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Charles

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My colleague Marianne Babal is a VIP in the Public History world  (scroll down a little). A friend of hers teaches at The College of William & Mary  in Williamsburg, Virginia, and earlier this year his/her students found a treasure trove.

In an attic (totally by chance!), they found records  related to Maggie L. Walker.  Walker was the first woman to charter a bank in the United States, and one of few women bank presidents.

Her story led us to include her in our exhibit in San Francisco, "Women Making Financial History."

Maggie Walker  lived in Richmond, Virginia, where she raised a family as well as involving herself with civic activities. She was active in the Grand Order of St. Luke, later renamed the Independent Order of St. Luke. The Order was a benevolent organization , many of which existed in the 19th century (and today) to aid members with education, insurance, recreation, charity, dispute resolution and friendship. In 1899, Mrs. Walker became the leader of the organization, and her business skills helped the Order to prosper.

Walker's ambition was to found a financial institution by and for African Americans. In 1903, she organized the St. Luke's Penny Savings Bank , which loaned to black businesses, students and homebuyers. Assets grew, and Walker's bank was able to survive the Great Depression — legend has it the bank was one of the few banks that did not close during the "Bank Holiday" in 1933.  Her bank survives today as Consolidated Bank and Trust. 

Maggie Lena Walker  was someone who made history without necessarily trying to. She went to work and did everything she could to make her ideas become realities. She did it, and developed a community for women and for African American in the middle of Jim Crow. She provided financial services — bank accounts, investment services and loans — for people who might not have had other options. Her home is now a National Historic Site , rightly so.

But it's additional honor to her that we all keep her history current, by recognizing her hard work, and the positive impact she had on her community.

Biographies mention Mrs. Walker was a great and inspirational speaker. The lady had it all!

Ryan

When I was a kid, I viewed Veterans Day  as another holiday to commemorate distant events, and one of two times a year my Cub Scout  troop would place flags on graves at a local Veterans Cemetery.  In hindsight, I didn't even converse or thank my closest Veterans, my grandfather and father.

Following the attacks of 9/11, my subsequent joining the Navy Reserve , and a deployment to the Middle East, I have a different perspective.

This Veterans Day I would like to express appreciation to all Veterans and their spouses. To Wells Fargo, I add my appreciation — the Company is an outstanding employer of Veterans, and an outstanding banker to men and women in uniform.

Veterans Day  was originally founded as Armistice Day, a day to commemorate the cessation of fighting on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. Unfortunately the "War to End all Wars" was not — and the world and United States have been party to another World War, and countless conflicts since then. In 1954, President Eisenhower converted the holiday to Veterans Day, to honor all American Veterans.

Wells Fargo's service to the military and its members goes back a century and a half. Wells Fargo transported coin and currency for military payroll to remote army posts in California and Arizona. During World War I and World War II, large percentages of its employees were activated for military service

Talk about customer service! At the outbreak of World War I when Americans fleeing Europe abandoned luggage in their haste, Wells Fargo's Vice President of Traffic, F. S. Holbrook, took it upon himself to gather 400 abandoned trunks and ship them to Wells Fargo warehouses in America where they were matched with their owners — free of charge. Wells Fargo continued to operate through London and Paris correspondent offices during the entire war, and assisted countless American doughboys in transferring letters and remittances stateside.

Several of the members of Wells Fargo's family tree were founded specifically to serve men and women in the military. One example is the Army National Bank of Fort Lewis, Washington.

Another bank, through the Norwest lineage, has continued to this day as Wells Fargo Worldwide Military Banking, a bank within a bank that focuses on serving our men and women in uniform.

During World War II, one-quarter of Wells Fargo's employees served in the military — including Isaias Hellman III, who was elected President of the bank while still serving in the Army Air Corps. That war also saw women join the workforce in higher numbers. By the end of World War II, women comprised 60% of Wells Fargo employees.

