Chris,
Larry White and I have written many articles on the subject. There’s a failry comprehensive list, together with one of articles on the opposing side, at Bibliography on Fractional Reserve Banking I have recently written an article specifically addressing the matter of the origins of FR banking, called “Those Dishonest Goldsmiths.” You can download it at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1589709.
Pay no attention to the sort of shrill outburts you see on this page and elsewhere to the effect that fractional reserve banking is fraud, or that fractional reserve banks are necessarily insolvent. The claims reflect a very poor understanding of the nature of banking contracts. They also suggest ignorance of’ the long history of successful FR banking systems that operated on very small reserves, to their customers full satisfaction and with very great benefits to the economies they served. Adam Smith, for one, got this write. (And no, Smith wasn’t a statist, as Rothbard tried to claim.)