Manuscripts Collection
The Piper Jaffray Companies Inc. trace their roots back to 1895, when George B. Lane established a commercial paper brokerage firm with offices in the Guaranty Loan Building in Minneapolis. In 1913 H. C. Piper, Sr., and C. Palmer Jaffray, who were classmates at Yale, formed a partnership of Piper, Jaffray and Company. Like Lane and his firm, they first dealt in commercial paper, which are short-term unsecured notes. When a company needed quick capital, they would go to a dealer in commercial paper, which would then find a lender.
In 1917 the two small firms, the George B. Lane & Company and Piper, Jaffray and Company, merged to form a company called Lane, Piper & Jaffray, Inc. During the 1920s this company became involved in the investment banking business, which involved the underwriting of new stock and bond issues, setting up mergers between companies, and financing company expansion through securing public and private capital. From its very beginning the firm played a key role in the growth of Minnesota business. They pioneered the first public stock offerings of such firms as Archer Daniels Midland, Munsingwear, Greyhound Corporation, The Pillsbury Company, and Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M). As a result, several top executives of Lane, Piper & Jaffray served on the board of directors of some of these firms.
The firm grew steadily through the 1920s, reaching a staffing peak of 45 brokers before the stock market crash of October 1929. Within eighteen months, however, only three brokers remained at the firm. In 1932 the firm merged with the two-person office of Robert G. Hopwood, giving the company its most enduring and recognizable name, Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood. An immediate benefit of the merger was a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and affiliations with several other stock exchanges.
After World War II the company began a slow expansion. First came offices in Great Falls (1944) and Billings, Montana (1949) followed by Rochester, Minnesota (1957); Fargo, North Dakota (1960); and Rapid City, South Dakota. In 1964 the firm acquired the brokerage firm of Jamieson and Company, increasing the number of offices to 12 and the number of employees to near 300. In 1966 an office was opened in Mankato, Minnesota; in 1967 the Bismarck, North Dakota office was opened; and in 1968 five more offices were opened in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska. In 1969, after 74 years as a partnership, Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood became a corporation, which led to further expansion in the 1970s and 1980s. While most of the new offices were acquired or opened in the northwestern part of the United States, offices were also opened in New York City (1969) and in London, England (1987). In 1971 the company became a publicly held corporation known as Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood Incorporated. In 1974 a holding company, Piper Jaffray Incorporated, was established to pave the way to further expansion. This firm became the parent company of Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood Incorporated. In the 1980s two other subsidiaries were added. These included Piper Capital Management Incorporated, a money management company (1985), and the Piper Trust Company (1989), which offered trust services to individuals and institutions. In 1992 the holding company changed its name to Piper Jaffray Companies Inc. and its brokerage and investment banking subsidiary, Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood Incorporated, was renamed Piper Jaffray, Inc. In 1998 U.S. Bancorp acquired the Piper Jaffray Companies Inc. The company has been kept intact as an operating subsidiary and is now known as U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray.
The records of the Piper Jaffray Companies date from the founding of the company in 1895 until its acquisition by U.S. Bancorp in 1998. However, the bulk of the collection dates from the early 1970s, when the firm changed from a partnership to a corporation, to the mid-1990s. Most of the pre-1970 information concerns client companies or is miscellaneous subject file material. The collection is arranged into thirteen series including financial reports, employee publications, board of directors minutes, and material documenting the annual stockholders meeting. Other series document the acquisition of other companies by the firm from 1964 to 1992; branch office activities; as well as some of the work of two subsidiaries, Piper Capital Management Incorporated and the Piper Trust Company. Files of two executives, H.C. Piper, Sr. and H.C. Piper Jr. (Bobby Piper), as well as extensive subject files and oral history tapes and transcripts and video tapes round out the collection.
The financial records contain the 10 K (1971-1996) and the 10 Q (1986-1995) forms
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Usually, these records are not
widely available to the public. The bulk of the remaining detailed financial records
date from the 1950s, though brief quarterly financial statement brochures exist for
the years 1962 to 1997. Several different employee publications dating from the
1970s to the 1990s are found in this collection with the longest runs belonging to
The records of the two subsidiaries, Piper Capital Management and Piper Trust Company, mainly consist of prospectuses and annual reports of various money market funds and trusts managed by the two companies from the late 1980s and early 1990s. The files of Harry Piper, Sr., contain information on several companies on which he served on the board of directors: Munsingwear, Pillsbury, Truax-Traer Coal Company, and the Wayne Knitting Mills. Some personal correspondence from 1940-1958 also is included. The files of Harry Piper, Jr., also contain information on Truax-Traer Coal Company and Wayne Knitting Mills, as well as material relating to his seat on the New York Stock Exchange Board of Governors and several files of his speeches and biographical material, including information on his degree in theology.
The subject files contain examples of company print advertising and brochures from the 1920s to the mid-1990s, client and employee surveys, and files on the commercial paper business (negotiable instruments). There is also material relating to the community affairs activities of the company, as well as material from the human resources department. Also of mention are prospectuses for and research files on client firms (1970s and 1980s mostly), newspaper clippings (1960-1995), and biographical files on some other members of the Piper family.
