, and other committees, including the Bank Officers, Committee on Admissions, Loan Committees, Nomination Committee, and Tax Committee. There is some additional material on committees in Series IX: General Historical Records.
The series also includes 20th century meeting files for the Clearing House Association, Clearing House Committee, and the Steering Committee.
There are two volumes, New York Clearing House Association Officers and Members of Committees Since Organization, in Series IX: General Historical Records. One volume (Box 123) is arranged by name (1853-2000) and the second volume (Box 150) is arranged chronologically (1854-1970). These volumes document the membership of organization's committees in two comprehensive volumes.
There are also two volumes of duplicate minutes (1853-1875) in Boxes 172 and 173, which include the minutes of the New York Clearing House Association, Bank Officers, and various other committees in chronological order.
This subseries contains the Clearing House Association's minutes and minute books (1862-1958) and meeting files (1922-1995). Early records (1892-1915) include proceedings from annual meetings.
Minute books in multi-volume sets include the volume number in the container list.
Box 118 Folder 5
Box 118 Folder 6
Box 119 Folder 1-2
Box 119 Folder 3-9
Box 120 Folder 1-9
Box 133
The volume is not indexed, but does include a list of meeting dates and topics at the front of the volume.
Box 133
The volume is not indexed, but does include a list of meeting dates and topics at the front of the volume.
Box 157
No index.
Box 158
No index.
Box 159
No index.
Box 130 Folder 1-3
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book. Includes index.
Box 130 Folder 4-6
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book. Includes index.
Box 130 Folder 7-9
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book. Includes index.
Box 43
Box 44
This subseries contains the Clearing House Committees minute books (1854-1979) and meeting files (1905-2000). There are also two volumes with typed copies of the Committee's minutes for 1854-1911 (Box 134); these may contain minutes that are missing from the original volumes.
Minute books in multi-volume sets include the volume number in the container list.
This subseries also includes files on the Ad Hoc Committee-Deposit Insurance (1988-1990) and the Subcommittee of Associate Bank Officers (1907-1908). Some of the committees in Subseries I.4 Other Committees were possibly also subcommittees of the Clearing House Committee.
Box 134
Typed copies may contain content missing from the original volumes.
Box 134
Typed copies may contain content missing from the original volumes.
Box 160
Box 161
Box 167
See: Loan Committee and Special Committees 1878-1885.
Box 168
Box 169
Box 170
Box 130 Folder 10-12
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book. Includes index.
Box 131 Folder 1-3
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book. Includes index.
Box 131 Folder 4-6
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book. Includes index.
Box 131 Folder 7-9
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book. Includes index.
Box 131 Folder 10-12
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book. Includes index.
Box 132 Folder 1-3
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book. Includes index.
Box 132 Folder 4-6
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book. Includes index.
Box 132 Folder 7-9
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book. Includes index.
Box 45
Box 46
Box 47
Box 48
Box 49
Box 50
Box 51
Box 52
Box 53
Box 54
Box 55
Includes regular and special meeting files.
Box 56
Box 57
Box 58
Box 59
Box 60
Box 61
Box 62
Box 76
Box 63
Box 64
Box 65
Box 66
Box 67
Box 68
Box 69
Box 70
Box 71
Box 72
Box 73
Box 74
Box 75
Box 65
Box 66
Box 132 Folder 10
Originally housed in a binder as a minute book.
This subseries contains the meeting files of the Steering Committee.
Box 77
Box 78
Box 79
Box 80
Box 81
Box 82
Box 83
Box 84
Box 85
Box 86
Box 87
Box 88
Box 89
Box 90
Includes Federal Reserve Bank of New York Luncheons, 1982-1994 (2 folders)
Box 91
Box 92
Box 93
Box 94
Box 95
Box 96
Box 97
Box 98
Box 99
Box 100
Box 101
Box 102
Box 103
Box 76
This subseries contains records from committees and groups not represented in Subseries I.1-I.3. These include the Bank Officers, Committee on Admissions, Loan Committees, Nomination Committee, and Tax Committee.
The records in this subseries consist primarily of minute books. Individual volumes can contain the minutes of several committees but often include a table of contents for the volume, and also note where a preceding or continuing volume of the minutes for a particular committee can be found: where this information is available and differs from the volume's title, it is noted in the container list.
The records for the Committee on Admissions include minutes and files on individual banks applying for admission to the New York Clearing House Association. There are also bank histories and membership applications in Series IX: General Historical records.
Box 121 Folder 1
Box 121 Folder 2
Box 121 Folder 3
Box 121 Folder 4
Box 121 Folder 5
Box 121 Folder 6
Box 121 Folder 7
Box 121 Folder 8
Box 121 Folder 9
Box 121 Folder 9
Box 121 Folder 9
Box 121 Folder 9
Box 121 Folder 10
Box 121 Folder 11
#89 is crossed out, replaced by #95.
Box 122 Folder 1
Box 122 Folder 2
Box 122 Folder 3-4
File box indicated the two files were #90 and 91, but did not indicate which bank was #90 and which was #91.
Box 122 Folder 5
File box indicated the two files were #90 and 91, but did not indicate which bank was #90 and which was #91.
Box 123 Folder 1-3
Box 123 Folder 4
Box 122 Folder 6
Box 123 Folder 5
Box 123 Folder 5
Box 124 Folder 1
Box 124 Folder 2
Box 123 Folder 6
Box 123 Folder 7
List of reports and banks for #101-117
Box 174
Box 135 Folder 1
Originally housed in one binder as a minute book. No index.
Box 135 Folder 3-5
See Nominating Committee and Other Commitees.
Box 141 Folder 1
Box 117 Folder 3-5
Box 118 Folder 1-4
Box 162
Box 137
Includes minutes for the Tax Committee and the Counsel of the Banks of the City of New York.
Box 137
Bound with Tax Committee 1880 minutes. See Table of Contents in that volume.
Box 135 Folder 2
Minutes of the meetings of the Certificates Committee, as constituted under the "plan for the issuance and use of Clearing House Association certificates, dated March 4, 1933."
Box 135 Folder 3-5
See Nominating Committee and Other Commitees.
Box 137
Bound with the Bank Officers Minutes for 1864-1878. See Table of Contents in that volume.
Box 135 Folder 3-5
See Nominating Committee and Other Commitees.
Box 165
Box 163
This volume is a duplicate of Loan Committee November 22, 1860-April 28, 1862. Minutes continued in Loan Committee, December 2 1861-January 8, 1874.
Box 164
For minutes of Loan Committee of 1863 see Loan Committee, December 2, 1861-January 8, 1874.
Box 148
Minutes for Loan Committee [of 1860] 1861-1862, Loan Committee of 1863, and Loan Committee of 1873. Some parts of this volume are a duplication of the volume marked Loan Committee 1860 November 22-1962 April 28.
Box 167
Includes Clearing House Committee 1878-1885, Conference Committee 1884, Special Committee 1884, Special Committee of Five 1884, Loan Committee of 1884, Loan Committee of 1890, Bank Officers 1884-1885, and Committee on Amendments 1884-1885. Minutes of Loan Committee of 1890 are continued in Loan Committee of 1890, etc. and Special Committees (Box 166). Minutes of Clearing House Committee (June 23, 1885) are in Clearing House Committee Minutes #4 (Box 168).
Box 166
Includes minutes for Loan Committees of 1890, 1893, 1895, and 1907. Includes minutes for the Nominating Committee (1892-1912), Hallock Committee, Committee on Endorsements, Committee on Amendment to the Constitution, Committee on Clearing House Examination, and minutes for Special Meeting in re: collection charges (1899). Minutes are continued in Nominating and Other Committees (October 1912) in Box 135.
Box 135 Folder 3-5
See: Nominating Committee and Other Commitees.
Box 149
Includes meeting notices, clippings, and other records.
Box 132 Folder 11
Includes minutes for meetings of the National Credit Association, various committees, 1931 October 9-29 (pp. 1-21); minutes and related materials on the subject of the Bank of the United States, 1930 December 11-1933 March 21 (pp. 22-53); and minutes for meetings of the Commodities Finance Corporation, 1932 August 23-September 1 (pp. 55-60). Originally housed in one binder as a minute book.
Box 166
See: Loan Committee of 1890, 1893, 1895, 1907, and Special Committees.