Wells Fargo continues to go above and beyond in supporting team members who are in the Guard and Reserve.  In addition to providing benefits for mobilized employees that are in excess of mandated USERRA  minimums, Wells Fargo sponsors an internal employee organization, the Wells Fargo Military Veterans Resource Group, which provides a network of support for employees and family members. The organization is open to all employees regardless of past or present military affiliation.

So this Veterans Day I would like to thank all remaining Veterans from World War II, "the Greatest Generation." I would like to thank all Veterans of the "Forgotten War," the Korean War. I would like to thank all Veterans of the Vietnam War. I would like to thank all Veterans of the Gulf War. I would like to thank all Veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

I would also like to thank all military spouses, including my own, Alice, who take care of the broken air-conditioners, flat-tires, and bills while the service member is deployed. I would like to thank all children who miss their nightly bedtime story or Saturday game with their deployed parent.

I would also like to thank all employers, especially Wells Fargo, of members of the Guard and Reserve who go above and beyond in their flexibility and support for their employees who are called away at a moment's notice for an unknown time period.

All of these parties named are part of the support network that assists the service member during deployment, and enable him or her to stay focused on the mission over there so we can sleep soundly over here.

Thank you for your service at all levels! Happy Veterans Day!

Ileana

When was the last time you lost $2,150? And because of a hole—not in your pocket, but in your stocking!

The Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco recently opened a new exhibit, "Women Making Financial History." It interprets the many different roles women have played and are playing in the financial world: as bankers, as customers, as pioneers; even as images on currency. If you’re in town, I’d definitely recommend you check it out.

(But until then, take a look at the mini-site about the exhibit, sort of a "sneak preview.")

One of the interesting stories on the site is one about how banks in the early 20th century accommodated the needs of their female customers. For hundreds of years women had typically been financially dependent on their husbands or family. It was in the late 19th century that a large number of women began to join the workforce, and therefore, gain economic power. Banks took notice, and they realized that women were a different type of customer. They needed and wanted to be treated differently.

Maybe even have a separate room to do their banking. I know, it sounds bad, right? But the reason is that many women didn’t trust banks. They had for years carried their valuables and money in their stockings or underneath their blouses. Imagine just how uncomfortable it would be, going to make a deposit and having to dig for your money in front of all the male bankers and the other customers! And, at a time when female propriety was often scrutinized, this wouldn’t be very ladylike.

But as Mrs. Shore found out when she lost $2,150 worth of jewels, through a hole in her stocking, it wasn’t the safest place for keeping valuables. Maybe a bank, with a little privacy, was less inconvenient than risky hosiery. Banks "got it" — the "stocking room" was created. Here was a special room, just for the ladies, where they could do their banking. And of course, ready their deposits in private.

Creation of the stocking room shows an interesting paradox: banks treated women differently on account of their sex, as society has for thousands of years. BUT, it also shows that society was beginning to value and better understand women’s economic importance. Banks were doing what they had to to gain women’s trust, and women's business.

To me, the stocking room shows an interesting shift. Though it physically separated the sexes, its intention, strangely enough, was a step towards gender equality: women were being recognized for their financial power, and were being encouraged to join the banking world.

As a modern woman, I’m not sure how I feel about the need for a separate room to do my banking just because I’m female. But then, I don’t wear stockings full of jewels!

Charles

In association with the International Museum of Women (IMOW) , the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco has opened its latest exhibit, "Women Making Financial History." This exhibit examines women's roles in making and managing money, from the early history of the United States to today — all around the world.

The exhibit features striking photo essays of women benefitting from micro-lending in Nepal, new entrepreneurship of Arab women in Qatar, and more. The original material is from IMOW's virtual exhibition, "Economica,"  which explores the many facets of women's experiences of and contributions in the global economy.

"Women Making Financial History" introduces women who came West to make their fortunes, and build businesses and communities. It shows female Wells Fargo agents who provided financial services across the frontier, and remarkable woman pioneers in banking. You can enter a money vault to view historic coins and currency featuring women. You can experience banking in the 1920s inside our recreated bank Women's Department, and see vintage bank advertisements focused on women customers.

