Private Eyes

Allan Pinkerton, Brady's National photographic Galleries, ca. 1861.

A number of years ago I was asked for help in finding information on someone who supposedly worked for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, and in the process, I was surprised to discover that the Manuscript Division has some of the company records.  Ever since then, every time I run across a mention of this company, I think of that collection.

Allan Pinkerton was born in Glasgow on August 25, 1819 and moved to the United States as a young man. After working for the Chicago police, he left to found Pinkerton National Detective Agency. He is credited with disrupting an assassination plot against President Lincoln and was even hired to “investigate” and gather military information in the South in the early days of the Civil War. His Union Intelligence Service was a precursor to the United States Secret Service.  After his service in the war, he returned to the private sector and his company.  Allan Pinkerton died July 1, 1884, the companyhe founded is still around doing pretty much what he did all those years ago.

Incidents of the war, group at Secret Service Department Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, Antietam, October 1862. Group of men, including Allan and William Pinkerton, and several Union Army officers.

Jesse James, ca May 1882.

If you want a better sense of what the firm actually did, a quick look though the finding aid on this collection is eye opening – if you will pardon the pun. There is the Criminal Case File, which has information on many crimes of the day.  For example, there were the thefts at the Adams Express Co., forgeries at the Bank of England, the murders of Josephine Barnaby and William Lowe Rice, a robbery of the Bauman-Massa Jewelry Co., information from the investigation of the Molly Maguires, material on the Homestead Strike, etc.  Even more tantalizing is the material on gangs and outlaws that became part of American folklore, such as Jesse James and the James family, the Younger family, the “The James-Younger Gang”, the William Barrett gang, Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan’s gang, and the Bass-Collins gang.

Antietam, Md. Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln, and Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand. Alexander Gardner, October 3, 1862.

The Administrative File contains internal information, such as training manuals from the 1950’s, public relations and promotional material, material related to the American Bankers Association, and reward books from Denver, New Orleans, Kansas City and other locations.  But it also has information on the firm’s activities including even more material related to the “Baltimore Plot” to assassinate Lincoln, other Civil War related activity, and. U.S. Secret Service correspondence.

If you want to read more, there are a number of articles in Chronicling America. There was one from 1895 in the Omaha Daily Bee that caught my eye because it related many anecdotes and included drawings based on photos from the Library’s collection that I featured in this post.  The article was written by Cleveland Moffett who wrote True Detective Stories from the Archives of the Pinkertons, as well as another article in 1905. There were many other articles covering the firm’s exploits, including one written not long after Pinkerton died, another titled “King of the Sleuths,” which was a “study of the modern detective” featuring William Pinkerton; and lastly, one that featured Bob Pinkerton and a robbery of $40,000.

Antietam, Md. Allan Pinkerton ("E. J. Allen") of the Secret Service. Alexander Gardner, September 1862.

The Library has books about Pinkerton, such as Allan Pinkerton: The Eye who Never Slept, as well as items like General Principles and Rules of Pinkerton’s National Police Agency. Allan Pinkerton was himself an author, and the Library has several of his books including The Expressman and the Detective, The Detective and the Somnambulist; The Murderer and the Fortune Teller and an autobiography.

Collecting and Preserving Websites

As librarians, we identify, evaluate, select, collect, describe, preserve and provide access to materials to facilitate use. As librarians of the 21st century, we have integrated digital collections such as ebooks, databases, datasets, and other digital objects into our traditional analog collections. What about websites? Do libraries collect websites? Back in January,  I presented on …

Read more »

Stumbled Upon In The Stacks, Or The Chimp In My Office

Our guest author today is Michelle Cadoree Bradley, Science Reference Specialist.  Michelle entered the Library of Congress as part of the Library of Congress Intern Program (1989-90).  After completing her internship she joined the then Science and Technology Division.  She holds a master’s in Library and Information Science from Louisiana State University School of Library and …

Read more »

Labor’s Day

Last year’s Labor Day post was about the history of Labor Day.  This year, I thought I would highlight sources that can be used to learn more about American labor and issues affecting the workplace. The U.S. Department of Labor has a long history of publishing information.  The Labor Bulletin began in 1913 and the …

Read more »

BEOnline

I thought I would take an opportunity to post briefly on BEOnline (Business and Economics Online).  The BEOnline project began in 1996 and has developed into a useful collection of Internet links organized by subject area. Donna Scanlon who blogged for Business before I did, featured the job search and career assistance area in a …

Read more »

Pic of the Week: “What number please?”

Today’s photo features a map of the telephone lines found in the October 1894 issue of the National Telephone Directory from American Telephone and Telegraph Company.  As noted on the title page, this publication “is intended to be a List of Stations Connected by Metallic-Circuit Lines” within the “LONG DISTANCE” System and includes businesses and …

Read more »