R. W. Lovett and E. C. Bishop, compilers, A Guide to Sources for Business, Economic and Social History (1978).
Notes
Note: There is good reason to believe that many other collections may hold varying amounts of Russian-related material.
Resources (13)
Elias Smith (fl. ca. 1800)
Montreal merchant. Letterbook from 1799–1800. He did business with Russians.
Israel Thorndike (1755-1832)
Business records, 1778–1899, 5 ft. Shipping merchant in Beverly and Boston. Includes several documents on trade with St. Petersburg ca. 1800 and lists of prices current in St. Petersburg, 1800–35. (NUCMC 60–1739)
Jeffrey Richardson (b. 1789)
Papers, 1812–32, 2 ft. Includes his correspondence and bills concerning, inter alia, the purchase of sail cloth in St. Petersburg. (NUCMC 60–1573)
John Jacob Astor (1763-1848)
Business records, 1784–1892, 7 ft. Fur trader and capitalist. Includes material pertaining to fur trade with the Russian-American Company, Pacific Fur Company, and American Fur Company. (NUCMC 60–1738)
John Walsh, Jr. (fl. 1780s)
Boston merchant. Engaged in commerce with Russia. Letterbook, 1781–86.
Nathan Trotter and Co. Records, 1798-1929
205 ft., 140 boxes, 1,348 vols., and 19 cases. Marketing firm that bought and sold at wholesale. From ca. 1830 they began to specialize in metals (chiefly iron, steel, copper, brass, and tin). They imported from England and Wales, later the Malacca Straits, Rotterdam, and Russia. (NUCMC 60–164)
Ocean Shipping. Log Books.
Listed under this heading in the card catalog: (1) 1793. Apollo, brig. Albert Smith. On this voyage from Boston to England and Russia, the Apollo received warning of the outbreak of war and the threat of French privateers; and (2) 1839, 2 vols., No. 2: 1839. Argo, ship. Joseph K. Farley. Trip from Boston to Russia and return.
Prices, Baltic region, 1708-88
6 vols, in 1 box. Continuous record of prices kept for the use of a Dutch firm.
Ropes Family
Papers, 1789–1875, 2 ft. William Ropes moved to St. Petersburg in 1832, establishing his own firm there to engage in commerce with the Russians. Includes correspondence from ca. 1810–41. Unpublished inventory (NUCMC 76–2048).
Samuel Sanford (fl. 1820s)
Merchant. Sanford dealt in Russian goods (e.g., cloth). Letterbook for 1818–25 shows correspondents in St. Petersburg.
Thomas William Lamont (1870-1948)
Papers, 1894–1948, 144 ft. Investment banker and chairman of J. P. Morgan and Company. He took part in the Versailles Peace Conference ending World War I and served on later monetary and reparations commissions. One of his interests was the Committee for Protection of Holders of Imperial Russian Government 6.5% Credit Notes; another was the question of U.S. recognition of the USSR. He studied Russian war relief in World War II. Among his correspondents were Woodrow Wilson, Edward M. House, and, during World War II, the Russian ambassador and consul general in the U.S. Guide to the Papers of Thomas William Lamont (1966), compiled by J. V. Miller, Jr. (NUCMC 74–341)
Wendell Family
Business records, 1722–1865, 39 ft. Materials pertaining to commerce with Russia included. The ship Wonolancet traveled to Russia in 1800 and again in 1809–10; the ship Prince Madoc also engaged in Russian trade. Unpublished inventory (NUCMC 60–1724).
Winthrop W. Aldrich (1885-1974)
Papers, 1918–59, 126 ft. Chairman of the Chase National Bank and frequent government advisor. Aldrich was active in U.S. foreign relations. Materials on the Bretton Woods monetary conference, Business Advisory Council, Citizens Committee for Reciprocal World Trade, International Chamber of Commerce, and the Marshall Plan Committee, most of which concerns Soviet-American relations in the post-World War II (Cold War) era. Correspondence from this period might also be pertinent. (NUCMC 70–1211)
