Preserving the Records of the Bank of North America

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Preserving the Records of the Bank of North America

During the next three years, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania will conserve, organize, and catalog the records of the Bank of North America, our nation’s first central bank. This institution was proposed by Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton and chartered by the Second Continental Congress in 1781.

The records in HSP's archive date from the bank’s founding until its merger with the Commercial Trust Company in 1923 and include more than 650 volumes as well as photographs, correspondence, minute books, and financial records. HSP’s conservation team is working to re-bind books, mend tears, remove mold, clean documents, and re-house the collection in acid-free folders and boxes. The repairs will ensure that generations of researchers and scholars will have access to the records for years to come.


Learn more:

Project archivists and conservators regularly post about their work preserving the records of the Bank of North America on the Fondly, Pennsylvania blog. For posts specific to the BNA project, explore the sidebar located to the right (under “Related”). To view the many other projects HSP archivists and conservators are working on, please visit the blog.

View photographs of the conservation process on HSP's Flickr stream.

Read the latest press release.


The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is grateful to Wells Fargo for its ongoing dedication to historical preservation and education. Wells Fargo traces its lineage back to the Bank of North America. Learn more about the history of Wells Fargo at www.wellsfargohistory.com.