Box 135 Folder 3-5
Originally housed in one binder as a minute book. Includes Table of Contents: this is accurate except that additional Nominating Committee pages were added later. Includes minutes and reports related to the Nominating Committee (1912-1998); Committee on Inland Exchange (1912-1915); Committee to Analyze the Banking and Currency Bill (1914); Committee on Cotton Exchange Transactions (1914); Federal Reserve Bank - Inauguration (1914); Loan Committee (1914); Apportionment of Clearing House Expenses (1915-1916); City Collection Department - Committee on Emergency Credit (1930) and Finances of the City of New York (1933-1934).
Box 137
Appointed October 28, 1875. Bound with the Bank Officers Minutes for 1864-1878. See Table of Contents in that volume.
Box 137
Contains Tax Committee 1880 Meeting Minutes. Includes Bank Officers Meeting Minutes.
Box 172
Minutes of the New York Clearing House Association, Bank Officers, and various committees in chronological order.
Box 173
Minutes of the New York Clearing House Association, Bank Officers, and various committees in chronological order.
Series II: Correspondence, 1892-1993
This series contains letter books and circular letters. There are no correspondence files, as such, prior to 1892.
These volumes consist of incoming and outgoing letters, and contain both Clearing House correspondence and comments to regulators. Early volumes have indexes, while later volumes are usually divided by tabs by names and subjects within the individual volumes.
Box 176
Box 177
Box 178
Box 179
Box 178
Box 179
Box 179
Box 180
Box 181
Box 182
Box 183
Box 184
Box 185
Box 186
Box 187
Box 189
These volumes consist of incoming and outgoing letters, and contain both Clearing House correspondence and comments to regulators. Early volumes have indexes, while later volumes are usually divided by tabs by names and subjects within the individual volumes.
The first set, Circular Letters, consists of twelve volumes covering the years 1892-1948. These volumes are photocopies, and each volume includes copies of the original letters and accompanying materials, as well as an index.
The second set, City Collection Circulars, were originally filed as a set in a large binder. These files contain printed copies of the original letters and the accompanying materials. The City Collection Circulars cover the years 1984-1993.
Box 189
Box 190
Box 190
Box 191
Box 142
Box 191
Box 192
Box 192
Box 193
Box 194
Box 193
Box 194
Box 188 Folder 1-7
These were originally filed together as a set in a binder.
Series III: Financial Ledgers and Statements, 1853-1995
This series contains financial ledgers with daily settlement statements, as well as weekly financial statements for both member and non-member banks. In addition, there are statements detailing the condition of state, national, and commercial banks, as well as trust companies.
This subseries contains the daily proof ledgers (settlement statements) for the member banks of the New York Clearing House for 1868-1986, with some gaps. Volumes for 1885 and later are titled "Records" with volume numbers, which are noted in the container list.
There are no daily records prior to 1868. For the years 1868-1972, Volumes 34-38, 53, 56, and 62-63 are missing and there are no daily records for 1871-1872, 1875-1877, 1918-1922, 1940, 1946-1948, and 1951-1954. There are yearly transaction statements (total figures for the year) in the Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly Ledger for 1853-1883 in Subseries III.5 (Box 3). After 1972, there are proof ledgers available for 1983-1986, only.
Box 1
Box 2
Box 4
Box 5
Box 6
Box 7
Box 8
Box 9
Box 10
Box 11
Box 12
Box 13
Box 14
Box 15
Box 16
Box 17
Box 18
Box 19
Box 20
Box 21
Box 22
Box 23
Box 24
Box 25
Box 26
Box 27
Box 28
Box 29
Box 30
Box 31
Box 32
Box 33
Box 34
Box 35
Box 36
Box 37
Box 38
Box 39
Box 40
Box 41
Box 42
Box 219
Box 208
Box 209
Box 210
Box 211
Box 212
Box 213
Box 214
Box 220
Box 205 Folder 1
Ledger for individual banks and daily totals covers 1982 March-1983 March. See Box 199 Folder 10 for Daily Totals for 1983 April-1986. There are sheets noting totals for various exchanges for 1978 November-1982 March but no ledgers for these dates in this volume.
Box 199 Folder 10
These volumes contain weekly financial statements for all member banks of the New York Clearing House Association.
Box 216
Box 217
Includes statements on the capital of member banks for 1876 October 2-1882 October 3 in the back of the volume.
Box 218
Box 142 Folder 1
Box 142 Folder 2
Box 142 Folder 3
Box 142 Folder 4
Box 143 Folder 1
Box 143 Folder 2
Box 199 Folder 11
Volume #7 had mold damage and was removed from the collection; these statements are original copies, but not bound.
Box 151
Box 152
Box 153
Box 154
Box 155
Box 156
Box 143 Folder 3
Box 144 Folder 1
Box 144 Folder 2
Box 144 Folder 3
Box 145 Folder 1
Box 145 Folder 2
Box 145 Folder 3
Box 146 Folder 1
Box 146 Folder 2
Box 146 Folder 3
Box 147
Box 147
Box 147
Box 147
Box 148
Box 148
These are weekly financial statements for non-member banks in New York City, as well as a few from the larger metropolitan area in New Jersey.
Box 139 Folder 1
Box 139 Folder 2
Box 139 Folder 3
Box 139 Folder 4
Box 134
Box 143 Folder 4
Box 206
Box 137
These volumes contain weekly figures for state banks that were members of the New York Clearing House.
Box 140 Folder 1
Box 140 Folder 2
Box 140 Folder 3
Box 140 Folder 4
Box 140 Folder 5
Box 140 Folder 6
Box 141 Folder 3
Box 141 Folder 4
These records consist of quarterly statements on the condition of state banks, national banks, and trust companies, as shown by their official statements. These were compiled for the New York Clearing House Association for the use of its members. After 1972, the statements are for commercial banks.
Box 205 Folder 3-5
Box 204 Folder 2-5
Box 203 Folder 1-4
Box 202 Folder 2-5
Box 202 Folder 1
This subseries contains a few unique ledgers and statements that do not form part of a larger set of financial records as is the case with the other financial ledgers and statements in this series.
An important record is the Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly Ledger (Box 3). While this ledger primarily has weekly and monthly figures for transactions for 1878-1883, it also contains yearly transaction figures for 1853-1883, which do not appear to exist elsewhere in the financial ledgers and statements. These yearly figures are also the only extent transaction figures for 1853-1867 within the financial ledgers and statements.
This subseries also contains a note depository record, a general statement book, and reports from the return entry processing system.
Box 3
This volume contains several sets of transaction ledgers and statements. The front of the volume contains monthly transaction ledgers for 1878 October-1883 December. The back of the volume (pp. 274-297) contains weekly transaction summaries (with an average per day) for the year ending 1879 October-1883. Each year of weekly transaction summaries is followed by yearly transaction summaries, 1854-present year. There is also a yearly summary for 1853-1883 (p. 330-331). There are also pages documenting monthly corrections by settlement clerks (pp. 332-334) and statements of fines (pp. 338-341) for 1878-1883. There is also a Table of Loans, Liabilities, and Reserves for 1875 (pp. 353-361). Lastly, there are calculations for the Basis for the Assessment of Expenses under Amendment to Section 23 passed October 29, 1875 (Calculations exist for 1878 October-1883 September).
Box 139 Folder 5
Appears to be a record of note deposits for member banks (the spine, which usually has additional title information is missing). There is a list of member banks #1-120 in the front of the volume.
Box 205 Folder 2
Annual information on exchanges and balances, apportionment of expenses, amount brought in by each institution, etc.
Box 199 Folder 9
Series IV: Reports Studies and Publications, 1885-2006 [Bulk Dates: 1892-1985]
This series contains annual reports, memoranda, newsletters, pamphlets, press releases, reports, statements, and studies issued by the New York Clearing House Association, as well as a file on the history of the organization.
This subseries contains a set of annual reports (1892-1962) bound into seven volumes, and a set of extracts from these reports (1893-1985) in five volumes.
Box 113
Box 114
Box 114
This subseries was grouped together as "Studies and Reports" by Clearing House. The records include memoranda, pamphlets, reports, statements, and studies on various issues created by the New York Clearing House Association. In addition, the records include descriptions of training programs, newsletters, press releases, and a file containing publications and articles related to the history of the New York Clearing House Association.
There is additional information on the history of the New York Clearing House Association in Series IX: General Historical Records.
Box 111
Box 111
Box 111
Box 111
Box 111
Box 112
Box 112
Box 112
Box 112
Box 112
Box 112
Box 112
Series V: Constitutions, Rules, and Regulations, 1884-1982
This series contains files documenting revisions to the Constitution of the New York Clearing House Association, and its Rules and Regulations. Folders are filed by date of the revision and include the Constitution and/or Rules and Regulations, with the new amendments. Most documents are originals; a few are photocopies of the originals.
