Bank Drafts- Handwritten, 1865-1880

The Eutaw Savings Bank Records contain bank drafts both handwritten and printed from Eutaw Savings Bank, as well as the bank’s correspondence, legal documents, and receipts. The collection also houses bank drafts related to the operations of Western National Bank. This collection spans the years 1863-1900, but the primary bulk of data falls within the years of 1864-1868 and 1880.

The bulk of the records are made up of bank drafts, handwritten by Eutaw Savings Bank. These are contained within the first two boxes (or the first 17 folders) of the records. In processing this collection, an attempt was made to preserve original order as much as possible, however, for organizational purposes some bank drafts were transferred between folders. This occurred only if, for example, all the drafts in a folder were dated 1865 except for two that were dated 1868. The two drafts were then transferred to another folder, which already housed 1868 drafts; folders were labeled according to date and document type. The folders were then organized chronologically within each box, but no transferring took place between the boxes. Also note that strict chronological order is not maintained within the individual folders. Another large portion of this collection is dedicated to printed bank drafts. Two folders of drafts printed by and for the use of Eutaw Savings Bank are housed within box 2. The next 7 folders, which span from Box 3 into Box 4, contain bank drafts printed for Western National Bank (formerly Western Bank of Baltimore). The only known connection found to link Western with Eutaw Savings is that they were located within close proximity to each other on Eutaw Street in Baltimore. Some of the same people were active in both banks, for example Francis Burns served as director of Western for 30 years, but was also on the board of directors at Eutaw since its foundation. His son William F. Burns took over in 1872 as president of Eutaw after the death of its original President Mr. Hunt. Before his presidency, William F. Burns served for 23 years as director at Western. For these reasons, a close connection has been linked between the two banks, serving as a possible explanation for the question of the shared bank drafts. Note, however, that no historical evidence points to any merger or take over between the two banks.

A very small portion of the collection (4 folders) are dedicated to documents other than bank drafts, including correspondence, legal documents, and receipts. This small portion makes up series II and III and its original order has been maintained.