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Showing posts from January, 2019

Farewell Post

With some trepidation about whether enough information would be available to sustain the project, I published the first post on "The Exchange" on April 2, 2010. Nearly nine years and over 1,400 posts later, I am signing off as editor of the BHC's blog. I've enjoyed the experience very much and learned a lot along the way. I hope the results have been of service to BHC members and to business and economic historians generally. My thanks for the kind words and support many of you have communicated over the years!     Although I'm retiring from this activity, "The Exchange" will go on, in the capable hands of Paula de la Cruz Fernández. I plan to continue to enjoy reading it for many years to come.--Pat Denault

First Call for Sessions: XIX World Economic History Congress

19th meeting of the World Economic History Congress Deadline: June 30th, 2019. Conference: July 25-30, 2021. Source: http://www.wehc2021.org/en/call-for-sessions/ Accessed January 25th, 2019 The International Economic History Association will coordinate the 19th World Economic History Congress in Paris, in 2021. The organizing committee welcomes proposals " to discuss the many ‘ Resources’  which are and used to be a stake in economies, societies, cultures and environment. Within the notion of resources, we consider natural and modified, renewable and non renewable, material, immaterial and energetic resources, as well as their discoveries, exhaustion, recycling, constraints and limits. We also include the part of labor involved in their exploitation, the institutional dynamics and the involvement of scientific, technical, financial and digital knowledge. Over times, the finding, supply and circulation of resources has been an incentive for construction of spaces, occupat

Book Reviews of Interest, Early Winter, 2018-2019

The latest group of on-line, freely available book reviews of interest: Margot Finn and Kate Smith, eds.,  The East India Company at Home, 1757-1857 ,  reviewed by  Rila Mukherjee for H-Asia. James Freeman and Vern McKinley,  Borrowed Time: Two Centuries of Booms, Busts, and Bailouts at Citi ,  reviewed by  Thomas L. Hogan for EH.Net. Katherine Rye Jewell, Dollars for Dixie: Business and the Transformation of Conservatism in the Twentieth Century , reviewed by  Gavin Wright for EH.Net. Beverly Lemire,  Global Trade and the Transformation of Consumer Cultures: The Material World Remade, c.1500–1820 ,  reviewed by  Shami Ghosh for  Reviews in History . Gregory May,  Jefferson’s Treasure: How Albert Gallatin Saved the New Nation from Debt ,  reviewed by  Robert E. Wright for EH.Net; and  Response  from May. Jamie L. Pietruska,  Looking Forward: Prediction and Uncertainty in Modern America ,  reviewed by  Andy Seal for S-USIH. Gautham Rao, National Duties: Custom Houses and

“Money as a Democratic Medium” Conference on Video

The recent two-day conference  “Money as a Democratic Medium” challenged its participants to re-examine the history of money in America, and to redefine its future. The event was jointly sponsored by the Harvard Program on the Study of Capitalism, the Murphy Institute at Tulane University, the Harvard Law Forum, and Harvard Law School; it was organized by Christine Desan, the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at HLS. Harvard Law Today has published an extensive discussion and overview of the conference; in addition, the complete playlist of speakers , including Desan, Andrew Ross Sorkin, and Mehrsa Baradaran, is now available on YouTube

Approaching Deadlines [5 items, February, 2019]

1.  Jefferson Scholars/Hagley Libray Dissertation Fellowship in Business and Politics  @Hagley_Library Deadline: February 1; 2.  American Historical Association  @AHAhistorians Deadline: February 15, 2019; Conference: January 3-6, 2020. 3.  Annual Economic and Business History Society Conference  @EBHStweets Deadline: February 15, 2019; Conference: June 5-8, 2019. 4.  Retail History workshop   Deadline: February 15, 2019; Conference: May 9, 2019. 5.  International Congress of French Business History  @BusinessHist19 Deadline: February 18, 2019; Conference: September 11-13, 2019. PhD candidates who are close to completing their dissertations in topics related to business and politics, and that have used Hagley’s Library research materials, should consider applying to the   Jefferson Scholars/Hagley Libray Dissertation Fellowship in Business and Politics . The award is $25.000 for a year. More information about the application process can be found here , and the deadline to s

Two more CfPs with deadlines in January, 2019

1. ABH Meeting: Tony Slaven Doctoral Workshop in Business History and Francesca Carvenali Travel Grant. Deadline for conference CfP: January 21st; Deadline for Workshop and Grants: January 31st; Conference July 5-6, 2019. 2. EHES 2019 Congress Deadline: January 31st; Conference: 29 - 31 August 2019 The deadline to  submit proposals for the Association of Business Historians 2019 meeting  is January 21st . Note that submissions must be done through  this portal . Also for the ABH meeting, and if you plan to participate in the  Tony Slaven Doctoral Workshop in Business History ,  send your application by  January 31st  to   Dr. Mitch Larson ( mjlarson@uclan.ac.uk ). "Your application should be no more than 4 pages sent together in a single computer file: 1) a one page CV; 2) one page stating the name(s) of the student’s supervisor(s), the title of the theses (a proposed title is fine), the university and department where the student is registered and the date of comme

Over the Counter, No. 45

News of interest from around the Web: A very detailed map of medieval trade routes in Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 11th and 12th centuries , including major and minor locations, sea routes, canals, and roads, has been created by Martin Jan Mansson. The National Museum of American History blog explores how board games have been teaching Americans to shop . And Sara Georgini wrote an essay for S-USIH on  "The Way We Shop Now,"  offering a list of fictional works that explore how salespeople have been portrayed "for scholars interested in using literature to decode the history of capitalism.            Also of interest from S-USIH, Andy Seal has a series of posts on the 'new history of capitalism': "When Did the History of Capitalism Become New? Periodizing the Field" ;  "Two Paths for the History of Capitalism: Commodification and Proletarianization" ;  "Newsworthiness, Social Construction, and the History of Capitalism"

