War Bond Records

Publication

St. Mary's County Historical Society, Leonardtown, MD

Name/Title

War Bond Records

Entry/Object ID

2014.018.0092

Description

Various Liberty Bonds were sold during World War I and U. S. Savings Bonds aka U.S. War Bonds were sold during World War II. Liberty Bonds were issued in five different series over time. The bank ordered bonds from the United States Treasury Department and then sold them to countians. The recordkeeping was formidable and all by hand—the bond numbers alone were long and just invited errors. Actual pieces of paper had to be mailed, copies had to be made by hand. Sometimes bonds were lost and it was a complicated business to prove ownership. As an example of the technicalities, here is a paragraph from a letter of July 13, 1922: “We are returning to you, under separate cover, by registered mail, $200 Victory 4 ¾% Notes No. 313573/74 for $100 each, both registered in the name of Mrs. Nannie F. Fenwick. In the assignment on the back of these bonds the prefix Mrs. has been omitted, and we will thank you to see that this is supplied.” When bondholders wanted to redeem their paper, the bonds went to Baltimore to be sold. At some point in the early 1920s, bonds had to be exchanged, but I have not discovered why. This was very difficult; owners had to be contacted, the process explained, suspicion overcome, and paperwork processed. It appears that few people held their bonds for ten years. This series contains: Book of Liberty Bonds and Judgments from 1917-1920 Sheets listing bond purchasers for Liberty Bond issues #1-5 Large ledger of individual purchasers’ accounts with many small receipts Correspondence and examples of forms associated with Liberty Bonds Ledger “Liberty Bonds Purchased” with only twelve pages of entries 2014.018.0022 Liberty Bond Exchange Register from the early 1920s Alpha tabbed index of War Bond purchasers in 1941 and 1942 Pages from a post binder listing redemption of bonds in 1944 and 1945 ************************************************************* Text on Verso: N/A

Collection

County Trust Company Collection

Publication Details

Date Published

1912 - 1945