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Primary sourceDocument1904

Standard Oil Appendix No. 54: Rockefeller's Certificate of Holdings

1904

A 1904 appendix to Ida Tarbell's history of Standard Oil reproducing a trust document signed by Rockefeller and his partners.

This trust certificate document names Rockefeller as a signer and central figure in the Standard Oil Trust.

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About this source

What it is

This document is an appendix from Ida Tarbell's 1904 book, The History of the Standard Oil Company. It reproduces the form of certificate used to show Rockefeller's holdings in the Standard Oil Trust, with an assignment of legal title that took effect in 1892. The text names Rockefeller along with other trustees including Henry M. Flagler, William Rockefeller, and John D. Archbold.

Why it matters

This legal document reveals how the Standard Oil Trust organized its enormous holdings among a small group of men, with Rockefeller at the center. It was published as evidence in Tarbell's influential critical history of the company, which helped expose the trust's practices to the public.

Look closer

  • Why might a journalist like Tarbell have chosen to reproduce a legal document like this in her book?
  • What does the list of trustees' names tell you about who controlled Standard Oil?
  • What questions does this kind of formal legal language leave unanswered about how the trust actually operated?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of John D. Rockefeller on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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