1854-1958
Guide to the Collection
Abstract
This collection consists of the records of the Boston Penny Savings Bank and the Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank, which merged with the Boston Penny Savings Bank.
Historical Sketch
The Boston Penny Savings Bank was incorporated in 1861. In 1917, the bank moved to a building on Washington St. in the South End of Boston. The Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank, founded in 1854, merged with the Boston Penny Savings Bank.
Sources
"Stories of Mutual Savings Banks: The Boston Penny Savings Bank." United States Investor, vol. 33, no. 30, 29 July 1922, pp. 1593-5.
Collection Description
This collection consists of the records of the Boston Penny Savings Bank and the Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank, which merged with the Boston Penny Savings Bank. Records for the Boston Penny Savings Bank (from 1864) include volumes of: drafts, deposits (including name, residence, occupation, age, and place of birth), ledgers, cashbooks, signatures, trustees' meetings (1881-1922), the Investment Committee (1926-1955), and the Insurance Department (1939-1958).
Records of Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank (from 1854) include volumes of: signatures, deposit ledgers, dividends, the Investment Committee (1881-1895), and depositors' signatures/agents' books (1854-1855), as well as customers' savings passbooks (1854-1906) numbered 1-400 and 5001-5175 (with gaps in numbering).
The collection also contains a few unidentified volumes of deposits (1927-1932) and expenses (1941-1942) and a cashbook (1864-1871), as well as a cashbook of Monument National Bank (1873-1877) and an account book (1858-1883) shared by Monument Bank, Maverick National Bank, and Republic Bank.
Detailed Description of the Collection
I. Cased volumes, 1854-1904
NOTE: The volumes in this series have been renumbered in one continuous sequence. Please request volumes by their current numbers, which appear in the column on the right. For reference, old volume numbers have been retained on the left in parentheses.
Boston Penny Savings Bank signatures
Arranged chronologically.
#1-5,732, 18 Apr. 1864-30 Dec. 1867 (vol. 1)
[Signatures (vol. 2) missing.]
#12,311-19,008, 21 Aug. 1871-3 July 1875 (vol. 3)
#19,009-25,427, 8 July 1875-19 May 1884 (vol. 4)
#25,428-31,568, 19 May 1884-23 May 1890 (vol. 5)
#31,569-37,208, 24 May 1890-24 Sep. 1894 (vol. 6)
#37,209-42,944, 24 Sep. 1894-12 Aug. 1897 (vol. 7)
#42,945-48,680, 13 Aug. 1897-20 Jan. 1900 (vol. 8)
#48,681-54,416, 30 Jan. 1900-23 June 1902 (vol. 9)
#54,417-60,000, 23 June 1902-26 Apr. 1904 (vol. 10)
Boston Penny Savings Bank drafts
Arranged chronologically.
28 Apr. 1864-30 Dec. 1871 (vol. 1)
1 Jan. 1872-20 Oct. 1875 (vol. 2)
21 Oct. 1875-31 Dec. 1880 (vol. 3)
1 Jan. 1881-5 May 1886 (vol. 4)
6 May 1886-31 Mar. 1888 (vol. 5)
Boston Penny Savings Bank deposits
Arranged chronologically.
18 Apr. 1864-13 Sep. 1867 (vol. 1)
14 Sep. 1867-31 Mar. 1870 (vol. 2)
1 Apr. 1870-26 Apr. 1872 (vol. 3)
27 Apr. 1872-4 Aug. 1874 (vol. 4)
5 Aug. 1874-26 Feb. 1878 (vol. 5)
27 Feb. 1878-9 Mar. 1883 (vol. 6)
10 Mar. 1883-21 May 1886 (vol. 7)
22 May 1886-31 Mar. 1888 (vol. 8)
Boston Penny Savings Bank ledgers
Arranged chronologically.
#1-2,288, 1864-1891 (vol. 1)
#2,289-4,592, 1865-1881 (vol. 2)
#4,593-6,928, [1867-1891] (vol. 3)
#6,929-9,232, [1868-1891] (vol. 4)
#9,233-11,536, [1870-1871] (vol. 5)
#11,537-13,808, 1871-1872 (vol. 6)
#13,809-16,096, 1872-1873 (vol. 7)
Boston Penny Savings Bank cashbooks
Arranged chronologically.
