The Exchange

More new and forthcoming books of interest to business and economic historians, July-September 2017 (and a few we missed): Antonella Alimento and Koen Stapelbroek , eds., The Politics of Commercial Treaties in the Eighteenth Century: Balance of Power, Balance of Trade (Palgrave, September 2017) Mehrsa Baradaran , The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap (Harvard University Press, September 2017) David R. Bellhouse , Leases for Lives: Life Contingent Contracts and the Emergence of Actuarial Science in Eighteenth-Century England (Cambridge University Press, July 2017) Cary Carson , Face Value: The Consumer Revolution and the Colonizing of America (University of Virginia Press, August 2017) Theodore Catton , Rainy Lake House: Twilight of Empire on the Northern Frontier (Johns Hopkins University Press, August 2017) Eli Cook , The Pricing of Progress: Economic Indicators and the Capitalization of American Life (Harvard University Press, September 2017) ...

The faculty and students of the Atlantic World Workshop at New York University announce their upcoming conference, “(En)gendering the Atlantic World,” to be held at NYU on April 20-21, 2018. This conference is open to scholars of all ranks, as well as the public. According to the call for papers, Over the last five decades, historians have demonstrated that focusing on gender enables a deeper understanding of the diversity of human experience, ideologies, and epistemologies that shaped the Atlantic World. This conference aims to convene emerging and established scholars whose work speaks to gender in the Atlantic World between 1400 and 1800. While we welcome papers on any aspect of gender in the Atlantic World, we particularly encourage those that situate enslaved and Native actors within the broader Atlantic context, as well as those that critically consider imperial structures and the archival challenges they produce.  Among possible topics of specific interest here are ...

Some sites of interest from around the web: A conference on "Labour Markets and Living Standards in Britain, 1870-1960" was held at the University of Essex in June. The program , with links to some of the papers, is available online. ESRICanada has produced an interesting GIS map showing the growth of Canadian railroads , 1835-1995. And Alisha Knight has posted "Putting Them on the Map: Mapping the Agents of the Colored Co-operative Publishing Company," a GIS visualization that traces this Boston company's expansion across the country. Noam Maggor discusses "Brahmin Boston and the Politics of Interconnectedness" on the Global Urban History blog, drawing on his recent book, Brahmin Capitalism . This year's Hakluyt Society symposium, taking place at the University of Kent on September 11-12, 2017, is on the topic "Trading Companies and Travel Literature"; the full program is available on the Society's blog. On his blog ...

The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) will hold its 2017 annual meeting on October 26-29 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The preliminary program is now available. In addition to the large number of sessions on the history of technology around the world, the BHC has a special round table (S11), "The BHC at SHOT: Beyond Firms and Machines"; organizers: Xaq Frohlich, Auburn University, Erik Rau, Hagley Museum and Library, and Jonathan Coopersmith, Texas A&M); participants: Hyungsub Choi, Seoul National University; Barbara Hahn, Texas Tech; Richard John, Columbia University; Philip Scranton, Rutgers University; Lee Vinsel, Virginia Tech; and JoAnne Yates, MIT.      Another session of particular interest is S30, "Ideologies of Industrialization in the Early American Republic," with Merritt Roe Smith as chair and commentator. There will also be a presidential round table in honor of the late Ann Johnson (F12).     For information about re...

The 2018 Asia Pacific Economic and Business History (APEBH) Conference will be hosted by the School of History at the University of Tasmania in Hobart on February 15-17, 2018. The conference, under the topic "History from Below: Ordinary Lives in Historical and Comparative Perspective," will bring together researchers in business, economic, and social history and feature new and exciting research from a variety of perspectives covering historical developments in Australia and Asia, as well as in other regions of the world.       Papers and proposals for sessions are welcome on any topic in economic, social, and business history, including proposals for complete sessions on particular themes. According to the call for papers, The conference organisers are also particularly interested in attracting papers that examine topics in the context of the Asia-Pacific region and papers that provide an international comparative perspective, especially in relation to ...

The Canadian Business History Association/Association canadienne pour l'histoire des affaires ( CBHA/ACHA ) will hold its next annual conference on September 11-12, 2017, at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. The full program for the meeting, whose theme is "150 Years of Canadian Business History," presented in conjunction with Canada’s sesquicentennial birthday celebrations, is now available on the CBHA/ACHA website. The conference is multi-disciplinary and open to participation by academics, business leaders, professional archivists, and the public. Among the many historians presenting are David Kirsch, Mira Wilkins, Joe Martin, Graham Taylor, Robert Wright, Laurence Mussio, Doug McCalla, and Andrew Smith.      For more information about the conference, please see the CBHA/ACHA website .

