• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Monday, May 21, 2007 11:15 AM

Dr. Andy Anderson--the chief historian at San Francisco-based Wells Fargo--has turned genealogical research into an unusual marketing vehicle. After he taps into rich families' fascination with their forebears, the bank aims to turn them into customers for its private-banking arm. By Wells Fargo's estimate, the former Stanford University history fellow has had a hand in developing relationships that have led to $1 billion in new assets for the bank.

After joining Wells Fargo in 1977, Anderson helped organize the archives of the bank, which was founded in 1852. He also helped create several of the bank's nine Wells Fargo museums. In 2003, Anderson gave a presentation on the company's history to 200 wealthy bank clients. Afterward, audience members asked the historian how to research their own families. Anderson concluded that rich families were hungry for details of their history.

Private banking--long the bailiwick of trust banks or blue-blood institutions--has recently become a fiercer battleground. Trillions of dollars in personal fortunes are expected to be transferred in the next 50 years as baby boomers pass along their wealth.

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