NEW YORK — Ira Goldman is part of a small community of corporate archivists: historians, catalogers and documentarians of big companies who track how companies have changed their products over time, while also exploring ways for them to look back on their history.
For nearly three decades, Gartman’s job has been to document American Express’ journey from its beginnings as a packing, shipping and express carriage company in New York in 1850, to the invention of travelers’ checks in the 1890s, to the credit-card company it is today. He’s also popular on TikTok, where cardholders regularly ask him for AmEx trivia.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What inspired you to take on this role?
A: I’ve loved history since I was a little kid. I majored in history in college and went on to graduate school at NYU to get a PhD in history. During grad school, I changed direction and decided to go into archiving rather than continue down an academic path. Luckily, NYU had an archives management program, and I was able to get a certification in that field as part of my graduate studies.
I’ve been with American Express for over 28 years. I had the opportunity to join in the late ’90s, so I was right at the transition point. I serve as both the archivist and historian for the company, and while each role is a little different, they definitely complement each other.
Q: What are some interesting projects you have worked on?
A: I did a project showing the role of American Express in the Civil War, which was very interesting. They were able to deliver supplies to Union soldiers in the field and support the U.S. government. They also delivered ballots for the 1864 election.
But during the pandemic, we did a piece of work looking at how the company responded during other crises to inspire our colleagues. For example, there was a pandemic in 1918. But there were other times when the company had to deal with different crises, like wars and recessions. I think bringing those areas to life really inspired people.
Q: Where do you get most of your materials?
A: I am fortunate to have avid Pony Express business collectors, many of whom contact me directly and offer things to me. I get a lot of stuff for free, but I have also bought multiple items from the same person.
I’d love to find an American Express wagon, that’s probably the Holy Grail of our Express archives.
Q: What do you keep and what do you throw away?
A: The reality is that archivists only keep so much material because there is so much material generated in a typical year, so you have to have a documentation strategy and be able to know what to keep and what you can connect the dots to.
In terms of why history is important, the most important thing I do for Amex is showcasing the pioneering business. We started with money orders in the 1880s, which became traveler’s checks. The Centurion Lounge harkens back to a time when we had lounges in Europe for customers who needed to send things overseas.
Q: So who is CF Frost? His name is in all of your ads.
This stands for Charles F. Frost. He was an account executive at Ogilvy & Mather, the advertising agency that American Express had used since the mid-1960s. Frost was in charge of the American Express account and needed to use a sample name. So, in the past, they used something like John Smith, which is pretty common. We came to an agreement with him and we decided to use his name on the sample cards in our ads.
His name on the cards was changed to CF Frost in 1977. The company wanted its cards to be more gender neutral, and in the early to mid-1970s began offering cards to more women in an effort to diversify its customer base.
