Among the notes and papers found after Professor Dunbar's
death, some were in such a stage of completion as to warrant
their publication. He had begun a history of banking in the
United States since i860, and of this the first three chapters were



xvi INTRODUCTION

virtually completed. They are printed in the present volume, and
illustrate adequately the style and the method of his maturest
days. Of quite a different kind are the accounts of the crises of
1857 and i860. They were prepared at an early stage in his aca-
demic career; certainly as early as 1875, and not improbably before
1876. That Professor Dunbar left these papers in his desk for
over twenty years without taking any steps toward printing them,
indicates that he was not disposed to give them to the public ; and,
indeed, the mode of treatment is not such as he would have followed
in later years. Yet they are contributions of no mean value to the
economic history of the United States and to the history of crises,
and are accordingly included in the present volume, notwithstanding
the author's evident doubts as to their suitability for publication.
