Wells Fargo museum captures history of the American west

Northwestern Financial Review, Aug 1, 2001 by Crews, Jennifer Goepfert

[history]

Since 1852, the Wells Fargo stagecoach has stood as a symbol of one of the largest and most diversified banking institutions in America. The stagecoach has become a familiar site to Wells Fargo customers from California to Indiana. The familiar symbol carries the weight of a rich history of banking that extends back to the earliest days of the gold rush. Many customers, however, aren't aware they can actually visit an authentic Wells Fargo stagecoach and browse through 150 years of Wells Fargo history at one of the many Wells Fargo museums. The company maintains five historical museums in California and one in Minnesota.

Wells Fargo has taken great pains since the turn of the century to preserve the company's history through a collection of artifacts, documents, early photos, gold coins and mining tools. In the early 1900s, the company sponsored historic displays at several World's Fairs. In the 1980s, the company opened its first museum to the public in San Francisco. Since then, Wells Fargo has opened four more historical museums in California and in July 2000, Wells Fargo opened a sixth museum in downtown Minneapolis. The museum is housed on the skyway level of the Wells Fargo tower.

"Our history really differentiates us in the financial services industry" said Cindy Fiske, curator of the Minneapolis Wells Fargo Historical Museum. "So many of the services are very similar from bank to bank, but our history is very unique. It is interwoven with the American west and we are very proud of that history. We try to keep our arms around it and do the right thing with what is a large part of America's history."

Wells Fargo was born in the midst of the California Gold Rush when two eastern businessmen, Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, founded Wells, Fargo & Co., in March of 1852. Wells and Fargo recognized that minors needed a reliable way to trade gold dust and nuggets for coins and drafts or to send money to loved ones back home. The company was not the first express and banking business in the West, but it was soon recognized as the best. Wells Fargo agencies doubled as a private mail service. Customers not only transported their gold, letters, parcels and freight through Wells Fargo, but some even used the general express company to transport their wives and children. "Shotgun messengers" rode along with each stagecoach transport to protect the precious cargo en route.

Today, school children and adults alike can climb aboard a reproduction of a stagecoach and learn why Mark Twain once described a Wells Fargo coach as a "cradle on wheels." The museum uses genuine Wells Fargo artifacts to illustrate not only the history of the company, but the history of the gold rush and the Old West as well. Since the Minneapolis museum opened, more than 30,000 visitors have browsed the collections and exhibits.

The facade of the museum is a reconstructed bank window, complete with working bank tools such as adding machines and a telephone. Visitors can send messages to each other through a telegraph machine. An old horse blanket decorates a wall that details the importance of horses as transportation in the 1800s. An impressive collection of turn-- of-the-century gold coins and bank notes gleams in a window near the skyway where passersby can admire the artifacts. An original Wells Fargo treasure box and an old Wooten Patten desk stand as sentinels to the romantic history of the old west. An authentic stagecoach sits in the atrium of the Wells Fargo tower, just one floor below the museum.

Artifacts on display are taken from a corporate clearing-house that holds a carefully kept collection. Some artifacts are donated or acquired through antique shows. Most artifacts have been cared for since the turn of the century by Wells Fargo staff. The museum follows the Wells Fargo/Norwest story through a century and a half. Fiske and her colleagues are always on the lookout for new artifacts to add to their collection.

"We have an archivist who travels and goes through bank basements and records," said Fiske. "We are lucky because Wells Fargo started keeping records about how they were doing business and keeping the tools that they used to do business from around the turn of the century. But we always have feelers out in the antique community to find old items that Wells Fargo used. We are always on the lookout."

The museum also includes artifacts detailing the history of Northwestern National Bank, or Norwest, which merged with Wells Fargo in 1998. Archivists scour basements of old Norwest bank buildings in the hopes of finding additional documents, photographs and artifacts to add to the collection. A historic agency in San Francisco maintains the collection. A professional staff of museum curators, exhibit designers and collection managers work to keep the collections growing and the exhibits up-to-date.

The museum's collection is so comprehensive that it attracts scholars who are studying the history of the gold rush and the Old West. Teachers are encouraged to bring school groups in order to enhance their education of the American West. A thorough and detailed story of an American banking icon makes a trip to this museum both educational and fun.