Contents and Arrangement Collection View
Description:

The Biographical series is composed of photographs and memorabilia mounted on pages in approximately chronological order. The pages document Widenmann's travels, attendance at conferences, and informal interactions with colleagues and friends, and also include a smaller amount of material on Loeb, Rhoades & Company and United States financial conditions. The photographs include formal group photographs, head shots and candid shots of event attendees at receptions, images of tourist attractions, and images of individuals at parties and on the beach. Some photographs include captions with the names of the individuals in the images. The memorabilia include clippings of articles and political cartoons, event programs, travel itineraries, invitations to events, Widenmann's name tags, and travel brochures. In addition, there are three bound volumes with similar content.

Arranged chronologically.

Description:

The Correspondence series contains Widenmann's professional correspondence with bankers, businessmen, government officials, and academics. The majority of the letters are in response to Widenmann's requests for copies of articles or speeches, often with the requested item and sometimes with Widenmann's comments on the item. The series also includes correspondence between Widenmann and United States government officials regarding his views of financial policies, Widenmann writing colleagues about the state of the stock market and United States financial conditions more generally, correspondence in relation to his involvement with professional organizations and conferences, and invitations to events.

Arranged alphabetically by correspondent or subject.

Description:

The Topical Files series contains copies of articles, speeches, testimonies before Congress, press releases, memoranda, and publications collected by Widenmann on a variety of subjects. The subjects include monetary, financial, and economic conditions in the United States and internationally, United States government financial and economic policies, gold, the stock market, business, and reports on the performance of individual businesses. The materials were produced by banks and businesses, professional organizations, scholars, and businessmen.

Arranged alphabetically by subject, author, or document type.

Gold, 1976

1 folder
Description:

The Writings series includes Widenmann's writings for use within Loeb, Rhoades & Company and drafts of articles and speeches presented to the financial, economic, and business communities. The subjects of his writings include monetary problems, gold and the gold standard, the United States economy, and the money and stock markets. The reports for Loeb, Rhoades & Company include analysis of these same subjects, as well as discussions about the performance and strategies of the company. The series also includes a few reports written while Widenmann was an executive at Ludwig Bendix's firm, and a few of Widenmann's student papers.

Arranged chronologically.

Notes, 1931

1 folder

Notes, 1934

1 folder

Notes, 1937

1 folder

Notes, 1946

1 folder

Gold, 1956

1 folder

Notes, 1956

1 folder

Gold, 1960

1 folder
Scope and Contents

Widenmann's papers document his career at Loeb, Rhoades & Company and include his correspondence and writings, topical files, and biographical files. His writings include reports prepared for Loeb, Rhoades & Company. The biographical files document his business travels and participation at conferences.

Please see the series descriptions in the contents list for additional information about individual series.

Arrangement

The Papers have been arranged in four series:

Collection Creator Biography:

Widenmann, Hans A.

Hans A. Widenmann (1897-1976) was a stockbroker and economist with expertise in national and international monetary affairs. His successful business career was largely spent at Loeb, Rhoades & Company, and he was also frequently called upon to speak about international finance subjects.

Hans Adolf Karl Widenmann was born on December 15, 1897 in Hamburg, Germany to Adolf and Augusta Widenmann. In 1914, soon after the family relocated to the United States, Widenmann enrolled at Princeton University. He graduated with honors in economics in 1918. He earned his M.A. from Columbia University in 1919 and his M.Sc. from Columbia in 1920. Widenmann married Dorothy Hicks on April 2, 1927. They had a son Robert, who died during infancy, and a daughter Elizabeth Alice. Dorothy Hicks Widenmann died in 1949.

From 1919 to 1920, Widenmann was a member of the staff of the Division of Research and Statistics of the Federal Reserve Board in New York City. He then began his career on Wall Street, working for the Columbia Trust Company in the foreign department from 1920 to 1922 and in Europe from 1922 to 1923. In 1924, while still in Europe, Widenmann assisted Dr. Edwin W. Kemmerer, under whom he had studied economics at Princeton University, in developing the Dawes Plan in Berlin.

Widenmann returned to the United States in 1924, working again for a short time on the staff of the Division of Research and Statistics of the Federal Reserve Board, this time in Washington, D.C. He then returned to Wall Street for the duration of his career. From 1925 to 1930, he was an executive at the firm of Ludwig Bendix, an international banking and investment firm. In 1931, Widenmann joined the staff of Carl M. Loeb & Company, a brokerage firm. The firm later became Carl M. Loeb, Rhoades & Company, and then Loeb, Rhoades & Company. Widenmann was made a partner in 1940 and became a limited partner in 1971.

Widenmann was active in his field. He served as a lecturer on international exchange and foreign banking systems at the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Banking from 1930 to 1935. He was a member of the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange and the New York Cocoa Exchange, a governor of the Association of Stock Exchange Firms, and a member of the board of arbitration of the New York Stock Exchange. Widenmann was a delegate to and spoke at numerous international financial conferences throughout his career, notably the First Hemispheric Stock Exchange Conference in New York (1947) and subsequent conferences in Santiago, Chile (1948) and Santos, Brazil (1950). He also served as president of the Princeton University Class of 1918 from 1964 to 1976, was a member of the Alumni Council from 1963 to 1976, and served as a member of the advisory council of the Princeton University Art Museum from 1973 to 1976. Widenmann died on November 24, 1976, at the age of 78.

Acquisition:

This collection was donated by Elizabeth A. Widenmann, the daughter of Hans. A. Widenmann, in December 1982 .

Appraisal

Duplicate materials were separated from this collection.

Sponsorship:

These papers were processed with the generous support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the John Foster and Janet Avery Dulles Fund, and an anonymous foundation.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Adriane Hanson and Christopher Shannon in 2006. Finding aid written by Adriane Hanson in January 2007.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Credit this material:

Hans A. Widenmann Papers; Public Policy Papers, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/4b29b5996
Location:
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
65 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
(609) 258-6345
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-60
Related Materials

A small collection of Widenmann's notes from his banking classes at Columbia University is located at the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

This collection is part of a group of 28 Mudd Manuscript Library collections related to 20th century economic thought and development which were processed as part of a National Historical Publications and Records Commission funded project. Researchers wishing to access these collections should search for the subject "Economics--20th century" or related terms in the Princeton University Library Main Catalog. Collections at the Mudd Manuscript Library of particular relevance to the Hans A. Widenmann Papers are the papers of two other bankers with expertise in international finance, Harvey E. Fisk and Fred I. Kent.

Bibliography

The following sources were consulted during the preparation of the biographical note: "Hans A. Widenmann, 78; Partner in Loeb, Rhoades Had a Long Fiscal Career," The New York Times, November 26, 1976. Widenmann, Hans A. K. 1918; Undergraduate Alumni Records, Box 492; University Archives, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Subject Terms:
Brokers -- United States.
Economics -- 20th century.
Finance -- United States.
International finance.
Monetary policy.
Stock exchanges -- United States.
Genre Terms:
Correspondence
Photographs, Original.
Writings.
Names:
Loeb, Rhoades & Co
Widenmann, Hans A.
Places:
United States -- Economic policy -- 20th century.