Albert Seligman
Values Codes I – E – L
Albert Seligman (1859-1935) was a nephew of Joseph Seligman, one of America’s most famous nineteenth-century bankers and wealthiest men.
The Seligman banking empire invested in a lead and silver mine near Helena, Montana, and sent Albert, then a twenty-two-year-old mining engineer, to oversee the mining venture in 1881.
Seligman invested widely on his own in Helena’s business enterprises.
He acquired interests in several banks, ran a smelting company, invested in livestock, and headed a wholesale grocery firm.
In 1884, Helena voters elected him to the territorial house of representatives.
In 1886, the Seligman company ordered its Helena mine to suspend operations until cheaper rail shipping became available.
The local mine manager ignored the order and kept the employees at work—without paying them.
In 1887, desperate employees took the extreme step of kidnapping Albert Seligman and demanding $100,000 in back wages to release him.
The company paid the workers, Albert Seligman was released, and he thanked the workers for their kind treatment while in their custody.
The miners were never prosecuted. 
Albert Seligman returned to New York in 1899 and began a banking and stock brokerage career.
Later in life, he renewed his Montana connection by acquiring a copper and zinc mine.
Source
- Mark Rutzik, Breaking New Ground: The Untold Story of Early America’s Jewish Electoral Pioneers – 1788 to 1920, 2025.
Mark Rutzick is the curator of this Albert Seligman exhibit.