Banks and Bankers Database
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The Banks & Bankers Database is a structured, searchable database with historical data on National Banks & Bankers (1863-1935) and Obsolete Banks & Bankers (1782-1866). A website provides an easy-to-use and powerful search interface into the database.
This database/website is part of the Bank Note History Project sponsored by the Society of Paper Money Collectors as part of its educational mission to promote the study and appreciation of paper money and related financial history.
Database Terminology
It is important to clarify how some common terms are used in the context of the Banks & Bankers Database:
- Bank is the banking institution. Either an Obsolete Bank (1782-1866), National Bank (1863-1935), or a State/Private Bank related to a National Bank or Banker (1863-1935).
- Banker refers to the actual person.
- Bank Officer refers a Banker serving as an Officer in a particular Bank over a period of years. (So a Banker could be a Bank Officer for multiple Banks).
- Officer Detail refers to all of the annual OCC entries as well as Bankers Directory/Magazine entries, BankLetters, etc, that are consolidated to generate the Bank Officer Summary for a bank (ie H. A. Anderson (President 1921-1935; Cashier 1906-1920)).
- The Bank Officer Summary lists the offices held and years served by a Bank Officer for a Bank. A Bank Officer Summary is shown for each Bank Officer listed in the database search results. See Bank Officer Summaries for detailed information on this topic.
Database Content
- Historical data and Bank Officers for All 14,348 National Banks chartered during the National Bank Note Era (1863-1935).
- Historical data and Bank Officers for many Obsolete Banks from the Obsolete Bank Note Era (1782-1866), with more being added over time.
- BBData is Not just a list of OCC Bank Officer entries:
- It also ties together BankOfficer Name abbreviations, spellings, and misspellings.
- It also ties together BankOfficers from different Banks to one Banker.
- In addition to Presidents & Cashiers from the OCC reports, other Banknote signers (ie VPs and Asst Cashiers) can be added, based on Bankers Directories, etc.
- Information for each National and Obsolete Bank including:
- BankName, City, State and County.
- Open/Close Dates and Bank Fate.
- Link to the Bank Note History Wiki Bank History page (if available), or other online sources, for detailed historical info.
- Additional Information for each National Bank including:
- Official Bank Title(s) with Title change dates based on the Huntoon data.
- Bank Officer Pairs showing the Cashier-President pairs with years served.
- This list is helpful for identifying Bankers that have signed a bank note, since this would be the normal pairing of signing officers. It also helps narrow down the year that the note was actually issued by the bank.
- Bank Note Types Issued showing the Van Belkum Issuance Data (Series/Types & Serial#s Issued).
- Bank History Summary based on the VanBelkum/Huntoon data, including any Notations written on the Organization Report or Duplicate Charter in the National Archives.
- Bank Balance Summaries and OCC Bank Balances By Year (TotalResources & Circulation) based on the Pollock data.
- Information for each Banker including:
- Full Name and Birth/Death Dates/Places (if available)
- Link to the Banker's Signature scan (if available)
- Link to the Bank Note History Wiki Banker Bio page (if available), or other online sources, for detailed biographical info.
Banker Signatures
- A signature scan can be uploaded for each Banker, and then a 'signature' link will show in the search results list.
- Signature scans help identify Bankers that have signed a Banknote, especially where the signature is not easily readable.
- Signatures can also help tie together Bank Officers (ie with the same Name/Initials) from different areas of a State, or different States, that are not obviously the same Banker.
- Users can submit signature scans for prompt import into the database.
Banks & Bankers Database User Guide
After logging into the Database from either the Bank Note History Project Home page (or directly at bbdata.banknotehistory.com if you have an Administrator Login), you will be at the Database Search Home page, which offers you three search methods:
- National Bank Search by Charter Number
- National Bank Search by Town or County
- Bank Officer Search (for National and Obsolete Banks & Bankers)
Note: The Bank Search and Bank Information pages were designed so they should work well on most smart phones, however the Bank Officer Search page is not 'phone-friendly', since it displays so much information. So you're better of using the Bank Officer Search on a device with a larger screen, such as an iPad or laptop computer.