New and Forthcoming Books of Interest, New Year's 2019 Edition

New and forthcoming books of interest for October through December 2018 and January-February 2019 (for bibliographic purposes, the list is divided between 2018 and 2019 titles): October-December 2018 Stuart Aveyard, Paul Corthorn, and Sean O'Connell, The Politics of Consumer Credit in the UK, 1938-1992 (Oxford University Press, November 2018). Matthias Blum and Christopher R. Colvin, eds.,  An Economist's Guide to Economic History  (Palgrave Macmillan, December 2018). Bradley J. Borougerdi, Commodifying Cannabis: A Cultural History of a Complex Plant in the Atlantic World (Lexington Books, November 2018). Youssef Cassis and Giuseppe Telesca, eds.,  Financial Elites in European Banking: Historical Perspectives  (Oxford University Press, October 2018). Huw David,  Trade, Politics, and Revolution: South Carolina and Britain's Atlantic Commerce, 1730-1790  (University of South Carolina Press, November 2018). Hannah Catherine Davies,  Transatlantic Speculation

Not to be missed-CfPs approaching deadlines [4 items]

1. Second Annual South Asia Workshop - January 30th 2. Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association - January 31st 3. 2019 meeting of the Asociación Española de Historia Económica - January 31st 4. 44th meeting of the Economic Business History Society - February 15th The London School of Economics will host its second Annual South Asia Workshop on May 20 -21. Proposals on "the general disciplines of economic history and history of economics as well as the So uth Asia region," will be considered until January 30th . For more information or to send proposals email  m.nath1@lse.ac.uk The  Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association  will be celebrated next September 13-15, 2019, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The focus of the meeting will be on 'Markets and Governments in Economic History,' and the program committee will be accepting proposals on "all subjects in economic history" before  January 31st . Instructions on how to submi

CFP (Journal): Eighteenth-Century Studies Special Issue on the South Sea and Mississippi Bubbles

2020 marks the 300th anniversary of the crashing of the South Sea and Mississippi Bubbles, investment schemes – based on slavery, colonialism, and the need to fund standing militaries accompanying them through large-scale public borrowing – that caused a general international liquidity crisis, deflation, and depression. This special issue of Eighteenth-Century Studies seeks submissions exploring not only the consequences to Europe of this financial crisis, but also its global effects, particularly as they relate to empires of trade and administration.     The editor, Sean Moore, is soliciting interdisciplinary papers that ask questions such as: How are empire and militarism connected to finance? In what ways were people as well as things financialized during this crisis? Was the mode of capitalism put into motion by the Financial Revolution of the early eighteenth century fundamentally racist and/or colonialist? How should our understanding of these bubbles be shaped not only

#BHC19: Workshops

Four Workshops at the BHC in Cartagena As you make your plans and register to attend the Business History Conference in Cartagena, Colombia, consider the following sessions that the Workshops Committee has organized for Thursday, March 14, 2019. Paper Development Workshop: “Histories of Business Knowledge” - 12:00-3:00 pm.  Digital Archives and Other Electronic Resources for Business Historians - 2:00-3:00 pm.  Interdisciplinarity:  Risks and Opportunities for Navigating a Business History Career - 4:00-5:30pm Empresariado en América Latina en Perspectiva Histórica y Global/ Latin American Business in a Global and Historical Perspective If you would like to discuss the paper that you are presenting at the conference or another work-in-progress consider attending the Paper Development Workshop sponsored by the Copenhagen Business School. The topic of the workshop is "Histories of Business Knowledge." Participants should send their proposal or idea, and a CV to C

Fellowships: [2 items]

Two fellowships to conduct archival research The John W. Hartman Center For Sales, Advertising & Marketing History at Duke University 's David M. Rubenstein Library "acquires and preserves printed material collections of textual and multimedia resources and makes them available to researchers around the world. Through these collections and related programming, the Center promotes understanding of the social, cultural, and historical impact of advertising, marketing, and sales." The Libraries at Duke have significant resources available online such as the database J. Walter Thompson: Advertising American and they also have travel grants to allow researchers to visit their collections. The deadline to submit proposals for the 2019 Travel & Fellowships at the Hartman Center is January 31st. The Massachusetts Historical Society is house of historical material about " American history, life, and culture. Its extraordinary collections tell the story of Ameri

Business and Economic History at the AHA

The American Historical Association annual meeting , taking place in Chicago, Illinois, with a theme of "Loyalties," begins this week. As usual, the BHC is sponsoring events as an AHA affiliated society.  The organization will host a lunch on Saturday, January 5, 12:00–1:30 p.m. with a discussion of  "Loyalty/Disloyalty in Business," chaired by Pamela Walker Laird, University of Colorado Denver. The panel consists of Sven Kube, Florida International University; Debra Michals, Merrimack College; Travis Ross, Yale University; Kelly Sharp, Luther College; and Gregory J. Wood, Frostburg State University.      The BHC-sponsored session this year is 206: "Communist Corporate Cultures: Enterprise between Political Principle and Profit Pursuit," chaired by Philip Scranton.      There will of course be many other sessions of interest at the meeting, including: Session 5 : "Infrastructure and Power in the Pacific, 1840–1940" Session 8 : "Di