This collection contains records chiefly related to the years following the failure of the California branch of the express firm Adams & Co., in 1855, especially as it affected Alfred A. Cohen (1829-1887), the first receiver of the company. Other subjects include Cohen's business and legal associations (1864-84) with the Central Pacific Railroad Company.

The eastern express firm of Adams & Co. was founded by Alvin Adams of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1840. Nine years later, Daniel Hale Haskell, one of Adams' trusted clerks, was taken into partnership and given authority to establish a branch of in San Francisco. The California enterprise was so successful that by 1852 there were offices of Adams & Co. throughout the state, carrying on an extensive banking business as well as the express service. In 1854 a reorganization of the eastern interests essentially separated them from the western branch, leaving Haskell and Isaiah C. Woods at the head of the latter, with Adams as a special partner.

750 pieces in 4 boxes, 12 volumes, 2 oversize folders and 1 envelope

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