ABSTRACT
The rich contribution by Edwin Green (Chapter 4), based on his experience as the head of the Midland Bank Archives, can in fact be generalized for all European banks. He shows that a merger represents a critical moment in the history of a bank and that this moment very often generates documentation which is extremely valuable to historians. The sources kept in the bank archives may be used to analyse the process of consolidation over a long period of time and also from many other perspectives: they not only allow a very precise analysis of the internal operations of the establishments concerned but also, through the evaluation of accounts and investments, provide information on the economic environment in which they worked. From this point of view the analysis given of the accounts of the Manchester Joint Stock Bank in 1894 (see Table 4.1, p. 64) is a good example of the possibilities offered.
