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CFP: Historical Perspectives in Organization Studies

Now entering its third year, the "Historical Perspectives in Organization Studies" working group of the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) seeks to foster interdisciplinary discussions and collaborations between historians and management and organization scholars. The working group will meet during the EGOS conference in Montreal, Canada, from July 4-6, 2013. The theme for the year is "The Handling of History: Methods and Theories." The sub-group, convened by Daniel Wadhwani, Lars Engwall , and Michael Rowlinson, "aims to explore and expand the potential that a historical perspective—understood in the broadest possible sense—might have" for the ways in which organizations are studied. Submissions related to the intersection of history and organization theory are welcome. The deadline for submission of short papers (3,000 words) is January 14, 2013 .     For more information please visit the conference site and see the working group'

HBS Posts Report and Syllabi from “Teaching Business History” Conference

Last June the Business History Initiative at the Harvard Business School sponsored a one-day conference on "Teaching Business History: Insights and Debates." The organizers have now posted both a conference report (which contains an overview, papers delivered, and country reports) and a compilation of about 200 syllabi, " Guide to Business History Courses Worldwide ." Both e-publications were edited by Geoffrey Jones and Walter Friedman and prepared for publication by Felice Whittum; the syllabi were collected by Shaun Nichols.

Top 20 Industrial and Corporate Change Articles Available

In recognition of the journal's first twenty years of publication, the editors of Industrial and Corporate Change have selected their top twenty articles , all of which Oxford University Press is now making freely available online. Selections of particular interest to business historians include Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., “Corporate Strategy, Structure and Control Methods in the United States during the 20th Century”; Oliver E. Williamson, “Hierarchies, Markets and Power in the Economy: An Economic Perspective”; and Sidney G. Winter, “Toward a Neo-Schumpeterian Theory of the Firm.”

Christmas in (Business) History

We provide today a series of links to sites offering information and reflections on the history of the Christmas holiday, many with business history relevance. For a large list, see the History News Network's "Hot Topics" list for Christmas , which includes a 2011 Backstory audiocast featuring historian Stephen Nissenbaum, author of The Battle for Christmas Gregory McNamee on "Christmas, Cash, and Commodities" James Sturcke on "The Commercial Roots of Christmas" Other sites : The Mahoning Valley Historical Society, which provides short articles on belsnickles , "putz" houses (Christmas villages), and the Shiny Brite ornament company The company that printed Christmas Seals Albert Sadacca, Thomas Edison, and the invention of Christmas lights The Coca-Cola company and its sponsorship of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" WSJ review of Inventing the Christmas Tree The history of the Christmas "cracker" Louis Pr

Business History at the OAH, 2013

The Organization of American Historians (OAH), which will hold its 2013 annual meeting in San Francisco, California, on April 11-14, has now released its program . Two sessions are of particular interest: Friday, 1:45 p.m.: "The 1%?: Business Classes and the Transformation of American Capitalism" Sponsored by the Business History Conference’s Liaison Committee "Global Networks, Metropolitan Terrains: Finance Capital and Urban Populism in the Era of Reconstruction" Noam Maggor, Vanderbilt University "A Grasstops Revolution: Local Business Elites, National Executives, and the Geography of Twentieth-Century Capitalism" Elizabeth Shermer, Loyola University of Chicago "Corporate Power and the Problem of Politics: Business Elites, Social Policy, and Urban 'Democracy' in the Early Twentieth Century" Daniel Amsterdam, The Ohio State University Friday, 3:30 p.m.: Plenary Session: "Corporations in American Life" Chair: Na

Podcast: Al Churella on the Penn RR at Hagley

"The Unique Railroad of the World: Why the Pennsylvania Railroad Was Different from All of the Others” is the title of the lecture delivered by Albert Churella on November 15, 2012, at the Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware. It is now available on the Hagley website as an audio podcast .     The lecture marked publication of Churella’s book, The Pennsylvania Railroad, Volume 1: Building an Empire, 1846-1917 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012). Churella, who teaches at Southern Polytechnic State University, is working on the second volume of his history of the PRR.

