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Over the Counter: Issue No. 23

The February 2016 issue of the American Historical Review features an extensive literature review essay by Kenneth Lipartito on "Reassembling the Economic: New Departures in Historical Materialism." According to the abstract, "This new materialism offers a way for historians to bring markets, finance, capital, technology, corporations, and other economic features of the past back into the historical narrative." Update: This article is now (2/24/16) freely available at this link as a PDF and here as an HTML file.

The Hagley Library and Museum have received from Alan and Ann Rothschild their huge collection of over 4,000 patent models, making the Hagley's collection second only to that of the Smithsonian in the United States.

In other Hagley news, the library has opened an Oral History Project Office, designed to establish an ongoing oral history capacity at Hagley.

The 2016 American Antiquarian Society Summer Seminar on "The History of the Book" will focus on "Subscription Publishing in America." The application deadline is March 15.

The schedule for the 2016 Harvard Graduate Student Conference on International History (Con-IH), to be held on March 10-11 is now available; the theme this year is "International and Economic History: The Global Dimension."

James Livingston has an article in the Chronicle Review on "The Myth of a 'Second Gilded Age' "

And in related news, the Northern University of Illinois library has a large web exhibit on "Illinois During the Gilded Age."

A recent article in The Atlantic features David Moss of HBS, who is using the case method to teach his "History of American Democracy" class. See "A Better Way to Teach History."

Built on the 1626 will and the inventory of Corbett's house and shop, William Corbett's Bookshop provides interesting information about book buying and reading in 17th-century Newcastle. An article describing the project is featured on the Omeka blog.

From the Bancroft Library at the University of California Berkeley: American war posters from the First World War 

The Smithsonian has opened a new physical exhibit on the guano trade, accompanied by a substantial on-line website; see "The Norie Marine Atlas and the Guano Trade."

Drawing on Jeffrey Meikle's new book, Postcard America, the Slate Vault featured a series of Depression-era linen postcards.

The "Global Urban History" blog has a post on "Berlin, 1873: A New Imperial Center and a Transatlantic Financial Crisis," by Catherine Davies. Another post, on "The Spiritual Capital of the Rust Belt: Pittsburgh and the Postindustrial Transformation of North Atlantic Cities," by Tracey Neumann, is also of interest.

A number of recent websites provide digital resources on women in business history:
     The on-line brochure accompanying the New York Public Library's physical exhibit on "Printing Women"
    "Rare Books from the Women's Library" at the London School of Economics
    "Mill Girls in Nineteenth-Century Print" from the American Antiquarian Society

From the University of Warwick digital collections: "LEO: The World's First Business Computer"

Stephen Mihm writes about the history of the corporate income tax on Bloomberg View. 

The Henry Ford "Expert Sets Gallery" offers dozens of created sets curated from among the site's digital materials by experts on the staff.

From The Nation: Paula Findlen on China "Before Europe's Intrusion," a lengthy review essay about two books (by Robert K. Batchelor and Timothy Brook) on the recently digitized Selden Map.

Paul Krugman reviewed Robert J. Gordon's The Rise and Fall of American Growth in a Sunday New York Times Book Review last month.

The program for the Texas Law Review's 2016 Symposium on "The Constitution and Economic Inequality," which took place at the University of Texas at Austin in January, is available on-line.

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