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Palace Green Library
Palace Green
DURHAM
DH1 3RN
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)191 334 2972
Email: pg.library@durham.ac.uk
General
Resources for some specific aspects of Economics and Finance are highlighted below, but resources for many more specific aspects can be identified by searching for the appropriate term (maybe such as accounts or receipts or vouchers) in Discover and restricting the search to ‘Durham Archives’ or by searching the printed catalogue by selecting such as ‘economics’ as a subject keyword and restricting the search to ‘Special Collections’ or ‘Ushaw College’ which will reveal historic works on the subject going back into the 17th century from this country, and such as France and Italy.
The Backhouse Papers relate to the family of Jonathan Backhouse junior (1779-1842), Quaker banker of Darlington, and include correspondence, papers, accounts, bills, ledgers and vouchers relating to business and banking matters.
Other relevant collections include the Baker Baker Papers, the Baring (Howick of Glendale) Papers, the Cookson Family papers, the Papers of Charles Robert, 5th Earl Grey and Sir Donald Hawley’s papers relating to some of the early activities of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
Publications of and about local banks can also be found in such as the Grey pamphlets and also the printed Local collection.
Medieval Economics and Finance
The Church Commission deposit of Durham palatinate and bishopric records relate to the financial administration of the Palatinate of Durham and the bishopric of Durham for the later Middle Ages with a range of interrelated financial accounts. For examples of the coinage that facilitated these financial records, there is also the Durham Palatinate Mint Coin Collection. There is even more financial documentation in one of the most comprehensive surviving medieval archives of the country, that of Durham Cathedral, covering the financial administration of its departments at the cathedral, its cells or subsidiary priories throughout the country and into Scotland, and its management of the local economy through its estates which much detailed financial documentation, such as acquittances, bonds, inventories and statuses of accounts not often surviving elsewhere.
North East Early Modern and Later Economics and Finance
A number of extensive archives provide much information on the finances of the North East and the development of its economy and economics since the medieval period. The Durham Cathedral Archive, and its related Chapter Church Commission archive, and the Church Commission deposit of Durham palatinate and bishopric records relate to major ecclesiastical organisations very active in these areas.
There are also a number of major family archives which detail those families’ finances and their contributions to the local economy in their efforts to develop their own, such as the Earls Grey of Howick, the Lords Eden of Windlestone, the Baker Bakers, the Backhouses from Darlington, the Shaftoes of Beamish, and the Shipperdsons.
From the earlier 19th century onwards, there are then major educational institutions with records of their own extensive finances, with Ushaw College from 1808 and the University of Durham itself from 1832. The university has of course taught and researched Economics and Finance for much of its time, and its archive includes the development of these subjects as academic disciplines over the last 150 years.
There are also some studies of local economics and finance in the printed Local Collection, and much to be found on their development and activities in such as local directories and local newspapers, much of the latter accessible on microfilm. The Local Collection also contains annual accounts and various printed reports on aspects of the local economy.
Economics and Finance in Africa
The Sudan Archive contains material relating to the economy and finances of Sudan in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It also has papers on the work of some members of its department of Economics and Trade, such as T.F.G. Carless, A.W.M. Disney, E.F. Aglen, and H.A. Nicholson.
The papers of Shuqair, S. relate to Sudan Government finances, the Bank of Abyssinia, and Palestine and Syria finances 1918-1919 whilst the papers of Cummins, J. W. include official documents relating to Sudan finance during periods of war. Other relevant collections include Carmichael, J. and Bulkeley, R. I. P.
Information on and books relating to the finances and economy of Egypt can also be found in the Abbas Hilmi II papers.