CFP: Oral History Society, UK

The theme of the Oral History Society 's next annual meeting should be of particular interest to business historians; it is "Corporate Voices: Institutional and Organisational Oral Histories." The meeting will take place July 5-6, 2013, at the University of Sussex. According to the call for papers , the conference will "explore the hidden histories of private companies and business, public institutions, hospitals, universities, museums, public utilities, local and national governmental, campaigning bodies and charities," and "bring into dialogue historians of business, education and health with oral historians who have been commissioned to work with and within institutions to create and document their oral history." For a fuller list of topics and concerns, please see the complete call for papers.     Each proposal should include: a title, an abstract of between 250-300 words, submitter's name (and the names of any co-presenters or panelis

EABH Young Scholar Workshop: CFP

The European Association for Banking and Financial History (EABH) e.V. invites the submission of paper proposals on the topic "Foreign Financial Institutions and National Financial Systems," its 2013 Young Scholar Workshop, to be held at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on March 3, 2013. The call for papers states: Many of today’s banks trace their origins to the long nineteenth century’s processes of globalisation, nationalism and colonial expansion. To facilitate transfers, in search of profits or to finance overseas trade many banks crossed borders by hiring correspondents or opening branches, and acting as foreign institutions’ representative agents at home. Banks’ foreign experiences varied. They were often welcomed as important innovators and the financiers of progress, but frequently suspected of serving the interests of foreign governments, too. At times of war they faced control and expropriation. This year’s Young Scholar Workshop will explore the history o

Teaching Tools: Audio Resources On-Line

Those looking for historical audio files for classroom use or personal research will find a wide variety of sources on the Web, several of them with a specific focus on business and economic history topics. The following links provide just a sampling and are heavily weighted toward American sources: Historical Voices (Michigan State University, Matrix), including the sub-galleries:     American Voices (including the Flint Sit-Down Strike Audio Gallery )     Earliest Voices (In addition, the large holdings of the Vincent Voice Library at MSU are catalogued and searchable on-line, though not all are available for download and listening.) The Library of Congress has several sites devoted to preserving American history via sound; see especially:     Voices from the Dust Bowl     Edison Sound Recordings     Voices from the Days of Slavery     American Leaders Speak     Working in Paterson Free Information Society (mp3 recordings of speakers ranging from Joseph Goebbels

December 2012 Enterprise & Society Available

The December 2012 issue of Enterprise & Society is now available on-line . The issue contains Margaret Levenstein's presidential address , "Escape from Equilibrium: Thinking Historically about Firm Responses to Competition," and four dissertation summaries, as well as three regular articles and numerous book reviews. Contents include: Dissertation Summaries Christy Ford Chapin , "Ensuring America’s Health: Publicly Constructing the Private Health Insurance Industry, 1945–1970" Xaq Frolich , "Accounting for Taste: Regulating Food Labeling in the 'Affluent Society,' 1945–1995" Noam Maggor , "Politics of Property: Urban Democracy in the Age of Global Capital, Boston 1865–1900" Alexia Yates , "Selling Paris: The Real Estate Market and Commercial Culture in the Fin-de-siècle Capital" Articles Wendy A. Woloson , "Wishful Thinking: Retail Premiums in Mid-Nineteenth-Century America" Tore C. Olsson , "

CFP: British Academy of Management, 2013

The 2013 British Academy of Management (BAM) conference will be held by the University of Liverpool at Aintree Racecourse on September 10-12, 2013.  Organizers are seeking submissions for the Management and Business History Track , which is chaired by Kevin Tennent. This track "aims to encourage the growing number of management and business historians who work in business schools and social science departments to engage in constructive debate with other social scientists." In relation to the 2013 conference theme, "Managing to Make a Difference," attention is drawn to the historical impact of management practice within society. Papers on the relationship between management and the community, whether from the perspective of community perceptions of business, or with an interest in how business has shaped a particular community over time, are especially welcome, as are those dealing with the legacy of the past, and how it has shaped present-day businesses and comm

CFP: History of European Stock Exchanges, 2013

The fifth edition of the Eurhistock Workshop (History of European Stock Exchanges) will meet on May 23-24, 2013, in Antwerp, Belgium. The workshop aims at providing a meeting point for financial and economic historians as well as financial economists interested in the long-term changes in European financial markets. Papers for presentation from all fields of financial history and finance are welcome as long as there is a financial and historical perspective. Work in progress will be considered, and both junior and senior researchers are invited to attend. Professor William N. Goetzmann (Yale School of Management) will present the keynote speech.     Full papers written in English should be sent (as a pdf) by email to Jeannine.Luyten@ua.ac.be no later than March 15, 2013 . The email should contain an abstract of the paper, not exceeding 300 words, and contact information (name, affiliation, email) for all authors. Authors of papers accepted for presentation will be notified by the en

"Teaching the History of Capitalism"

In November 2011, the Program on the Study of Capitalism at Harvard University, chaired by Sven Beckert and Christine Desan, hosted a conference on "Teaching the History of Capitalism." A group of scholars in the field convened at the university to reflect on how the history of capitalism might enhance the college curriculum. Conference co-organizers Sven Beckert and Noam Maggor have now posted a report on the conference, as well as links to a number of syllabi collected in response to the meeting. Tip of the hat to the Culture of the Market Network .

