old family and business records - would anyone want them?

December 15, 2018 6:51 AM

I have the financial records for an insurance salesman during the 1930's, 40's, 50's. in a southern city. Would this type of material be of interest to anyone? What sort of researcher or library collection should I be looking for? I don't have a lot of time before the house will be taken down.
posted by egk to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

Best answer: I'm a historian, but I work on early modern Europe. If your southern city is in the US south, my first thought would be to look for the closest academic research library on this list of members of the Association of Research Libraries, contact the director of Special Collections, and ask whether they would be interested in the collection, and if not, whether they know a collection that might.
posted by brianogilvie at 7:16 AM on December 15, 2018 [3 favorites]

My old university library isn't on the list posted above but it does have an archive which accepts all kinds of local records - at least it did when I was a student worker.
posted by bunderful at 7:32 AM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Also check if your town has some sort of historical society. Those types of records are gold for them.
posted by COD at 7:32 AM on December 15, 2018 [6 favorites]

I would also check with the state historical society.
posted by percolatrix at 9:46 AM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: ok, I've contacted special collections at the closest university and also the historical society. I appreciate your time and input.
posted by egk at 2:42 PM on December 15, 2018 [3 favorites]

If he worked for an insurance company that's still around even if acquired or renamed -- quite likely, insurance companies are long-lived -- the insurance company's corporate archivist might be interested.
posted by MattD at 3:32 PM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]