Raphael P. Thian worked in the United States Adjutant General's Office as a clerk from 1855 to 1905. After the Civil War, Thian devoted much of his spare time to researching and documenting the paper records of the Confederate Treasury which formed part of the "Rebel Archives" being stored in Washington D.C. Thian felt that it was of great historical importance to document the Finances of the Confederacy because 'the history of the purse is as important as that of the sword'". This was a monumental undertaking which took some fourteen years to complete; sadly, Thian's research work never received the support or recognition it deserved at the time.

The core of Thian's labor was his 190-page "Register of the Confederate Debt'"; some twenty copies of this work were privately published in 1880. This book provided information on all Confederate Government Treasury notes and other debt instruments, although the intense manual effort involved has resulted in errors. Furthermore, there were notable gaps due in the data for some Sixth (1863) and Seventh (1864) series due to missing Treasury records. Thian patiently documented the seven Issues of Treasury notes, the denominations involved, the issue dates, the value and quantities, and where available, the serial number runs, and the names of the clerks who signed them on behalf of the Register and the Treasurer. 

Thian's book was reprinted by Douglas Ball in 1972, in its original form. It is not an easy document to read or navigate, but the information it contained proved invaluable for serious collectors of Confederate currency. Ball's book is now out of print, and second-hand copies are not easy to find.