The first woman to be portrayed on U.S. currency was Martha Washington, the first First Lady of the United States. She was featured on an 1891 One Dollar Silver Certificate, which were exchanged for silver coins from 1878 to 1964. (It is still legal tender, too.) In the Museum, you can take photos and print your mug on vintage style bills, and take them home with you. (Look serious or silly — your choice!)

Find out what it was really like to work in a bank a long time ago, as you try your hand on our 1895 check cutter. See other machines that men and women bankers would have used back then. You can talk to a friend on two old-fashioned candlestick telephones. No speed dialing, though.

Ever heard of a "Stocking Room"? There was a time in the early 1900s when women didn't feel comfortable entering the very masculine environment of banks, and even avoided having bank accounts. Some women tucked their money and valuables in their stockings instead, under their floor-length skirts.

In order to gain these women for customers, banks came up with the Stocking Room — a Women's Department. This was a safe haven where ladies could remove their cash and do their banking without the distraction of men, cigars and spittoons.

Women Making Financial History will run through spring 2010, and can be seen at:

The Wells Fargo History Museum
420 Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA

Admission to the Museum is free. Hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, closed weekends and bank holidays.

More information can be found at our Wells Fargo Historical Services website! Just click on "New Online Exhibit: Women Making Financial History."

Charles

Joycee Wong is Curator at Wells Fargo's San Francisco History Museum. (Her previous blog is here!) For Hispanic Heritage Month, Joycee reflects on the common sense we all have of celebrating family and life, whether we hail from Oaxaca or Hong Kong. (CR)

Recently, I went to the memorial park to pay respects to my dearest mom on the 4th anniversary of her death, lugging 2 large handle bags. In them were some flowers and vases, a thermos of tea and a freshly made scone, a camera (to capture the visit and share with out-of-town family later), a few old letters (to reminisce) and some tissues (for the inevitable tears). All this was my paraphernalia for a visitation to my mother's columbarium where her ashes are kept in a peaceful sanctuary.

I am reminded of the similarities between cultures when I saw a flyer a few days earlier about "Day of the Dead"  celebrations that will take place this month among many Hispanic families.

If you've never heard of it, "Day of the Dead" (El Día de los Muertos)  isn't some macabre Halloween game, but a time-honored tradition going back almost 3000 years. This holiday focuses on gatherings of families and friends, for prayer and to remember friends and family who have died. Traditions include building private altars, making sugar skulls, displaying marigolds and serving the favorite foods and beverages of the departed. Everyone visits graves with these gifts.

As a Chinese-American, I grew up with light touches of traditions on the multitude of Chinese holidays and celebrations, including those honoring our deceased loved ones. Growing up in Hong Kong, I remember periodic excursions to the cemetery where my parents and sisters — saddled with armloads of food, flowers, and cleaning supplies — spent a few hours with my paternal grandmother who was buried there. Honoring the dead according to Chinese customs require certain rituals, which our family followed to some degree....

Charles

It’s a long career path from bank teller to Treasurer of the United States .

Katherine Davalos Ortega was Treasurer of the United States during the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, (1983-1989) As Treasurer, Davalos Ortega’s signature appeared on millions of dollars of U.S. currency. But her first job in finance was as a teller at the community bank in her rural hometown of Tularosa, New Mexico .

While in high school, Davalos Ortega worked at Otero County State Bank to earn money for college. This bank, where the future Treasurer of the United States began her career, became a part of Wells Fargo in 1999. While in school, Davalos Ortega aspired to become a teacher, but she learned she likely would not be hired for a teaching position. In those years, prior to the huge movement for Civil Rights , routine discrimination plauged women and minorities. Davalos Ortega entered the accounting field instead, climbing steadily in accounting and financial services firms. In 1975 she became chief executive of Santa Ana State Bank, and the first woman bank president in California.

