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Liberty Loan Committee Records
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Liberty Loan Committee coordinated campaigns to sell U.S. Treasury bonds to the American public from 1917 to 1919 in order to fund United States involvement in World War I. The Committee was managed by the Federal Reserve. Campaigns to promote the sale of the bonds were conducted by Federal Reserve District and emphasized the patriotic duty of citizens to aid the war effort through the purchase of the bonds.
United States entry into World War I necessitated a huge increase in government spending, both for the U.S. military and in aid for the Allies. One of the main fundraising efforts for the government were four Liberty Loans and a fifth Victory Loan, which sold U.S. Treasury bonds to the American public. The sale of the loans were managed by the Federal Reserve, which had been established only a few years earlier. The Federal Reserve Banks, and therefore the bond sale campaigns, were organized by twelve Federal Reserve Districts: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco. The Federal Reserve was also responsible for managing the distribution of the funds in the nation's banks and withdrawing funds as they were needed by the government.
The Liberty Loan committees organized highly successful advertising campaigns based on patriotism to inspire the American public to buy the bonds, allowing the Treasury to sell them at a lower interest rate than the market would have set. The advertising campaigns took many forms. The Committee distributed posters and pamphlets, buttons and stickers, and many businesses decorated their store front windows with the ads. Prominent politicians, sports figures, and artists publicly bought bonds, inspiring their fans and supporters to do the same. "Four Minute Men" spoke after movies and plays about the importance of buying bonds. Parades were held featuring wounded veterans, and there were war-exhibit trains and aerial demonstrations by skilled fighter pilots that traveled across the country. More than 100,000 clergymen of many denominations delivered Liberty Loan sermons, and in May 1917 the National Women's Liberty Loan Committee was organized under the premise that women would provide a moral force in war finance. The Liberty Loan Committee became one of the largest committees in American history.
The First Liberty Loan of $2 billion was offered to the public in May and June 1917 and quickly oversubscribed by an estimated 4 million Americans. All four subsequent loans were also oversubscribed, in the first three by an increasing number of individuals. The Second Liberty Loan was offered in October 1917, the third was offered April to May 1918, the fourth, the largest of the loans, was offered September to October 1918, and the Victory Loan was offered from April to May 1919. All together, the Liberty Loans raised over 21 billion dollars for the United States war effort. Given the huge sums of money involved, the government needed to balance the movement of the money to avoid disturbing money markets, and the government also required the funds sooner than the Liberty Loan campaigns could provide. One of the most significant tools used to resolve this was through issuing certificates of indebtedness, which were also coordinated by the Federal Reserve. These certificates were short term government loans with low interest rates. Eighty-four series were issued up to June 1921, mostly in anticipation of liberty loans or receipts from taxes, spreading out the payment of funds to the government.
The Liberty Loan campaigns were successful in achieving the Treasury Department's object to market a huge increase in debt at a relatively low direct cost to the Treasury. The public bought most of the debt, and commercial banks bought approximately 20% of the total issue of the loans. The Loans also marked a significant shift in American credit, moving lending and borrowing into the social mainstream, where before it had been the province of skilled investors only.
The Liberty Loan Committee Records document the four Liberty Loan and the Victory Loan campaigns and include advertisements, committee memoranda, forms and descriptions of the loans, and subscription information. Additionally, the records include materials about other organizations active during World War I, especially those involved in fundraising and aid work, including the sale of war savings stamps by the National War Savings Committee.
Please see the series descriptions in the contents list for additional information about individual series.
The Records have been arranged in five series:
The following sources were consulted during the preparation of the organizational history: The ABC of the Federal Reserve System by Edwin W. Kemmerer. Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey, 1936. "History Lesson: Loans for Nearly Everyone" by James Grant. Barron's National Business and Financial Weekly, June 6, 1992. A History of the Federal Reserve by Allan H. Meltzer. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 2003. "Liberty Loan Triumph Seen Ten Years After" by Carson H. Hathaway. The New York Times, May 8, 1927.
The scrapbooks were transferred to the Mudd Manuscript Library in February 2008 from the General Collection in Firestone Library, Princeton University. No other provenance or acquisition information is available for this collection.
This collection was processed by Adriane Hanson, Clelia Douyon and Grace Loro in 2008. Finding aid written by Adriane Hanson in August 2008.
No materials were separated from this collection during processing in 2008.
People
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- Public Policy Papers
- Finding Aid Author
- Adriane Hanson
- Finding Aid Date
- 2008
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. For quotations that are fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. For those few instances beyond fair use, researchers are responsible for determining who may hold the copyright and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from the Mudd Library to move forward with their use.
Collection Inventory
The Certificates of Indebtedness and Other Bank Data series is composed of memoranda and pamphlets sent from the Federal Reserve Banks to the banks in their districts with information regarding loan programs to facilitate the purchase of Liberty bonds and other administrative issues related to fundraising efforts for United States involvement in World War I. The series also includes statistics from banks regarding the number of bonds they had sold.
Arranged numerically by Federal Reserve District and then chronologically.
Physical Description5 boxes
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The Liberty Loans series documents the five issues of the loans: the four Liberty Loans and the Victory Loan. The majority of the records are related to publicity efforts of the Liberty Loan committees to promote the purchase of the bonds, including press releases of the publicity committee, newspaper clippings, posters and other advertisements, addresses, and a few photographs. Other records contain information about the bonds, such as circular letters to banks, forms, and subscription information. Also included are materials to encourage sellers of the bonds and information about the sales progress, such as newsletters, pamphlets, and memoranda.
Please see also Series 5: Oversized Materials for newspaper advertisements, photograph albums, and scrapbooks related to all five of the loans.
Arranged chronologically by loan issue and then numerically by Federal Reserve District.
Physical Description22 boxes
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The Topical Files series is composed of a variety of materials related to World War I, especially fundraising and aid work. The majority of the materials are bulletins, newsletters, and other publications of fundraising and relief organizations describing their work, seeking donations, or promoting ways that individuals could aid the war effort. The series also includes newspaper clippings and articles about the war, especially related to finance, business and industry, and rationales for United States involvement in the war, as well as a small number of publications of government departments and information on fundraising efforts in allied countries.
Please see also Series 5: Oversized Materials for additional materials related to the American Red Cross and to atrocities committed by Germans.
Physical Description15 boxes
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The War Savings Stamps series contains materials related to the sale of war savings stamps by the National War Savings Committee to raise funds for the war and to promote ways that people could aid the war effort through reduced consumption and an emphasis on thrift. The Liberty Loan Committee sometimes aided the National War Savings Committee in advertising and sales efforts, especially later in the war. The materials include advertisements on the importance of buying the stamps and information on how to start a war savings society, as well as newsletters on upcoming meetings and events, information for banks about issuing certificates, information for sellers of stamps, and statistics about sales progress.
Please see also Series 5: Oversized Materials for additional materials, most of which are advertisements.
Arranged alphabetically by state.
Physical Description3 boxes
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The Oversized Materials series contains newspaper advertisements, photograph albums, and scrapbooks related to Liberty and Victory Loan campaigns, as well as war savings stamps campaigns and a small amount of material related to the American Red Cross and atrocities committed by Germans.
Arranged by size, and then alphabetically by subject.
Physical Description12 boxes
Contains glass slides.
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