Jay Robert Stiefel ([email protected]) is an attorney and a lifelong Philadelphian. Having studied history at the University of Pennsylvania and at Christ Church, Oxford, and decorative arts with the Attingham Trust, Stiefel was conducting research in the George Vaux Papers at the APS Library when he first encountered the Head account book.

Stiefel was invited to contribute this inaugural article to the revived Library Bulletin as a means of bringing the account book to a larger audience and to provide a taste of his more substantial work to follow.

A volunteer at the APS Library for over ten years, Charles Fitti has performed invaluable service in processing several of the library's major collections for the history of science and technology. In addition to his labors on behalf of Elihu Thomson, Fitti worked at the papers of the pioneering population geneticist, Sewall Wright. He is currently completing work on the papers of the Drosophila geneticist, Bruce Wallace.