Brown Brothers & Company records - NYPL Digital Collections

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Brown Brothers & Company records

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Collection Data

Description: Alexander Brown (1764-1834) emigrated from Ireland to Baltimore in 1800 and opened a dry goods business with which his four sons became associated. One son, John (1788-1872), opened a branch in Philadelphia in 1818 and expanded the business to include foreign exchange transactions. Another son, James (1791-1877) established Brown Brothers & Co. in New York City in 1825 and eventually absorbed the other branches. In addition, Brown Brothers & Co. was associated with the English firm of Brown, Shipley & Co. which was run by another brother, William Brown (1784-1864). In the early 1830s James Brown sold the dry goods portion of the company and concentrated on banking and trade. Thereafter, Brown Brothers & Co. became one of the most successful American banking houses. A 1930 merger created the present firm of Brown Brothers, Harriman & Co. Collection consists of accounting records of Brown Brothers & Co. and its allied enterprise, Brown, Shipley & Co. Most of the records cover the years when James Brown was a partner and include journals, 1828-1853, and ledgers, 1825-1880. There are also journals, 1837-1880, for Brown, Shipley & Co. Other records include letter books, consignments, custom house entries, records of sales, and accounts of New Orleans and Havana offices of Brown, Shipley & Co.
Names: Brown Brothers & Company (Creator); Brown, James, 1791-1877 (Creator); Brown, John A., 1788-1872 (Creator); Brown, William, Sir, 1784-1864 (Creator); Shipley, Joseph, 1795-1867 (Creator); Brown, Shipley & Co. (Creator)
Dates / Origin: Date Created: 1825 - 1889
Library locations: Manuscripts and Archives Division; Shelf locator: MssCol 410
Topics: Bankers; Merchants; Banks and banking; Business enterprises -- England -- Liverpool (England); Business enterprises -- New York (State) -- New York; Great Britain -- Commerce -- United States; Havana (Cuba) -- Commerce; New Orleans (La.) -- Commerce; New York (N.Y.) -- Commerce; United States -- Commerce -- Great Britain; Brown Brothers & Company
Genres: account books; Correspondence; Records (Documents)
Notes: Funding: Funded by the Digitizing Hidden Collections program. Hidden Collections is a program of the Council on Library and Information Resources and is generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Physical Description: Extent: 45 linear feet (176 v.)
Type of Resource: Text
Identifiers: NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b11716032; MSS Unit ID: 410; Archives collections id: archives_collections_410; Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 4a97cea0-10ad-0135-a349-51eb7763f8d0

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