Emmanuel H. Brandt Collection, 1807-42, 1889 | University of Illinois Archives

Description: Emmanuel H. Brandt Collection including correspondence, canceled checks, bills of lading, lists of prices current, Archangel export lists, contracts, charter party papers, insurance agreements and inventories. The incoming & outgoing business letters of E. H. Brandt in London include correspondence with Halls & Todd of Hull, William Brandt & Company of Archangel, Livio Brothers of St. Petersburg, Friedrich Oldekop of Archangel, Ramsay Williamson & Co. of Leith, Meuron & Company of Lisbon, Mollwo & Sohn of St. Petersburg, Bausch & Co. of Hamburg, March Brothers & Co. of Hamburg and March Brothers & Co. of Rio de Janiero. The papers include checks drawn on the houses of Baring, Stieglitz & Rothschild; information on shipping, insurance & litigation; packets containing consular reports; Russian naturalization papers; French passports & a book on the exploration of Novaya Zemlya, which had been funded by William Brandt. By 1807, Emmanuel H. Brandt established himself as the London agent of his brother William Brandt's Archangel trading house of Brandt, Rodde & Company. E. H. Brandt remained active throughout this period, while Brandt, Rodde & Co. remained active until 1812, when commercial difficulties of the Napoleonic era caused the firm's dissolution. At that time, Brandt, Rodde & Co. was the third largest trading firm in Archangel. In 1816, William Brandt formed William Brandt & Company, which became the major mercantile house of Archangel, Russia's fourth largest port in the 1820's. The Archangel branch of the Brandt family owned factories, banks & shipyards and served as consuls for England and the United States. As his brother's agent, E. H. Brandt's papers are a source on the Russian-English, North Sea, Portuguese & Brazilian trades for 1807-42.