CFP: EBHA 2013 Meeting

The 17th annual conference of the European Business History Association (EBHA) will take place on August 22-24, 2013, in Uppsala (Sweden), with the cooperation of the Uppsala Centre for Business History . The conference theme will be "Innovation and Growth." According to the call for papers , Technical, financial and organizational innovations have all been important drivers of growth. From a global perspective, the interaction between enterprises, innovations and growth has been central in the process of economic growth during three industrial revolutions. European historical experiences also give us insights into these complex relationships on a national, regional and local basis. . . .  As its main theme, this congress will identify the interrelationship between growth and innovation. It is obvious that innovations can result in economic growth. But also, since innovations often lead to changing economic and social structures, they may have a destabilizing effect as wel

CFP: Business and Politics in 20th-Century America

The Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware, has announced a conference on "Business and Politics in 20th-Century America," to be held November 8, 2013. Herewith the full call for papers:     Over the past ten years there has been a surge of new scholarship on the relationship between business and American politics in the twentieth century. Much of this work examines the efforts by business and business people to influence politics, often in response to the growth of the American federal government that began with the Progressive Era and continued with the mid-century New Deal. Many of these finely grained studies draw on, and continue to use, the collections in the Hagley Library. It is fitting, then, to invite scholars working on this topic to come to Hagley to assess the state of knowledge, and discuss new work emerging from research. We are especially interested in papers that address some of the following questions:     As the spectrum of government activ

CFP: European Historical Economics Society 2013

The tenth European Historical Economics Society (EHES) Conference will be held at the London School of Economics on  September 6-7, 2013. The Conference program committee, consisting of Stephen Broadberry (London School of Economics), Herman de Jong (University of Groningen), Giovanni Federico (European University Institute), and Sybille Lehmann (Hohenheim University), has issued a call for papers inviting proposals for individual papers on any aspect of European or global economic history covering a wide range of periods, countries and regions. The Society encourages submissions from young scholars and will provide ten grants of €500 each to help Ph.D. students cover the costs of travel and accommodation. Further details are available on the EHES website .     For each proposed paper, an abstract not exceeding 500 words together with the institutional affiliation and e-mail address of the authors should be uploaded by February 6, 2013 , via the Society’s website . All submissions

Lemelson Center Fellowships and Travel Grants, 2013-2014

The Lemelson Center Fellowship and Travel Award programs support projects that present creative approaches to the study of invention and innovation in American society. These include, but are not limited to, historical research and documentation projects resulting in dissertations, theses, publications, exhibitions, educational initiatives, documentary films, or other multimedia products. The programs provide access to the expertise of the Institution's research staff and the vast invention and technology collections of the National Museum of American History (NMAH). The NMAH Archives Center documents both individuals and firms across a range of time periods and subject areas. Representative collections include the Western Union Telegraph Company Records, ca. 1840-1994 and the Earl S. Tupper Papers, documenting Tupper, and his invention, Tupperware. In addition, the NMAH Library offers long runs of historical technology serials like Scientific American and American Ma

Regina Blaszczyk on the Business of Color

In September, MIT Press published Regina Lee Blaszczyk 's book, The Color Revolution , in which she "traces the relationship of color and commerce, from haute couture to automobile showrooms to interior design, describing the often unrecognized role of the color profession in consumer culture." Readers can see some of the 121 color illustrations featured in the book at the MIT PressLog here and here . The author has recently written an essay on her research for the book in the Hagley Archives for the Hagley Library and Archives newsletter.    Reviews can be found in the New York Times , The Atlantic , Leonardo , and Imprint ; one can listen to an audio interview with Reggie Blaszczyk, and read her posts, "How Auto Shows Sparked a Color Revolution" on the Echoes blog and "True Blue: DuPont and the Color Revolution" on the Chemical Heritage Foundation website . Also available is a CHF video of the author discussing another excerpt from her rese

Digital Resource: Schneider & Cie Archives

The Académie François Bourdon , in cooperation with the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Dijon, is in the process of making a large portion of its Schneider et Cie Archives (covering the period 1837-1966) accessible on-line. A major section of the archives involves thousands of documents, drawings, and photographs (100,000 pages, 650 plans, and 800 photos, according to AFB director Ivan Kharaba ) from the company's files during the First World War, 1914-1918. In addition, all the company minutes from 1840 to 1965 are now freely available.   Material is divided into categories :  documents, photographs, and plans. The various categories suggested to researchers are still incomplete; the fields will be progressively refined and populated as the work of cataloging and digitization continues. Additional resources will be made available as they are completed, including a segment focused on the records of factory workers.

