Primary Sources - U.S. Government Documents - ECON 3013: Economic History of the United States

St. Louis Fed Resources

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (St. Louis Fed) research division offers a wealth of historical economic data and information for economic researchers. See Primary Sources - Historical Quantitative Data for more sources from St. Louis Fed. Here are some potentially helpful documents on the site:

Annual Report of the Comptroller of the Currency
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury. Annually since the late 1860s, the OCC has reported to Congress and the public the status of the national banks chartered, regulated, and supervised.
Compilation of Basic Banking Laws, Revised through December 31, 2000
This compilation was created for the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services to bring together in one publication the major statues affecting insured depository institutions and their customers.
Federal Banking Laws and Reports
This is a compilation of major Federal banking documents from the period 1780 to 1912. It includes founding documents for the Bank of North America (1781), ordinances for the First and Second Bank of the United States (1791, 1816) as well as reports and proceedings. It was published for the 50th anniversary of the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency in 1963.
History of the Legal Tender Paper Money Issued During the Great Rebellion, Being a Loan Without Interest and a National Currency:
E. G. Spaulding, Chairman of the Subcommittee of the Ways and Means at the time of the 1862 Legal Tender Act, compiled this history of paper legal tender. At the time of the Act, the United States had no national currency and no means to support the Union effort in the Civil War. The Act was passed to authorize the creation of paper money not backed by gold or silver, legal tender for "payment of all taxes, internal duties, excises, debts, and demands of every kind due to the United States." The Act laid the foundation for the creation of a permanent currency in the decades after the Civil War.
Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market
This work, originally published in 1873,was one of the first to practically address the management of financial crises and the role of an expanded "central bank" in England. The author, Walter Bagehot, worked in the shipping and banking industries, co-founded the National Review, and became editor-in-chief of The Economist.
Rand McNally Bankers Directory
Bankers' Directories contain banking information on banks in the towns and counties of the United States at the turn of the 21st century. The names of bank directors, officers, and their capital and deposits are included, as well as lists of lawyers and current banking laws. They include colored maps of the states and some major cities.

ECON 3013: Economic History of the United States

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