Our team of dedicated Archivists handed me a clipping a while ago. It's one of those things you find as you do Archival work. They thought, and I agree, that it belongs on Guided By History.

All of us have minor phobias that we don't necessarily share with everyone. Some avoid under-cooked food , some people are bowled over by odors  that no one else is even aware of. Some are acutely aware of germs  and general uncleanliness.

Well, this AP  image proves that where there's a clientele, there's a way. An ATM manufacturer found a way to sanitize Japanese bills as the machine dispensed them. It's from a 1996 item in the San Francisco Chronicle , whose caption read, "the money-laundering device will ensure nothing more than clean cash gets transferred to supersensitive bank customers."

I haven't found if the machines are in operation.

Anybody know if these are out there anywhere?

Posted by Charles at 07:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Artifacts, Environment, Misc, Prepare, Psychology, Wells Fargo Bank

Thinking about Wells Fargo's beginnings, a few pivotal events come to mind: Henry Wells hiring William Fargo as an express messenger for the Pomeroy Company in 1842 , and the resistance other Directors of the American Express Company had to venturing into California, pushing fellow Directors Wells and Fargo to create their own company. These events are crucial enough that Wells Fargo & Company might not ever have been created without them.

Another key event was the discovery of gold in Coloma, California  by James Marshall. His discovery led to the Gold Rush  — the migration of thousands of people to California in a short time. These events sparked the interests of express pioneers Wells and Fargo to found the Company. Again, it's feasible to say that this may not have happened if Marshall  had not discovered gold that cold morning in 1848.

Marshall was a carpenter and sawmill operator by trade who came to California in 1845. He started working at Sutter's Fort , putting into motion the events that led to the discovery of gold. In 1848, John Sutter  and Marshall started construction of a sawmill on the American River in Coloma.

On the morning of January 24, 1848 , Marshall discovered a small nugget of gold in the millrace. Henry Bigler was working for Marshall that day and left an account of the discovery: "This day some kind of mettle was found in the trail race that looks like gold."

For a short time the discovery remained a secret. Laborers on the project were the first to prospect after the completion of the sawmill. The secret was soon leaked, and word of gold in California began to get out. News of the strike on the American River  was doubted for months, however, until May 12, when merchant Sam Brannan  raced around the streets of San Francisco shouting, "Gold! Gold from the American River!"

Local excitement brought the first influx of prospectors, and the news quickly spread to the East and then around the globe. Christopher "Kit" Carson  brought the first news of gold to Washington D.C., and on December 5th, President James K. Polk  reported to Congress about the discovery of Gold in California. The finding was official and the Gold Rush was on.

Henry Wells and William Fargo established Wells Fargo in San Francisco in 1852. Over the 156 years since, Wells Fargo has continued a tradition of dependable financial service. We at Wells Fargo are proud of our history and our Company, but we also marvel at how James Marshall's tiny piece of gold at a construction site changed the course of U.S. and California history, and also began Wells Fargo's own history.

Posted by Greg at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Work, Gold, Misc, Museums, Perspective, Psychology, Remember, Sacramento, Wells Fargo Bank

We regularly get boxes full of old papers and stuff from locations across the land. As people go through the old building and spy an old closet full of old stuff, they think to themselves—responsibly, I should add—"this stuff belongs in the Historical collection!"

It sure does, especially when it is pertinent to the history of Wells Fargo  and its place in communities since 1852. So we go through the boxes and appraise each piece. We keep the stuff that contributes to our Company memory. But we have no need for flyers announcing a bake sale in 1971, nor brochures for a 1982 Honda  that someone couldn't bear to throw away.

So I was looking over some stuff the other day and I found a piece of actual history: a genuine, Cold War-era handbill that touted a newsletter, purporting to be the "Best Private Intelligence Service in Existence." Now, such a claim relies on one of two basic things: one, they really are the best in existence; or 2, everyone is so afraid of World War III  they believe anything.

The Cold War , as you know, was based as much on the latter as it was on any real threat. People were quite worried about Soviet ambitions and the spectre of atomic war . The newsletter that the handbill referred to— available by subscription, and while you're at it, back issues are available too!—asserted its reputation as the first source for intelligence.

Assembled and published by a man named Kenneth de Courcy , the newsletter ostensibly brought the innermost workings of global intelligence to the attention of the common man. de Courcy was later discredited , but at the height of his publication he had an office in the Emp ire State Building .

Knowing the secrets of international politics, de Courcy's handbill insisted, was vital to making the right moves in everyday life. "We live in strange times," the handbill intones. "(F)irst-class intelligence is a condition of success...The citizen who does not know what is really happening, and what is probably going to happen, cannot avoid making ghastly mistakes in private life, business and politics."

One sees the vigilant insurance salesman in Anytown, USA, careful to not buy the wrong cut of tenderloin, not willing to let the floozy buy him one more sidecar, checking de Courcy's newletter carefully before voting on a sewer bond issue. All this in the name of international security, the responsibility of the ordinary man. Such was the Cold War esprit de l’époque.

There are several titles of the publication referenced in the text of the handbill: "Review of World Affairs," "Review," "Digest" and "The World Crisis." But the title of what you're buying isn't anywhere in the piece—not even on the order blank. The best-kept secret is the actual title of the darn thing de Courcy is selling!

Posted by Charles at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in Artifacts, Misc, Perspective, Psychology, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

Wells Fargo's Public Relations Department circulated these memos regularly in the late 1940s. There are hundreds of them in the archives. The purpose was to encourage employees to practice self-confidence and keep cool under pressure. The ultimate benefits were better relations among co-workers and better customer service.

What's interesting to me, besides the stunning letterhead, is the ordinary use of psychology at this time. So many of these circulars discuss the mental roots of everyday problems and the psychological methods individuals can employ to neutralize bad tendencies and heighten the positive. Remember, this comes from Public Relations, which exists to construct a message that reassures the public. If there's psychology involved, you can bet it's pretty standard.

In the early 20th century, Freudian psychology  was transforming away from taboo and scandal to a normal topic of conversation. But it was pretty subjective; the analysis of dreams and pondering the depths of the mind seemed impractical to many. Behaviorism emerged to explain that human action was based on conditioning. Learned behavior had more practical use than experimental stuff of dreams and repression.

Behaviorism  was especially popular with business studies. Certain stimuli evoke certain responses. B.F. Skinner  and Ivan Pavlov  were the stars, demonstrating that animals (including human beings) could be "trained" to behave in certain ways.

The psychology of these memos is especially grounded in action. If people regiment themselves to be cool as a cucumber, tough situations will lessen. If a person strives to finish each task, without going in several directions, they will become more important as well as more productive, etc. Each of us can change our circumstances as well as any laboratory.

Before the Roaring '20s , psychology was the domain of wickedness and crackpots. After World War I, it came into the open. By the late '40s, it was the subject of office circulars helping ordinary people do better work. Over the next generation, psychology would recast the mold on child rearing  and women's place in society . A complete evolution of the human potential.

All in one little memo.

Posted by Charles at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Animals, Artifacts, B.F. Skinner, Dogs, Experts, Freud, Pavlov, Psychology, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank