The other day a family came in to visit the Old Sacramento Museum, led by the matriarch. I had a nice conversation with the woman, the subject of which prompted me to write this post. We were discussing Black Bart, and we got on the subject of James Hume, Wells Fargo's Special Detective who brought Black Bart to justice after years of investigation.

She told me that she and her husband were caretakers of Hume Castle in Berkeley, California  back in the 1970s. I had no idea there was such a thing as Hume Castle in Berkeley — I wondered if it had anything to do with Wells Fargo's legendary Detective. I know Hume died in Berkeley in 1908, at age 77, after his retirement from Wells Fargo. But again, I never knew of a Hume Castle.

I started researching the castle and discovered there was a relation between Wells Fargo's Hume, and this castle in Berkeley. I discovered the castle was built in 1927, long after Hume's death. The original owners of the castle were Samuel James Hume and his wife Portia Hume. Samuel was James Hume's only son, born in 1885.

Samuel Hume was educated at Harvard and earned a degree in theater. He created the first exhibition of stagecraft   in the United States. By 1918, Samuel had returned to Berkeley as an assistant professor at the University of California , eventually becoming the head of the Greek Theater Department there. His wife, Portia Bell Hume , was a pioneer in the field of Psychiatry and lent her name to the modern Portia Bell Hume Behavioral Health and Training Center .

In 1927 the Humes engaged architect John Hudson Thomas  to build a replica of a 13th-century French Monastery . This became their home, known alternately as Hume Cloister or Hume Castle. The building still stands at 2900 Buena Vista Way in Berkeley, and has been listed as a historic landmark of Berkeley  since 1985.

There it is! Wells Fargo had a role in the history of this landmark! James Hume was headquartered in San Francisco, grounded in the area. The Humes resided across San Francisco Bay in Berkeley, home to the great new University of the West.

You can imagine conversations at dinner, with the elder Hume encouraging his creative child to go to college and holding UC as the model. The younger Hume took the advice and brought his talents back to Berkeley and established a monument to the family name.

Cool!

Posted by Greg at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Found in Artifacts, James Hume, Misc, Remember, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

Posted by Charles at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Artifacts, At Work, Events, Holidays, Misc, New Year's Day, Participate, Perspective, Remember, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

Last weekend, Wells Fargo Historians "horsed around" in the San Francisco History Museum, decorating the premises for the Season. Holiday decorations included a stagecoach full of horses—especially Maggies. Maggie is the eighth limited edition Wells Fargo Plush Pony since 2003. Her real life counterpart represented Wells Fargo in San Francisco's Work Horse Parade in 1909. Now, there are Maggies all over, and inside, the stagecoach.

(And check out the "Make Maggie a Happy Pony!" game. There's also Maggie's pdf Activity book, in spanish as well as english.)

In the Days of Old and the Days of Gold, Wells Fargo moved by horsepower: Wells Fargo stagecoaches were pulled by four or six horses."Horses are the pride of Wells Fargo service," the company declared. "Our most faithful employee and friend"—nicely groomed, harnesses oiled, brass fittings polished, and hitched in matched pairs—was Wells Fargo's best advertisement.

Driving the authentic Concord coach in the Museum is Trixie, originally a paint  from Ardmore, Oklahoma , who prefers to get where she is going sooner rather than later. By her side is an equally large Trixie, riding shotgun. She arrived inWells Fargo's stable of Plush Ponies for the 2005 holiday season.

"Wheelers,"  the big muscular horses closest to the coach, are real Princes. The collectible Plush Pony named for Prince, also from Ardmore, appeared in 2006. Our wheelers are a pair of matched grays , 5 and a half feet long and 11 hands high  in horse talk.

This year, the two Princes got hitched. The blushing brides are two agile Maggies, 5 feet long and 10 and a half hands high. Being smart, they are the pair of leader horses. And yes, the hitching is proper. Just like on Wells Fargo's Overland Stagecoaches of the 1860s, the ribbons go where they should, allowing Trixie to turn Prince and Maggie to the left or right as needed.

(If you're wondering if you can purchase these and how much they cost, the answer is—sorry, you can't. They are not available for sale.)

If you are in downtown San Francisco, come by to see an authentic 4-horse hitch. Say "Hi" to Trixie, Prince, and Maggie—and as a memento, take home a little Maggie from the Museum Store!

Posted by Bob at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in Animals, At Work, Christmas, Holidays, Misc, Museums, Pony Express, San Francisco, Stagecoach, Wells Fargo Bank

While researching our Team members of Latin America, I came across an August, 1978 issue of the Wells Fargo Banker that had a picture of a young Jerry Brown.

Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown was the Governor of California  from 1975-83. Brown is currently serving as the State's Attorney General . The picture is from a report on Gov. Brown's meeting in Wells Fargo's board room with executives from major corporations. Brown was discussing the impact of Proposition 13  on the State's fiscal health.

Prop. 13 has a 30-year history of controversy. On June 6, 1978, Californians passed the measure with a 65% approval. Prop. 13 slashed property taxes in half overnight and changed the relationship between schools and their communities. While property owners got tax relief, communities had to devise creative new ways to get money for services. Voters in other states took up the "tax revolt" that manifested in California and started cutting taxes across the nation with similar results to communities.

After the proposition passed, Brown urged corporate tax savings be put into programs that would boost the economy. Before his meeting with executives, though, the Governor participated in a program Wells Fargo had at the time, "get-acquainted" coffee meetings in the Penthouse high atop the San Francisco Headquarters.

The article did not detail the conversation between California's Governor and Wells Fargo employees in attendance. But the Archives do bear out the fact that Wells Fargo enjoyed property tax savings of $1.2 million dollars from Prop. 13. The Company donated the money to charity.

Posted by Charles at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in At Work, Coffee, Events, Misc, Remember, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

Yesterday, Pandiux wrote, "I have a question. Is there any stories in history of a Wells Fargo Stagecoach being robbed?" The answer is yes, there are several. I blogged about one here.

But we at Wells Fargo don't get all excited about robbery in history as many people do . The reason is simple: We're a bank, and banks are prime targets for robbers. Robbery is dangerous, terrifying and violent even when people aren't hurt. Wells Fargo is committed to a heritage of enforcement and protection and of throwing the creeps in jail – not the lore of the fearless bandit.

The heck with those guys. They are thugs.

I served on a jury several years ago, hearing a bank robbery case (I told 'em I worked at a bank and they picked me anyway). The main witness was the teller, of course, and she was still unnerved by the experience after several months. Robbery is crime against people I work with. No glamor in terrorizing people. I myself am not interested in spinning yarns about those darn bandits of yore. They're robbers and there's nothing cool about it.

So we don't focus too much on robbery narratives except to support the Company's drive to catch the bad guys. Many Western buffs are really into lawmen and bad men, guns and violence. Knock yourselves out, but you won't keep my interest.

Robbers sometimes kill people. It still happens .

Posted by Charles at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Found in At Work, Crime, Misc, Museums, Remember, San Francisco, Stagecoach, Wells Fargo Bank, Westerns

Wells Fargo has been musically inclined since the Gold Rush. In 1855, we advanced money for an Italian opera troupe. However they defaulted, so we seized their trunk of costumes and musical instruments as security.

Actually, we are really kind hearted. In 1869, Madame Camilla Urso   proposed a music festival to benefit the Mercantile Library, featuring school children and musicians from around California and Nevada. Wells Fargo offered to carry sheet music, letters, and other equipment far and wide throughout its lines on the Pacific Coast for free. The successful San Francisco festival ran for five days in February 1870.

If it could be sent by express, Wells Fargo carried it. In May of 1860, a future jazz musician in Columbia asked Wells Fargo to supply copies of Schatzman's Sax Horn Instructor. Up they came from San Francisco.

On occasion, Wells Fargo contributed to the Big Bang Theory  . Mariposa agent Julia Jones delivered a bass drum to complete a brass band at Whitlock's Gold Mine . In the spring of 1897, this band, splendid in their white uniforms, serenaded Mariposans with "Old Folks at Home," "The Man in the Moon," and the "Young Bandsman."

In the summer of 1917, Wells Fargo also carried "several valuable violin bows from Colorado Springs to Chicago. Accompanying these bows in a handsome, sturdy, brass-bound packing case were also a few violins – one made by Nicola Amati   in 1662, another by Carlo Bergonzi   in 1723, and a third, modern one produced by Joseph Guarnerius   in 1731.

Wells Fargo starred in the performance of express service. Meredith Willson drew on his boyhood memories in Iowa to write The Music Man  . That story revolves around the arrival of band instruments on the "Wells Fargo Wagon." The whole town turns out to sing: "O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is-a comin' down the street, Oh, Please let it be for me!"

Our relations with opera singers improved through the years — we even starred in an opera. In 1910, when Puccini's Gold Rush opera The Girl of the Golden West   appeared, Wells Fargo's agent was heroic.

Posted by Bob at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Found in Artifacts, Branding, Broadway, Gold, Hollywood, Misc, Movies, Music, Opera, Perspective, Remember, San Francisco, The Music Man, Wells Fargo Bank, Westerns

September brings the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month , and I'll probably write several posts about it. My reasons are simple: there's lots to write about, and it's a topic I like. So there.

Latinos have been in America since it became America . Each region and nation has developed its own distinctiveness, which continues today as people move about, settle and live in different — sometimes multiple — areas.

In the late 18th century, Mexicans were expanding northwest into California to try and exploit the Pacific Coast. A couple generations later, Mexico got its independence from Spain — the US came soon after, in 1846. In the interim, Mexican people in California developed a short-lived, but romantic society: Californios. After annexation by the US, Californios' prominence quickly waned as their vast ranchos were broken up. Most died in sad circumstances, but one Californio was able to train his position and status.

General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo  rose through army ranks to become commander of the Northern Frontier. Vallejo deftly handled relations with the Russian outpost at Fort Ross , and kept an uneasy balance with John Sutter  to the east. He personally financed northern forces when the Mexican and Californian governments were unwilling to do so.

Vallejo determined that annexation by the US was the best way to resolve all the problems he had to control . But in an unfortunate paradox, Vallejo's holdings in Northern California were lost to title challenges soon after he participated in the constitutional convention as California neared statehood. This was a fate shared by many of the Rancheros from Californio days.

Vallejo's son, Platón Vallejo, was educated in the East and became California's first native-born medical doctor. In 1872, Gen. Vallejo was in San Francisco on business. He wrote to Platón and asked him to send along money by Wells Fargo Express because "aquí cuesta mucho vivir" ("it is expensive to live here"). A year later, Dr. Platón Vallejo transferred funds again, this time from Vallejo, California — the city named for his illustrious family — to the General at his home in Sonoma.

Posted by Charles at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Found in Artifacts, First-hand Accounts, Gold, Holidays, Independence Day, Latin America, Misc, Perspective, Remember, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

Social history  is all about detailing the experiences of ordinary people. Bob Chandler shares some letters from from his personal collection, and some he found in the Archives, of Wells Fargo's working people. They describe their day at work, and it sounds an awful lot like yours.

An1890s railroader in upstate New York  wrote, "I am all alone. Have all the operating to do and all waybilling. It makes a fellow hustle to keep up and not get trains muddled up. This is double track."

In 1914 Detroit, a Wells Fargoan wrote that when one of his colleagues went on vacation, that man's work came to him, and "kept me pretty busy. The Boss did not handle much of the correspondence. He was in and out all the time, so that left it all to me, but I managed to keep it going, but it kept me going."

A classic account of working for Wells Fargo comes from Arcata, Calif., in 1909:

"This job of mine is a korker. I am here from 8 AM until 10 PM every night and sometimes later, but I have made good. Business is good and the Wells Fargo Auditors say that this office is in better shape than it was before, so the glory helps me some, but holy macarony, I am tired."

From a social history point of view, one gets a more accurate history from regular people, the opposite end of the scale from kings and generals. This is certainly true. But these letters prove another thing that is certainly true: The one constant that pervades social history is hard work and achin' feet.

Posted by Charles at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Found in Artifacts, At Work, First-hand Accounts, Misc, Perspective, Railroads, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

Long hours for Wells Fargoans are not new, nor are part-time jobs that suddenly develop into full-time. Letters from the Archives, and some in Bob Chandler's personal collection, present the hard-working life of people before our modern world. We all know too well how hard it gets at a relentless office. It's nice to know—or it's cold comfort—that the past was also not so halcyon .

From California's Central Valley in 1892, Bob reports, came this simple statement: "I have spent the week the same as usual, ‘Work and Sleep.'" An Oregonian in 1896 explained his situation: "The Agent is going to lay off for a month in August and I will be in his place. Will be quite a change from nights," he wrote, adding that he "Don't like to work nights very well."

Another letter in Bob's collection described one railroad and telegraph clerk, near Bakersfield, Calif., who prided himself on sending and receiving 40 words a minute. He had left home two years earlier rather than work for "starvation wages" for a local company. As the clerk took over for three months while the agent vacationed, and he saw his big break, he reported: "I am getting $85 here, but expect to get more next place as I will have a station with W.F. & Co. Ex, which pays 15 per cent."

Hustling was the name of the game, then and now. In many cases, one person represented Wells Fargo, the railroad, and telegraph company all at once, and took care of customers in a variety of ways. Bob has a letter from one Wells Fargoan, who wrote to his sweetheart from Kansas one Sunday night:

"It is the first time I haven't been busy since last Sunday night. I sure have the work to do here. Every night I am so busy I don't have time to write letters or anything else, except on Sunday night. All the work I have to do that day is to do the wire work [telegraph] and sell tickets for one train."

He added: "This sure is a fine depot and nice to work in."

What an assessment of the workplace! There's a guy with a good attitude.

Posted by Charles at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Artifacts, At Work, First-hand Accounts, Misc, Museums, Perspective, Remember, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

Well, I wrote it before and I'll write it again—he's the best. Now, he's the King. Barry Bonds is the all-time home run leader in Major League Baseball.

After the post last June, when I discussed the negative attitudes from watchers that Bonds has had to endure (including the commissioner's! ), I got several responses from people who had good insights on the issue. More than anything else, people who didn't want Bonds to take the crown seemed to harbor a dislike for Bonds.

I think I have that one figured out. And it comes from the most genuine source I can cite—my own heart.

I have tickets to tonight's game. The game after the Great Moment . Thirty-three-dollar tickets that are now worth $33. Tickets to a game where I have a chance to catch a ball that will be just a ball. Tickets that I'll share with my kid for his birthday, where we'll have to rely on bonds of family and affection for our memories.

I wanted to be there. I wanted to give my son a moment of history. I wanted to have a memory I could hold when all the rest of life is pedestrian and unremarkable and nothin' ever really goes my way . Barry kinda messed that all up by hitting 756 last night instead. Barry didn't do what I wanted him to do.

So all these people who don't like Barry or don't want him to be home run king for one reason or another are upset because Barry doesn't do what they want him to do—confess, fail, be nice to reporters, do ads for hamburgers, leg out a ground ball to second base, live in Springfield, make $1 million and be happy with it, yuk it up with Terry Bradshaw in a halftime piece.

And mostly, they're mad because he doesn't play in Arlington, New York, Philadelphia, Denver, St. Louis, Toronto, Phoenix ...

And the record-breaker? A 400-foot monster to dead-away center, the deepest point in the ballpark. Oh yeah, one more thing—it was the go-ahead run.

Posted by Charles at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Found in Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Baseball, Hank Aaron, Misc, Perspective, Remember, San Francisco, Substance abuse, Wells Fargo Bank, Willie Mays

On Christmas Eve, 1884, Wells Fargo express agent Richmond Smith stood impatiently on the station platform in Reno. The train carrying the daily express shipment was late coming over the snowy Sierras. When the train arrived later that evening, one of the express packages had holiday trimmings and a bright express label which read "Please do not open until Christmas."

From the doorway, her mother’s voice asked, "Is it Santa Claus, darling?" "No, mother," the little girl replied, "it’s Wells Fargo!"

Don't even tell me that story doesn't make you weep uncontrollably—I know you're fibbing.

In the 1910s, Wells Fargo advert ised its express services as vital to the winter holiday season. Christmas wasn't always as big a holiday as it became in the 19th century.  In the 20th century, the icon of Santa Claus  was firmly established in Western imagination and the standards of gift-giving and a season of celebration  were embedded.

The real story behind Flossy the Doll is just as good as legend, though. Wells Fargo & Co’s Express delivered the  German bisque doll to four-year-old Ivan E. Sessions in 1884. She named the doll "Flossy" and spent many hours sewing clothes for her. Flossie was deluxe—she even had her own doll. In 1891, Ivan and Flossy won ?rst prize for best dressed doll at the Nevada State Fair. A century later, Ivan’s daughter donated Flossy to the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco. Flossy lives in the Archives to this day, and emerges every holiday season as a display in the Museum.

Children of all ages still love Flossy. But there are fewer things more precious than one child's love for their doll. Which might be as close to "the true meaning of Christmas" as anything else.

Posted by Charles at 03:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Found in Artifacts, Christmas, Holidays, Misc, Museums, Perspective, Photographs, Remember, San Francisco

Today—July 13, 2007—marks 155 years to the date that Wells, Fargo, and Co. opened for business on Montgomery Street in San Francisco. The Corporate Archives is lucky enough to have a picture that documents the event. Ten gentlemen posed in front of a two-story building.

Many are surprised to learn Henry Wells and William G. Fargo are not in the first office picture; they remained back in New York and only received updates via letters and rare visits. We know the names of two gentlemen who worked in that office on opening day, Reuben W. Washburn and Samuel W. Carter. The rest are critical contributors to the story of July 13, but unknown to later generations.

Check out the "Wells Fargo Through the Decades" slide show, and watch for three of my favorite images:

• Five women agents smiling in front of a San Diego office in 1917
• Members of the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank Club, enjoying a day at Spring Valley Lakes in June of 1921
• The Wells Belles of 1973; ready to defend the name of Wells Fargo through baseball.

They are all part of the fabric of the larger Wells Fargo story and, if not for a remaining image in our archives, nearly lost to posterity.

That brings me to today. We are having festivities in many Wells Fargo locations, including the San Francisco History Museum. Most of the everyday activities of life will not make it into the history books. But, just like those unknown faces in the first office picture, what you do today is making history.

Posted by Anne at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Found in Artifacts, At Work, Baseball, Events, Films, Holidays, Movies, Museums, Participate, Photographs, Remember, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

In the 19th century, roads were rough and railroad tracks were sparse. Steamships provided vital transportation of passengers and goods up and down the West Coast.

Regular steamers departed San Francisco south for Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Pedro, Anaheim Landing, San Diego and ports in Mexico and Central America. Northbound steamers called at Crescent City, Astoria, Portland and Victoria, British Columbia. In 1870, the steamer journey from San Francisco to San Pedro (the harbor serving Los Angeles) took 48 hours. In comparison, traveling to the same destination  by rail and stagecoach took 60 hours.

Wells Fargo express messengers sailed aboard these coastal steamers, guarding the mail, gold and valuable packages. Once underway, messengers inventoried express items and checked shipping documents and waybills. They sorted letters and business documents for immediate delivery. Messengers inspected sealed containers of gold dust and bullion to prevent tampering.

Wells Fargo's most well-known steamer messenger on the coastal route was Pilsbury "Chips" Hodgkins, who over his long career escorted millions of dollars in gold and money. Chips earned his nickname as a ship's carpenter  on the way to the California gold rush. Chips escorted Wells Fargo's treasure boxes from the mining camps to the inland port of Stockton, to San Francisco, and up and down the coast. In 1871 Chips' steamer dropped anchor at San Pedro Harbor in Southern California in the midst of a gale. Undaunted by heavy seas, Chips rowed ashore in a small boat to deliver the consignments on time.

For his long service, Chips was rewarded with a banquet and miniature treasure box made of silver. Chips Hodgkins worked for Wells Fargo for more than 25 years. In all that time, through all those voyages, he never lost a penny.

Posted by Charles at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Gold, Misc, Remember, San Francisco, Steamers, Wells Fargo Bank

Old Sacramento  will be bustling with excitement tomorrow. The Pony Express Re-ride  is scheduled to arrive at 11:30 a.m. After a 10-day journey from St. Joseph, Mo. , the final rider will bring mail to the corner of Second and J streets—right across from the Wells Fargo History Museum. The National Pony Express Association  has been putting on the Re-ride for 30 years, and this year marks the 147th anniversary of the Pony Express.

The Pony Express  is the most widely known short-lived piece of Americana. It lasted only 18 months, from April 3, 1860, to Oct. 25, 1861. Established by the Kansas express firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell , the Pony Express was in its time the fastest way to get mail to California. It was also the most expensive. In 10 days, riding across 1,966 miles, smallish young men (usually in their early teens) would bring 20 pounds of mail from St. Joseph to Sacramento. The cost to send a letter via Pony Express in those days was five dollars per half ounce, which to the average person was a lot of money. (That’s approximately 120 dollars today.) Due to high expenses and the lack of government subsidies, the Pony Express was going broke a year after its creation.

In April 1861, Wells Fargo took control of the Western portion of the Pony Express. Wells Fargo carried letters from Salt Lake City to Sacramento and San Francisco for the last six months of the Pony Express' existence. Wells Fargo helped reduce the cost of postage from the hefty five dollars to just two dollars a half ounce, then reduced the cost even lower, to one dollar, in July 1861. At these prices the Pony Express became more affordable to people and businesses.

Even with the low rates that Wells Fargo offered, the Pony Express would last only a few more months. Technology would put an end to the legend: The telegraph delivered messages faster than anyone on horseback and for a very low cost. On Oct. 25, 1861, Wells Fargo ended its involvement in the Pony Express, marking the end of the 18-month adventure.

Yet the Pony Express lives on in American lore . And for 10 days each year, riders bring letters from St. Joseph to Sacramento, just as they did 147 years ago. All of us here at the Wells Fargo Museum in Old Sacramento are awaiting the Re-ride  and will let everyone know the legacy that Wells Fargo has shared with such a great piece of American history.

Posted by Greg at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Animals, Events, Museums, Participate, Pony Express, Remember, Sacramento, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

Did you feel the excitement in the air this week? No? Well, this wasn’t broadcast live on television.  It wasn’t made into a musical.  The winners probably won’t throw the first pitch  at a major league baseball game. But, for a select few, this week was the highlight of months of effort, and a time they’ll likely remember for years to come. I won’t keep you in suspense any longer—it’s National History Day! 

For lack of a better comparison, think of a science fair only starring young historians doing original historical research and interpretation. Students choose topics relating to a broader theme, conduct research through libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews and historic sites. After organizing the research and drawing conclusions, students present their work through categories such as original paper, exhibit, and performance. Students proceed through local and state competitions, hoping to make it all the way to national. The National Contest just finished this week. Even Ken Burns—a historical interpretation celebrity(!)—was there.

I had the pleasure of judging history day for the first time a number of years ago, and look forward to it every year. (I am proud to support a home team, and mention Sacramento County  has two contestants at nationals this year.) Considering our company history, it is no surprise that other Wells Fargo employees enjoy supporting National History Day in some way. Some of the Wells Fargo History Museum  curators have judged and recruited large numbers of other employees to participate at local or state competitions. Wells Fargo has sponsored local and national prizes for special topics. And, the Wells Fargo History Museums serve as teaching environments to support parents and students.

So if this has piqued your interest, or you can think of a young aspiring historian or curator to share this information  with, find out more and be part of the excitement  next year!

Posted by Anne at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Found in Events, Experts, First-hand Accounts, Get Involved, Holidays, Misc, Museums, Participate, Perspective, Sacramento, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

You know all about Halley's Comet , right? Comes around every 76 years, makes a big splash , and becomes legend again till it returns. Sort of like Wells Fargo—without the going away part, I mean. Wells Fargo flies around cyber space, meets up with rockets, and makes a big splash. Wells and Fargo themselves were innovative businessmen who seized opportunities to bring services to customers (the stagecoach) and provide the means necessary to satisfy customer demands (fast transfer of money by telegraph).

There's an old tale out there that Wells Fargo changed its name after a printing error. But like the belt buckle problem and the shotgun fiasco, it's only a tale. Bob Chandler uncovered the real truth back in 1980 for an article in the Wells Fargo Banker, the company's internal magazine at that time. Pity—the myth is better than the facts. Isn't that always the case? (We regularly scold Bob for replacing exciting myth with boring facts.)

When Henry Wells and William Fargo opened for business in San Francisco in 1852, the name was easy—Wells, Fargo & Co. Makes sense, right? Seventeen years later, Wells Fargo consolidated all the major stagecoach lines in the West and made the name grander—Wells, Fargo and Company. An ampersand came later, but the comma remained: Wells, Fargo & Company.

Until 1905, Wells Fargo was both bank and express company. That year, the two became separate entities for a constellation of complicated reasons. Let's just say it was easier for the top guys to run things better, because that's what the company has always tried to do. Anyway, the bank part of Wells Fargo changed its name in 1875 to Wells Fargo Bank and merged the two founders' identities. It was Branding History—with the swipe of an eraser, the company fused two last names into one, single entity. The bank had a singular presence in the mind. The express part of the company followed suit in 1889, and the name was as it is today.

(I have a hunch that it made it easier to write the name because everyone probably forgot the comma anyway. But that's just me ...)

The myth  is that a huge stationery order arrived that accidentally left out the comma. Wells Fargo had to choose between sending back the whole thing or going forward. They chose the latter and somehow decided that the comma-less name was better. Or everyone got used to it. Or they got the huge order for free (my vote!).

The trouble is, it just isn't so. The branding was Wells Fargo's conscious choice to tighten the name and its effect. While history is most fun with triumph being traced to clumsy mistakes, it's just the opposite here. Wells Fargo got better through naming innovations, as well as through technical or service innovation.

Posted by Charles at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Found in Artifacts, Branding, Halley's Comet, Museums, Remember, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

In 1947, President Harry S. Truman  vetoed legislation sent him by Congress. The bill, known as the Taft-Hartley Act , re-organized the relationship between labor and government that had been established in 1935. Congress overrode Truman's veto, and Taft-Hartley became law.

Taft-Hartley was named for Sen. Robert Taft, R-Ohio, and Rep. Fred A. Hartley Jr., R-N.J. The bill aimed to modify the labor law that had been effected in 1935 as the Wagner Act . Taft-Hartley scaled back the ways union workers could strike and ways they could organize at the workplace. Taft-Hartley defined unfair labor practices committed by unions, where prior laws had defined unfair acts by employers. The Act gave individual workers room to decline union membership if they chose—making it easier to pressure workers one at a time, whether union or anti-union pressure.

That Wagner Act was a New Deal  action that recognized labor unions and allowed them to organize openly, to strike legally and non-violently, and to participate in policy-making through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) .

Workers had struggled since the 19th century to get a bigger piece of the political and economic pie. Of course, workers and management have always needed to work together, but after the Civil War America changed dramatically with industrial production and the rise of big corporations. Everyone felt the rapid change, and workers organized to protect themselves. Strikes and violent reprisals were the order of the day. Labor gained some respectability by the 1910s, only to lose it again after the first World War .

The Wagner Act responded to the Great Depression  and big strikes in Minneapolis  and San Francisco . The New Deal let labor "in" with the Wagner Act, and ordinary workers enjoyed a real political importance. But many conservative people were uncomfortable with the New Deal; they felt it came dangerously close to the huge state-ist governments that were on the rise in Europe. After World War II, conservatives won Congress and began scaling back the New Deal.

Truman and others cursed Taft-Hartley as a "slave-labor bill" that would make things worse for workers and return labor to the dark ages of the 1890s. Many historians, economists and others agree . However, the opposite opinion  held that Taft-Hartley smoothed relations between workers and bosses because New Deal programs had weighted everything in favor of labor. In a peacetime economy, balance was necessary, and that meant shifting things back to the center—labor had to give up some things to make everything 50-50.

Posted by Charles at 01:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Museums, Remember, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

On May 21, 1979 , San Franciscans marched to City Hall to protest the conviction of former Supervisor Dan White. White was found guilty of manslaughter for the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk  the previous November. White's defense had successfully argued "diminished capacity": White's crimes were not premeditated, but the result of stress exacerbated by junk food.

Marchers protested the verdict because they felt it did not fit the crime—the assassinations of Moscone and Milk shocked the city and resonated across the nation. The sentiment was strong that the lighter sentence reflected anti-gay and anti-progressive prejudice. Milk  had been the first openly gay city official, and Moscone  had built his political career advocating for minorities and the poor. Moscone strongly supported gay rights.

Progressives had recently won close political races in San Francisco, and the tension between them and opponents was high. Dan White had been a conservative supervisor and had lost a political decision. He resented progressives' rise as his own career failed, and he blamed Moscone, Milk and others. He gunned down Moscone and Milk on Nov. 27, 1978.

Reaching City Hall , many protesters kept it peaceful, chanting, "Remember Harvey Milk!" and "We want Justice!" But some gave free rein to their anger and started wrecking fixtures and breaking glass. They set police cars ablaze. While radicals went wild, the crowd demanded "No more violence!"—but the melee got worse. Police arrived and got control after some time.

The '70s have a rap as being a decade of self-indulgence, of a lackluster political consciousness compared with the crazy '60s. But the "White Night" riots demonstrate that a movement for civil rights  was fully underway, full of energy and with a quick activist response. Politics was still hotly contested between old power and new power. And the death toll of leaders, which had marked the 1960s in Dallas , Memphis  and Los Angeles , was still a specter in public life.

Posted by Charles at 03:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Found in Assassinations, Dan White, George Moscone, Harvey Milk, Perspective, Protests, Remember, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank, White Night Riots