The series also includes two volumes containing the Constitution of the New York Clearing House Association and revisions for 1941-1943.
Box 108
Box 109
Box 199
Revision adopted September 24, 1908. Amended to June 1, 1942. This copy is from 1941, with pasted edits.
Box 199
Revision adopted September 24, 1908. Amended to July 15, 1943. This copy is from 1941, with pasted edits.
Series VI: Return Item Exchange Agreements, 1940-1947, 1956, 1970-1971
This series consists of correspondence and copies of agreements and resolutions from member and sometimes non-member banks pertaining to exchanges and Saturday closings.
Box 138 Folder 3
Box 138 Folder 4
Box 138 Folder 5
Box 138 Folder 6
Box 138 Folder 7
Box 138 Folder 8
Series VII: Photographs and Other Images, 1858-1987, undated
This series includes photographs, as well as other images, such as architectural renderings and drawings from Harper's magazines.
The images include officers and other staff, buildings, events, images used for publications, and photographs taken to document art and portraits owned by the Clearing House.
Box 197 Folder 1
Box 195
Box 197 Folder 2
Box 197 Folder 3
Copy of image with 1961 press release.
Box 198 Folder 7
Board is fragile.
Box 198 Folder 8-9
Boards are fragile.
Box 198 Folder 10-11
Box 199 Folder 5
Box 198 Folder 12
Image is damaged.
Box 199 Folder 1
Box 197 Folder 4-14
These include negatives and photographs. Also included are the text for several 1961 press releases related to the Clearing House's announced move to a new building. The file heading "77 Cedar Street" was a bit general, and files include images of the building, activities in the building, and executives.
Box 198 Folder 13
Oversized photo of executives at 77 Cedar Street. This is similar to smaller photographs in Box 197.
Box 199 Folder 2-3
Box 196
Taken by Henry S. Fullerton, III.
Box 195
Box 200
Image on copper plate on wood block.
Box 197 Folder 15
Box 197 Folder 16
Box 197 Folder 17
Box 195
Building and logo.
Box 197 Folder 18
Box 195
Box 197 Folder 19
Box 197 Folder 20
Box 199 Folder 4
Box 195
Box 196
Box 196
Box 195
Box 195
Box 198 Folder 3
Box 197 Folder 21
Box 197 Folder 22
Box 198 Folder 6
Board is fragile.
Box 197 Folder 23
Box 198 Folder 5
Box 197 Folder 24
Box 195
Box 199 Folder 6
Item is signed by the committee members.
Box 215
Photographs. Merchants National Bank 1881 is printed on the front cover, but there are photographs from several other banks and the New York Clearing House. Each page has a bank name at the top of the page, and the pages contain various individual but unidentified portrait photographs of what are probably bank officers.
Box 199 Folder 7
Box 198 Folder 4
Two photographs, unidentified. One is a large group photographs; the other show an event, with everyone seated at tables.
Box 197 Folder 25-28
Box 195
Individual slides are identified. These document portrait paintings that were hanging, on loan, or in storage.
Box 197 Folder 29
Photographs of portrait paintings.
Box 135 Folder 6-10
Photographs of portrait paintings.
Box 195
Box 135 Folder 11
Box 197 Folder 30-31
Box 135 Folder 12
Box 135 Folder 13
Box 135 Folder 14
Box 135 Folder 15-18
Some items are copies of originals.
Box 196
Box 197 Folder 32
Box 135 Folder 19
Box 195
Box 195
These may be more CHIPS-related slides.
Box 197 Folder 33
These may be more CHIPS-related slides.
Box 199 Folder 8
Taken in the offices of 77 Cedar Street, but person at desk is not identified.
Series VIII: Amicus Briefs, 1963-1988
This series consists of files containing correspondence, legal case materials, and amicus briefs filed by the New York Clearing House Association.
Box 104
Memo, with list of filings for 1978-1985.
Box 104
Box 104
Box 104
Box 105
Box 104
Box 104
Box 104
Box 105
Box 105
Box 105
Box 105
Box 105
Box 104
Box 105
Box 107
Box 107
Box 106
Box 106
Box 106
Box 106
Box 106
Box 106
Box 106
Box 106
Box 106
Box 106
Box 107
Box 107
Box 107
Box 107
Box 107
Folder is empty. Indicates to see FDIC v. Philadelphia Gear Corporation, but that file is not with this set of records.
Box 107
Box 107
Box 107
Box 107
Box 107
Box 107
Box 107
Box 107
Series IX: General Historical Records, 1853-2000
This series consists of four boxes (Boxes 125-129, and a few oversized items) labeled as "Miscellaneous Historical Records" by the New York Clearing House Association, as well as materials from unlabeled boxes. These files include bank histories, volumes with comprehensive lists of officers and members of committees of the New York Clearing House Association (circa 1853-2000), histories, membership applications, sample certificates and forms, and subject files on the City Collection Department, Federal Reserve, National Currency Association, New York Clearing House Building Company, Gold Fund Committee, as well as committees, exchanges, taxes, and other topics.
This series also includes material donated in 2019 after the closing of the "History Booth" at the Annual Conference. This material includes various historical documents such as clippings, certificates, reports, and other items.
There is additional information on the history of the New York Clearing House Association in Subseries IV.2: Other Reports, Studies, and Publications.
This series also contains nine clippings scrapbooks (Boxes 226-234). Two are on individual subjects: Branch Banking and Congressional "Money Trust". The others, which form an incomplete chronological set for 1885-1906, 1922-1925, primarily contain clippings about the acitivites of the member banks, etc.
Box 125 Folder 12-14
Includes minutes of the Steering Committee and the Payments Systems Committee.
Box 129 Folder 1
1 scrapbook
Box 115 Folder 1
Box 115 Folder 2
Box 115 Folder 2
Box 115 Folder 3
Box 115 Folder 4
Box 115 Folder 5
Box 115 Folder 6
Box 115 Folder 7
Box 115 Folder 8
Box 115 Folder 9
Box 115 Folder 10
Box 115 Folder 11
Box 115 Folder 12
Box 115 Folder 13
Box 115 Folder 14
Box 115 Folder 15
Box 200
New York City Banks, copyright 1933 by J. Peterson. This is a record of banks showing amalgamations, mergers, consolidations, purchases, liquidations, and failures. It is in a binder form, meant to be updated, and it contains some updates and annotations from as late as 1999.
Box 125 Folder 20
Box 125 Folder 24
Listed by bank.
Box 198 Folder 0
Box 125 Folder 22
Box 125 Folder 23
Box 125 Folder 25
Box 125 Folder 26
Box 227
Scrapbook. Volume has no title; it appears to consist primarily of clippings related to the argument over branch banking, with some information on guarantee of deposits, circa 1920-early 1930s
Box 116 Folder 5-6
Papers pertaining to the ownership and sale of #14 Pine Street.
Box 117 Folder 1-2
Papers pertaining to the ownership and sale of #14 Pine Street.
Box 201 Folder 6-8
Contains invitation, the copper plate for printing invitations, clippings, programs, and a copy of speech from the laying of the cornerstone for the 77 Cedar Street building. Also included are notes on the 1894 coins that were kept in the cornerstone, although the coins themselves are not in the collection.
Box 138 Folder 1
Box 125 Folder 16-17
Box 198 Folder 1
Box 125 Folder 31
Certificates are copies, not originals.
Box 125 Folder 29
Box 125 Folder 32
Box 125 Folder 38
Box 125 Folder 33
Box 125 Folder 35
Box 125 Folder 34
Box 125 Folder 36
Box 125 Folder 37
Box 125 Folder 15
Box 125 Folder 30
Box 127 Folder 14
Articles on; includes article by James G. Cannon.
Box 125 Folder 19
Taken from J. Auer, Bank Windows.
Box 125 Folder 27
Box 126 Folder 1
Box 126 Folder 2
Box 126 Folder 7
Box 126 Folder 3
Box 125 Folder 21
Box 226
Scrapbook. This is a mix of clippings and other materials, such as memos, etc. from Clearing House.
Box 126 Folder 4
Box 126 Folder 5
Box 126 Folder 6
Box 126 Folder 8
Box 126 Folder 9
Box 126 Folder 10
Box 126 Folder 14
Box 125 Folder 18
Box 125 Folder 2
Box 126 Folder 13
Box 126 Folder 11
Box 125 Folder 3
Box 126 Folder 12
Box 129 Folder 2
1 scrapbook
Box 126 Folder 15
Box 128
2 scrapbooks
Box 125 Folder 1
Box 126 Folder 16
Box 125 Folder 4
Box 125 Folder 5
Bylaws.