How to use Bank Search
The following link shows you how to use the two National Bank Search methods on the Database home page.
How to use Bank Officer Search
Click on the 'Bank Officer Search' link on the Home page to go to the Bank Officer Search page.
- On this page you can change any of the search values on the top as desired and then click/tap on search to begin a search. If you want to search multiple charter#s, states, cities or counties, just separate them with a comma.
- Note that ALL search criteria fields (that are not blank) will be used in the search, so for instance if you want to query the bank officers for Charter 1 (FNB Philadelphia, PA), enter 1 in the NB Charter(s) box, AND also be sure to clear out the state(s) box, otherwise your search would yield no results, if Charter 1 is not in the state(s) you have listed in the 'State(s)' box.
- The following screen shot shows the search results for Charter 3626. It lists one record for each Bank Officer for this bank. Notice how it shows the (abbreviated) Bank Titles for this multi-title Bank.
- Up to 5 links may show for each record in the search results, depending on what information is available: The Banker Info link, the Signature link, the Bio/Wiki link, the Bank Info link and the Officer Detail link. In the screen shot above, the record for Albert L. Ordean shows all 5 links.
- If you click/tap on a Bank Officer name/link, it will bring up their Banker Info page (if the Banker record has been added to the database). This page shows basic biographical info such as Full Name, Birth/Death Dates, Comments, what Bank(s) they were involved with, and Officer Name Variations (including misspellings) found in the OCC reports & Bankers Directories. If a 'Banker Bio' wiki article (or some other online source) is available for this banker, a 'Bio/wiki' link will show up in the top right corner. If there is a Signature scan available for this Banker, a link for that will show up in the top right corner. To return to the search page, click on the 'search' button in the upper left corner. See the screen shot of the Banker Info page below.
- If you click on the 'Signature' link, it will popup a scan of the signature for that Banker. (This is the same Signature link that shows on the Banker Info page).
- If you click on the 'Bio/Wiki' link it will bring up the 'Banker Bio' information for this Banker. (This is the same Bio/Wiki link that shows on the Banker Info page).
- If you click/tap on a Bank Title(s) name/link, it will bring up the Bank Info page. This page shows historical bank info such as Charter/Open Date, Close Date, Bank Fate, etc. If this is a National Bank, it will also show Bank Title(s), a Bank History Timeline, and Bank Balance Summary information as well as Balances for each year this bank was in business, including Total Resources and NBN Circulation. If a 'Bank History' wiki article (or other online source) is available for this banker, a link will show on this page. To return to the search page, click on the 'search' button in the upper left corner. See the screen shot of the Bank Info page below.
- If you click on the Officer Detail link, it will bring up a complete list of the Bank Officer Detail for all years that Bank was in business, including OCC records, Bankers Directory entries, and any other relevant detail data that has been added to the database. To return to the search page, click on the 'search' button in the upper left corner. (Note: When you first view the Officer Detail, it will default to showing ALL of the detail records for that Bank. If you want to see only the OCC data records (which list the President & Cashier for National Banks), click on 'OCC Only'). See the screen shots of the Officer Detail page below. Two important details on the Officer Detail page are the 'Rev' and 'Vfy' columns. The 'Rev' column indicates whether that Detail entry has been 'Reviewed' (See the Data Review Status page for an explanation of the 'Review' process). The 'Vfy' column indicates whether that Detail entry has been Verified as correct (ie double-checked in the original Data Source).
Data Review Status
- The data in the Banks & Bankers Database has undergone a Review process to enhance the usability of the search data. This Review process has been completed for all 14,348 of the National Banks in the Banks & Bankers Database.
Acknowledgments and Sources
To report errors or problems with either the Banks & Bankers Database or Bank Note History Wiki, please email BankNoteHistory@gmail.com.