- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Expanded View
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Chandler & Company.
- Title:
- Chandler & Company Records
- Repository:
- Public Policy Papers
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/fx719m465
- Dates:
- 1916-1921
- Size:
- 1 box
- Storage Note:
- Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1
- Language:
- English
Abstract
Chandler & Company was a New York investment banking house with offices in New York and Philadelphia. The Company issued bonds for many companies and countries, including Bolivia, China, Costa Rica, and Germany. Chandler & Company's records document the company's investment decisions in Germany, as well as Bolivia and Costa Rica, during the early 1920s and include correspondence and meeting minutes.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Scope and Contents
Chandler & Company's records document the company's investment decisions in Germany, as well as Bolivia and Costa Rica, during the early 1920s and include correspondence and meeting minutes. The majority of the records document negotiations between the Company and Germany about the Chandler Plan and include correspondence to Percy M. Chandler from the representatives he sent to Germany (Robert Gade and Edward Robinette), meeting minutes from negotiations between Gade, Robinette, and German bankers and government officials, and clippings. The records also include correspondence and reports on Chandler & Company business with Bolivia and Costa Rica, and a graph of European exchange rates in relation to the North American dollar from 1915 to 1920.
- Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by document type.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Chandler & Company.
Chandler & Company was a New York investment banking house with offices in New York and Philadelphia. The Company issued bonds for many companies and countries, including Bolivia, China, Costa Rica, and Germany.
The firm was founded in 1914 by Percy M. Chandler, who remained head of the company until his death in 1944. The Company came into prominence in early 1915 when it offered $10,000,000 in German Imperial Treasury notes for public subscription as head of a syndicate of New York and Western bankers, despite escalating tensions between the United States and Germany due to World War I. The proceeds were held in New York banks to be used by German commercial agents as a basis for receiving loans to purchase merchandise for the German civil population. No purchases were permitted for materials that would assist the German Army or Navy. Another issue of German Imperial Treasury notes followed in 1916.
Chandler & Company continued its involvement with foreign financial operations, issuing $5,000,0000 in bonds from the Republic of China in partnership with a Chicago bank in 1916. In September 1916, Chandler & Company was appointed fiscal agent in the United States for the Republic of Costa Rica. The Company was also appointed as the fiscal agent for Bolivia in March 1917.
After World War I ended, Chandler & Company was involved in efforts to renew credit and trade relations between the United States and Germany. Robert Gade and Edward Robinette traveled to Europe in 1920 as representatives of Chandler & Company to advocate for the acceptance of the Chandler Plan. The plan outlined a means for German assets in the United States, seized during World War I and held by the Alien Property Custodian, to be returned to the Germans. The assets would be used to create an American corporation and stocks would be given to the Germans in lieu of their seized assets. Gade and Robinette met with German banks, including M. M. Warburg & Co. (and the company's director Max Warburg) and the Deutsche Bank, and with government officials, to promote the plan. They argued that without a plan such as this, there would be a long legal battle and the assets might never be returned.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
Accession information is not available for this collection.
- Appraisal
No material was separated from the collection during processing in 2005.
- Sponsorship:
These records were processed with the generous support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and the John Foster and Janet Avery Dulles Fund.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by Adriane Hanson in 2005. Finding aid written by Adriane Hanson in April 2006.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
- Credit this material:
Chandler & Company Records; Public Policy Papers, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/fx719m465
- Location:
-
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library65 Olden StreetPrinceton, NJ 08540, USA
- Storage Note:
- Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1
Find More
- Bibliography
The following sources were consulted during the preparation of the biographical note: "Banker Interned, Reason Kept Secret." The New York Times, July 12, 1917. "Bolivia May Float Loan." The New York Times, March 3, 1917. "Financial Notes." The New York Times, September 9, 1916. Materials from the Chandler & Company Records, Box 1; Public Policy Papers, Special Collections, Princeton University Library. "Millions in Credits to Foreign Nations." The New York Times, March 27, 1915. "Percy M. Chandler, Banker, 71, is Dead." The New York Times, October 15, 1944.
- Subject Terms:
- Bankers -- United States -- Correspondence.
Banks and banking -- Germany.
Economics -- 20th century.
Investment banking -- United States. - Genre Terms:
- Correspondence
Minutes. - Names:
- Chandler, Percy M.
Robinette, Edward B.
Warburg, Max M., 1867-1946