As her influence expanded, Davalos Ortega had become active in politics. She served on several federal commissions and advisory councils, and in 1983, was nominated as Treasurer by President Reagan. Davalos Ortega was the tenth woman and second Latina to hold the post. As Treasurer of the United States, Ortega oversaw production of coins and currency and the United States Savings Bond program. She also raised $40 million, through commemorative coin sales, to restore the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Davalos Ortega gave the keynote speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention, the first woman of Hispanic descent to deliver a keynote at a national political convention.

Treasurer Davalos Ortega left her post, and Washington, in 1989. She returned to her family’s financial business in New Mexico, where she served on several corporate boards. In recognition of her lifetime achievements and rise from humble beginnings to the highest levels of public service, she received the Horatio Alger Award  in 2002.

Treasurer Davalos Ortega acknowledged her heritage at her swearing-in  in 1983. "And so," she said, "it is with a deep sense of honor and pride that I shall serve as our country's 38th Treasurer. And following the Hispanic tradition, I have chosen to have my name appear on our currency as Katherine Davalos Ortega. For in doing so, I will be honoring my father as well as my mother. Thank you."

Trudy

My 2 ½-year old grand-daughter already scrambles up on my lap when I sit down in front of the computer, and asks, "Are you checking your e-mail?"

Even at her young age, she isn't intimidated by technology. Her generation's baby and toddler toys  are geared to emulate or teach or entertain using technology. It stands to reason that today it would not be necessary for a bank to try and "humanize" its automated teller machine by putting a pretty face and cute name on it.

That's because no one is afraid of technology now — except me.

First National Bank of Atlanta , a Wachovia predecessor, was concerned that the relatively new automated teller machine (ATM) it introduced in 1974 would appear cold and difficult to use.

In those days, customers were accustomed to walking inside a bank and chatting with a pleasant teller. So First National named their ATM "Tillie the All Time Teller,"  and put the face of a smiling blonde girl on the front of the machine. "Tillie" looked inviting to customers and suggested that the machine was highly user-friendly.

Did it work? In a word, yes. Tillie launched one of the most successful ATM systems in the banking industry.

In their efforts to promote Tillie, First National hired a blonde actress who wore a red and white polka-dotted dress in TV ads. She sang: "I'm Tillie the All time Teller, I work for First National Bank" as she stood beside the machine. In another Tillie ad, a balding, middle-aged man approached the machine singing, to the tune of the classic "If You Knew Susie": 

Oh, if you knew Tillie like I know Tillie
Oh, oh, oh, what a girl!
She works to please me, to make life easy
Oh, oh, she makes my banking smooth and breezy
Day or nighttime, I don't care
When I need money, I know my all-time teller's there!
If you knew Tillie, like I know Tillie
Oh, oh, oh!

Bill Taylor

On Monday, I blogged about Northwestern National Bank's centennial idea to have a "Pioneer Bank" then a "Future Bank." Wells Fargo team member Leslie Swan worked at both when she began her career in banking. She shared with me the popularity of the Pioneer Bank.

Now...to the Future Bank!

The Pioneer Bank's life span was planned to last six months. The space was then quickly renovated into a new banking experience called "The Future Bank." Where Pioneer Bank had offered a glimpse of the past, the Future Bank was to give banking customers a tangible look forward into the future.

The fully functional teller line offered the same personalized services that conventional tellers provided. But if customers chose to, they could also access bank services by space age  machines that must have seemed worthy of George Jetson.  A 24-Hour Total Teller Machine allowed $25 or $50 dollar withdrawals (with a $100 per day limit). A Picture Phone, with a direct line to personal banking, served as the directory of information on departments and services. The Banking Services Information Console was a kiosk with videotaped information on various banking services. The information included instructions on how to write yourself a loan from Ready Reserve, use the Instant Cash Card, and how to determine which savings account was best for the customer.

Most intriguing to me were Video Tellers and a Self-Service Postal Center. At the One Universal TV Tellers, customers conversed with tellers via closed circuit TV, using pneumatic tubes to send the work back and forth. Video Tellers were touted as having "Mechanical efficiency with a personal touch." The Self-Service Postal Center, which seems monstrous by today's standards, sold stamps, accepted letters and packages, and contained a "Hotline" connection to the main post office information desk....