The British Academy and the Department of History at the University of York invite submissions from early career researchers for a two-day workshop and public conference, “Revising the Geography of Modern World Histories,” to be held in York, UK, on February 9-10, 2018. This international event responds to the recent boom in global history, "providing a forum to discuss the challenges and possibilities of writing multi-sited modern histories that encompass fully situated lives and local contexts." For a list of possible topics, please see the full call for papers . The event organizers wish to draw early career scholars who are "stretching the boundaries of their national or disciplinary specializations."      Proceedings will include small-group workshops to discuss shared challenges and strategies of conducting geographically heterodox historical scholarship, public presentations of works in progress, keynote lectures, and a plenary discussion with public Q...

A brief round-up of some interesting digitized materials from around the web: From Harvard University Libraries, a broadside on “Comparison of Products, Population and Resources of the Free and Slave States” (1861). From the New York Public Library, a collection of cigarette trade cards ; nearly 50,000 images, searchable by topic The John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera at the Bodleian Library is a large and varied source of images, with nearly 74,000 digitized to date. From the New York Academy of Medicine, a well-illustrated discussion of Pabst Brewing Company's marketing campaign to persuade consumers that its malt extract could cure a range of ailments. The Framingham History Center has posted an informative and well-illustrated timeline for the now-shuttered Dennison Manufacturing Company . From the Digital Public Library of America and the University of Denver, " Staking Claims: The Gold Rush in Nineteenth Century America." Other DPLA Exhib...

Business and Economic History-Online is still accepting papers that were presented at the 2017 Denver meeting for its annual online edition. Papers should be no more than 15 pages in length, single-spaced, and should be submitted as Word files. Any accompanying images or charts should be embedded in the text. Papers should be submitted to behonline2017papers@gmail.com by October 15 for consideration. Questions may be directed to BEH Editor Benjamin Schwantes ( Benjamin.schwantes@gmail.com ) or Assistant Editor William J. Hausman ( wjhaus@wm.edu ).     The full run of BEH Online papers can be found on the BHC website. The entire run of the printed Business and Economic History , 1962-1999 , is available as well.

The next annual congress of the European Business History Association (EBHA) begins in two weeks (August 24-26) in Vienna, Austria, hosted by the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU). The final program for the meeting, whose theme is "Transformation in Business and Society: An Historical Approach," is available online, accompanied by links to the full texts of many of the papers.     The opening speaker for the congress will be Philipp Blom; his topic is "Freezing Meteors and Congealed Cold: How the Little Ice Age Ushered in Capitalism."     More details, including information about registration, lodging, and travel, can be found on the congress website .

The inaugural conference of the 18th- and 19th-Century Studies Network will be held on April 26-28, 2018, at the University of Colorado Boulder. The theme will be "New Orleans, Global City (1718 – 2018): The Long Shadow of John Law and the Mississippi Company." According to the call for papers: It has been almost three hundred years since the first international stock market crash took place in France, Britain, and the Netherlands. A spate of cross-disciplinary conferences and publications have added greatly to our understanding of the impact of the Mississippi and South Sea Bubbles and the Dutch windhandel (trade in wind) on European economies and cultures. The colonial, global, and oceanic dimensions of these events have not been studied as closely. Meant to coincide with the foundation of New Orleans in 1718 by the Compagnie des Indes (aka the Mississippi Company), this interdisciplinary conference will focus on the immediate to long-term impact of Law’s System and...

The Global History of Capitalism project at the University of Oxford is seeking a dedicated Career Development Fellow to join their team to conduct rigorous academic research and to inform debates on the history of capitalism. The program's co-directors (and co-founders) are Christopher McKenna and Rowena Olegario. According to the job posting, The successful applicant will have an active research interest in the global history of capitalism and be able to work individually and collaboratively with researchers across disciplines. You will conduct relevant archival research as well as field-based research where relevant. You will manage your own academic research and administrative duties, contribute ideas for new projects and collaborate in the presentation of publications. You will also provide teaching relief to one of the Co-Directors and co-design a new undergraduate course in business history. You will hold a relevant doctorate (or show evidence that a doctorate is imminent...

Abe de Jong and Marc Deloof, editors of a special issue of the Journal of Risk and Financial Management (JRFM), have issued a call for papers on the history of corporate finance. They write: Twenty years ago, the book A History of Corporate Finance by Paul Miranti and the late Jonathan Baskin was published. This book aims to create a synthesis between modern finance theory and historical investigations of corporate finance decisions. In the past two decades, several studies have been published about the history of financial markets, as well as about accounting and banking history. Unfortunately, historical research into corporate finance decisions seems to be limited. The aim of this special issue is to publish new research on the history of corporate finance.  A workshop to discuss the submissions will be held in Rotterdam in February 2018; it is expected the special journal issue will appear in June 2018.      Papers must be submitted for the worksh...