The collection is supplemented by oral history cassettes and transcriptions done in the 1980s and early 1990s in research for the two published company histories. About sixty interviews were done with an alphabetical listing giving name, transcript number, and tape number (when known) provided. The transcripts are filed numerically in box 20 and the cassettes are found in box 21.
These documents are organized into the following sections:
Two company histories published in 1985 and 1994 are separately cataloged in the Minnesota Historical Society library.
Accession number: 15,711
Processed by: Rich Arpi, September 2001
Catalog ID number: 09-00322750
December 1986; March, June, December issues for 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991; March and June issues for 1992; March 1993; June 1994; March and December 1995.
Includes report and answers to financial questionnaire for member firms of the New York Stock Exchange, and report on examination of balance sheet.
Includes Report and answers to financial questionnaire for member firms of the New York Stock Exchange, May 31, 1950; balance sheet, May 31, 1950; and Report on review of unclaimed dividend account, July 14, 1950.
Includes balance sheet, report on examination of balance sheet, and report and answers to financial questionnaire for member firms of the New York Stock Exchange.
Includes condensed financial statement, report on examination of balance sheet, and report and answers to financial questionnaire for member firms of the New York Stock Exchange.
Includes report on examination of balance sheet, and report and answers to financial questionnaire.
Includes condensed financial statement, report of examination of statement of financial condition, and report and answers to financial questionnaire for member firms of the New York Stock Exchange.
Includes condensed financial statement and report and answers to financial questionnaire for member firms of the New York Stock Exchange.
Includes condensed financial statement, statement of financial condition, and report and answers to financial questionnaire for member firms of the New York Stock Exchange.
Quarterly statements in brochure form; incomplete run.
For Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood Incorporated 1971-1973; Piper Jaffray Incorporated 1974-1991; Piper Jaffray Companies 1992-1997.
Incomplete run.
Incomplete run.
Incomplete run.
The files contain news clippings and photographs on the branch openings and on the lives and activities of their personnel.
List includes dates when branches were opened and/or closed.
Also mentions opening of Wenatchee, Washington office. Includes a
clipping (exhibit quality) from December 1983/January 1984
Closure notice.
Photographs.
Money market funds.
Business files and some personal correspondence of one of the principal founders of the firm.
Financial statements.
Written by Charles L. Pillsbury
Business files of, and biographical files on, Harry C. Piper, Jr., who was chairman of the board, 1967-1988.
Prepared by Piper Jaffray employee Jack Pink.
Amended articles of incorporation 4-7-82, 11-19-86, 7-10-87, restated 3-22-84; amended bylaws of 7-27-77 and restated bylaws of 9-77.
These include daily figures of transactions.
For Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
Printed statement on importance of certified balance sheets.
Amendments to original certificate of incorporation.
"A Banker's Introduction to Commercial Paper."
Completed questionnaires from branch offices.
Financial ledger.
Women's golf tournament sponsored by the company.
1988-1994 consists mainly of consent in writing documents.
Includes photocopied issue of the Minnehaha Journal of March 5, 1927 and a recreated humorous issue of the Minneapolis Tribune (ca. 1980) which contains Piper Jaffray corporate humor.
Between Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood, Inc. and PJH, Inc.
Concerns bankruptcy of this company and includes lists of stockholders.
PJH of South Dakota and PJH of Montana.
From PJH employee survey.
Contains photographs.
Contains financial data regarding percentages owned by each partner.
Acquisition of the business assets of Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood effective August 29, 1969.
Clippings and articles on her 1972 kidnapping.
1975 report is for the St. Paul Companies, Inc.
Overhead transparencies used in speech.
Written by Piper employee Jack Pink for the Suburban Twin Cities newspapers.
Cookbook.
Samples of PJH first stock quotes.
Stock trade confirmation papers.
Subtitled as "Computer generated market tactics designed for the professional investor."
Booklet of his writings entitled, "A Collection of Published Writings on Investments."
Cassette audio tapes that produced the transcripts are filed in Box 21, by the tape number noted on this list of transcripts.
History interviews 4 and 11.
history interview 13.
Standard and Poors Marketscope.
30-second ads entitled, "Skinflint," "Surgeon," and "Farmer."
For Mike Louttit, Robert Thornburg, Tim Skiftun, John Corwin, Roger Stromberg, Russell Piazza, Jean Corbett, Kermit Lilja, Ross Blair, Bruce Allen, and Larry Hudson. Ca. 10 seconds each.
30-second spots entitled, "Long Term" and "Conservative."
30-second ads entitled, "Terry and Sharon," "Mike and Ruby," and "Bill."
Speeches on retirement planning, global economy, balance, and the Pacific Northwest.
Tapes 1-2, 5-8, 10-18.
Tapes 19-23, 25, 27-34, 36
tapes 38, 40, 42-54.
Diversity; The Relationship.
Retired investor; The beginner.
T.S. zero coupon bonds; A.A. equities; J.V. Long-term investing.
S.N. Strategic diversification; C.S. Conservative investing; J.V. Long-Term investing; F.G. Retirement planning; T.S. zero coupon bonds.
Vision 2000: Keeping the Best...Improving the Rest.
Why Me?..Difficulty is No Respector of Persons. Produced by Church Metro, Minneapolis. 28:45.
Sermon on Christian action at Edina Chapel Hill UCC.
Sales tape: "Cheer Up."