Charles S. Sprague Co. Papers and Addenda

The collection is divided into two series, Correspondence (arranged in alphabetical order, by author) and Ephemera. The Correspondence consists mainly of letters between investors and employees of the Charles S. Sprague Co. from the mid-1910s regarding their investments in mining stocks, including the Goldfield Merger. The letters indicate that many of the mining operations were not yielding profits. The Ephemera includes receipts and blank buy order forms.

The addenda includes business correspondence from 1913-1916 regarding business failures before and after Harry Schwaikert's sale of the stock brokerage firm Sprague & Schwaikert to Robert Byars & Co., who refused to honor stock existing stock contracts. The majority of the correspondence is from Harry Schwaikert to Charles Sprague and includes references to Schwaikert's nervous breakdown over the business failures and his unhappiness with what he calls Sprague's "extravagance." Other letters were written by various clients and regard disputes over the non-transmittal of stock certificates purchased from Sprague & Schwaikert.