Box 129 Folder 3
Minutes of the Gold Fund Committee, and its related Exchange Committee.
Box 125 Folder 6
Box 127 Folder 12
Box 125 Folder 7-10
Box 129 Folder 4
History of the tankard.
Box 127 Folder 13
Box 127 Folder 22
Box 127 Folder 15
Box 204 Folder 1
Box 127 Folder 16
Box 127 Folder 11
Box 127 Folder 10
Box 127 Folder 9
Box 198 Folder 2
Box 127 Folder 23
Box 124 Folder 7
Box 124 Folder 7
Box 124 Folder 3
Box 124 Folder 4
Box 124 Folder 7
Box 124 Folder 5
Box 124 Folder 4
Box 124 Folder 4
Box 124 Folder 8
Box 124 Folder 3
Box 124 Folder 6
Box 124 Folder 6
Box 127 Folder 24
Box 127 Folder 25
Box 127 Folder 26
Box 127 Folder 27
Box 127 Folder 28
Box 127 Folder 29-32
Box 141 Folder 2
Box 207
Box 127 Folder 17
Box 127 Folder 33
Mold remediation was performed on all of the scrapbooks except for #5 during 2022-2023. Although the scrapbooks can be used in the reading room, patrons that are sensitive to mold may still experience a reaction to materials that have been cleaned.
These primarily contain clippings about the acitivites of the member banks, etc. Most have an index in the front of the volume.
Box 228
Box 229
Box 230
Box 231
Box 232
Box 233
Box 234
Box 127 Folder 34
Scrapbook. Includes clippings related to the centennial, new building plans, and the American Bankers Association.
Box 123 Folder 7
Organized alphabetically.
Box 150
Organized chronologically.
Box 201 Folder 9
Box 200
Box 127 Folder 18-19
Box 125 Folder 28
Includes some unused 19th century forms.
Box 127 Folder 20
Box 127 Folder 21
Box 126 Folder 20
Box 136 Folder 1
Includes Certificate of Incorporation.
Box 136 Folder 2
Box 136 Folder 3
Box 136 Folder 4
Box 136 Folder 5
Box 175
Outgoing carbon copies. Index in front of volume.
Box 116 Folder 1-4
Records include reports, statements, copies of reports to the Commissioners of Taxes and Assessments.
Box 138 Folder 2
Includes minutes of the Clearing House Association and the Trustees of the Clearing House Association Building, constitution, deeds, declarations of trust, and minutes of the Officers of Certain Banks.
Box 171
Box 126 Folder 17
On explusion of members.
Box 126 Folder 18
Box 126 Folder 19
Box 126 Folder 21
Box 125 Folder 11
Box 126 Folder 22
Box 126 Folder 23
Box 126 Folder 24
Box 126 Folder 25
Box 126 Folder 26
Box 126 Folder 27
Box 201 Folder 1
Box 201 Folder 2-4
Box 201 Folder 5
Box 126 Folder 28
Box 126 Folder 29-32
Box 127 Folder 7
Box 127 Folder 8
Box 126 Folder 38
Box 127 Folder 3
Box 127 Folder 4
Box 126 Folder 37
Box 127 Folder 1
Box 126 Folder 39
Box 126 Folder 33-36
New York State Supreme Court and United States Supreme Court.
Box 127 Folder 2
Box 127 Folder 5
Box 127 Folder 6
Box 225
Box 221 Folder 1
Box 224
Box 222 Folder 5
Box 222 Folder 7
Box 222 Folder 8
Box 222 Folder 9
Box 222 Folder 10
Box 222 Folder 11
Box 222 Folder 12
Box 222 Folder 13
Box 222 Folder 14
Box 222 Folder 15
Box 224
Box 224
Box 222 Folder 1
Box 222 Folder 1
Box 222 Folder 1
Box 222 Folder 1
Box 222 Folder 2
Box 222 Folder 2
Box 222 Folder 2
Box 222 Folder 3
Box 222 Folder 4
Box 222 Folder 6
Box 222 Folder 16
Box 222 Folder 17
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
(list of banks with balances)
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 223
Box 224
Box 224
Box 224
Box 224
Box 224
Box 224
Box 224