Bill Taylor

At the Wells Fargo History Museums, it is our job to interpret, discuss, and relay history to our visitors. I find it fascinating that we are often the recipients of history from our visitors.

In Minneapolis recently, team member Leslie Swan told me about some of her more memorable experiences working for Northwestern National Bank at the beginning of her career. She had the unique experience of working in both the "Pioneer Bank" — a fully functional turn of the century replica bank — and the "Future Bank," a fully functional bank that highlighted the future of banking, including ATMs, an automated post office, and video bankers. Both "Pioneer Bank" and "Future Bank" were created to celebrate Northwestern National Bank's centennial in 1972.

Let me share what I learned from Leslie.

The Pioneer Bank
The Pioneer Bank opened March 23, 1972, to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Northwestern National Bank in Minneapolis. Housed in a small section of the building's main floor, the Pioneer Bank replicated an 1890s bank, with authentic fixtures and employees dressed in period costume. There was even a turn-of-the-century entrance on 7th Street.

A Centennial Committee, working with retired bank historian Tony Dokken, spent six months researching and acquiring 1890s period items for the Pioneer Bank. The authentic turn of the century teller's cages, and a high table for hand ledger postings, were found in the Elrosa, Minnesota  State Bank Building. The Minnesota Historical Society  loaned other items, such as a period typewriter, check perforator, a letter scale, Dictaphone, hat rack, umbrella stand and spittoon. A lobby writing desk and other bank fixtures came from the North American State Bank in Belgrade, Minnesota.  A period roll-top desk was located in an Iowa office building.

Portraits of presidents Washington, Lincoln, Garfield, and Grant decorated the walls, along with a portrait of Dorilus Morrison, NWNB bank's first president and Minneapolis' first mayor....

Charles

When I wrote about Wells Fargo's 1916 office in the Philippines a couple weeks ago, I got this response:

Thanks for this entry. My wife grew up in the Philippines and I just eat up anything I can regarding FIlipino [sic] history, especially pre WWII. I think it is very important for me to learn as much about Pinoy history and culture as I can so I can help my childeren [sic] understand and be proud of their own heritage and see Filipino culture as something deeper than what we see on ASAP & The Buzz (popular Filipino TV shows). So, thanks for the post. A question: how long did Wells maintain a presence in the Philippines and what were the reasons for their exit from the island?

Thanks!
Dave

Before I answer Dave's question, this is a great example for why we celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage Month. (Indeed, all diversity.) Not only have people from different places and cultures contributed to our national parade, as it were, they also have — are! — contributing every moment. As with Dave and his family, they get married, move to new places, have kids and send them to school. They do everything that everybody does. Recognizing diversity isn't about calling out the differences one day or one month each year, it's about seeing all we have in common, beneath the physical and cultural differences.

From there, sharing any differences makes everybody better off. I mean, how can you be suspicious of Southeast Asian differences after you've eaten cuisine from the region? How can you dismiss Latin Americans' differences after you learn Spanish and discover its poetic genius, maybe the loveliest expression of being human?

OK, I'm getting all worked up about the potential of One World , so I'll stop. Just promise me you'll go to the next local ethnic festival , eat the food and listen to the sounds. It's a day well spent, and I stake my good looks on it!

Back to Dave's question about Wells Fargo in the Philippines. Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express opened offices there starting in 1902. In 1918, the Express was absorbed by the U.S. Government as a wartime measure, but Wells Fargo Bank continued operations in San Francisco. With dozens of correspondent offices worldwide, including 16 in the Philippines, Wells Fargo Bank transacted financial services around the globe.

In 1935, Wells Fargo Chairman Frederick L. Lipman declared, "The Bank of the Philippines at Manila is an old correspondent." Since the 1960s, relationships with other international financial services companies, and Wells Fargo's own remittance services, continue Wells Fargo's global reach.

Short answer: Wells Fargo is still there!