Apr. 1864-Nov. 1874 (A)
Dec. 1874-July 1882 (B)
Aug. 1882-Jan. 1890 (C)
[Cashbook (D) missing.]
Apr. 1897-Apr. 1904 (E)
Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank signatures
Arranged chronologically.
[Signatures (vol. 1) missing.]
#3,049-6,843, 30 Aug. 1862-4 Jan. 1868 (vol. 2)
#6,844-11,250, 6 Jan. 1868-21 Apr. 1871 (vol. 3)
#11,251-15,782, 19 Apr. 1871-2 Mar. 1874 (vol. 4)
#15,783-20,925, 3 Mar. 1874-9 July 1877 (vol. 5)
Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank deposit ledgers
Arranged chronologically.
[Deposit ledgers (nos. 1-5) missing.]
1865-1883 (no. 6)
1867-1886 (no. 7)
1868-1886 (no. 8)
1879-1888 (no. 9)
1869-1888 (no. 10)
Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank dividends
Arranged chronologically.
#1-34, 1854-1871
#35-45, 1871-1876
Unidentified bank cashbook, 1864-1871
Monument National Bank cashbook, 1873-1877
Boston Penny Savings Bank deposits
Arranged chronologically.
1869-1870 (vol. 1)
1870-1871 (vol. 2)
1871-1872 (vol. 3)
1872-1873 (vol. 4)
1873-1874 (vol. 5)
1874-1875 (vol. 6)
1875-1877 (vol. 7)
1877-1881 (vol. 8)
1881-1883 (vol. 9)
1883-1886 (vol. 10)
1886-1887 (vol. 11)
1887-1889 (vol. 12)
II. Boxed volumes, 1854-1958
NOTE: The volumes in this series have been housed in document boxes. Please request volumes by their box numbers, which appear in the column on the right. For reference, old volume numbers have been retained on the left in parentheses.
Boston Penny Savings Bank trustees' meetings records
Arranged chronologically.
[Records (vol. 1) missing.]
1881-1905 (vol. 2)
1906-1922 (vol. 3)
Boston Penny Savings Bank Investment Committee records
Arranged chronologically.
1864-1879 (vol. 1)
1879-1898 (vol. 2)
1898-1921 (vol. 3)
1922-1926 (vol. 4)
1926-1930 (vol. 5)
1930-1933 (vol. 6)
1933-1936 (vol. 7)
1936-1940 (vol. 8)
1940-1943 (vol. 9)
[Records (vols. 10-14) missing.]
1953-1955 (vol. 15)
Boston Penny Savings Bank Investment Committee, Insurance Dept. records
Arranged chronologically.
1939-1944 (vol. 1)
1944-1958 (vol. 2)
Charlestown Five Cent Savings Bank Investment Committee records, 1881-1895
Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank depositors' signatures, agent's books
[1854-1855] (no. 1)
[1854-1855] (no. 2)
[1854-1855] (no. 3)
[1854-1855] (no. 4)
[1854-1855] (no. 5)
[1854-1855] (no. 6)
Unidentified bank deposits, 1927-1932
Unidentified bank expense book, 1941-1942
Reports on Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank by Edwin L. Pride and Co., Inc., Certified Public Accountants, Boston
Arranged chronologically.
1 Apr. 1910
1 Oct. 1910
1 Apr. 1911
30 Sep. 1911
1 Apr. 1912
1 Oct. 1912
1 Apr. 1913
1 Oct. 1913
31 Mar. 1915
31 Mar. 1916
30 Sep. 1916
29 Sep. 1917
31 Mar. 1919
31 Mar. 1920
Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank customer passbooks
Arranged chronologically.
#1-400, 1854-1906 (with gaps)
#5,001-5,175, 1865-1906
Unidentified bank ledger indexes #1, 6, 7, 9-14, 17-22, and one unnumbered index with missing covers
Boston Penny Savings Bank cashbook #1, 18 Apr. 1864-3 Sep. 1872 (repeats dates from Vol. 30, cashbook A)
Account book for Monument National Bank, 5 Aug. 1858-June 1883; Maverick National Bank, 1 Nov. 1879-Dec. 1888; Republic Bank, 15 July 1882-June 1883
Preferred Citation
Boston Penny Savings Bank records, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.