CFP: Organization of American Historians, 2014

The Organization of American Historians (OAH) will hold its 2014 annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 10-13. The theme of the meeting will be "Crossing Borders." As described in the call for papers : The history of the United States is a product of migrations–internal and international. Along with people, goods and ideas crossed these borders, reshaping the composition and character of the American people. Sometimes the borders and boundaries were physical, as when international migrants crossed oceans and continents, or when large numbers of individuals migrated from one region of the country to another, or when the lure of wealth and influence led to foreign invasions and conquests. Those on the move were accompanied by bacteria or viruses, microorganisms whose migration across borders also shaped human experience. Borders were also framed by culture–racial, ethnic, class, and gender differences that perennially redefined our population and social order. The th

Web Resource: "Mapping the Brew City"

Today is Global GIS Day , created to increase awareness of the technology of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and the importance of geographical knowledge in general. Historians and other social scientists are becoming increasingly interested in the potential of GIS tools in their own work (see the earlier Exchange posts on the subject here ). In recognition of the event, our resource today is "Mapping the Brew City."   According to the site's creator, Will Tchakirides, this Web exhibit aims to "explore questions of regional identity, consumer culture, and demographic change in postwar Milwaukee, Wisconsin." The website provides an overview of the city's brewing history, combining historical essays with illustrations, documents, and GIS-enhanced maps.

“Business in Between Cultures” Program and Abstracts Now Available

The European Association for Banking and Financial History (EABH) e.V., in cooperation with the BBI (Bosnia Bank International) Academy and the University of Sarajevo School of Economics and Business , is holding a conference on "Business in between Cultures: The Development of Islamic Finance," in Sarajevo on November 15-16, 2012. The program has now been posted, as well as abstracts of the papers and speaker bios. For additional information, please consult the conference website .

CFP: 2013 Economic History Association

The next annual meeting of the Economic History Association (EHA) will be held in Washington, D.C., on September 20-22, 2013, with a theme of "Global Perspectives." The call for papers states: Economic history has gone global. The history of international trade,finance, migration, and long run development attracts ever more attention. The global perspective is also transforming the study of individual countries. International comparisons provide a yard stick for gauging what is unique and important in a nation’s history. What role have internal factors like culture and institutions played in explaining differential development and how does their importance compare to the imperatives and opportunities presented by the international economy? What role has economic policy played in shaping the international economic order and in helping countries meet the challenges it presents? Can a country’s economic history any longer be written from a purely national point of view or i

Thomas K. McCraw, 1940-2012

We are deeply saddened to report the death of Thomas K. McCraw , Pulitzer Prize-winning business historian, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, emeritus, at the Harvard Business School, and long-time Business History Conference member (and Past- President). Professor McCraw died Saturday, November 3, 2012, in Cambridge, Massachusetts; he was 72.     His Prophets of Regulation: Charles Francis Adams, Louis D. Brandeis, James M. Landis, Alfred E. Kahn (1984) won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1985; Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction (2007), was awarded both the Hagley Prize and the Fay Chandler Prize for the best book on business history. He had just published The Founders and Finance: How Hamilton, Gallatin, and Other Immigrants Forged a New Economy (Harvard University Press, 2012).     At Harvard Business School Professor McCraw served as a Director of Research (1984-86), as head of two required first-year courses (1981-84 and 1996-2

On-Line Resource: Rethinking Regulation

Rethinking Regulation at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University, according to its website, "provides a forum for leading scholars to explore better conceptual frameworks for regulatory decision-making, inform smarter design of regulatory institutions, guide more effective formulation of regulatory policy, and better align regulatory governance with the requirements of democratic legitimacy. In the fall of 2010, the Kenan Institute for Ethics launched Rethinking Regulation, a three-year faculty working group, to reconsider the purposes and strategies of regulatory governance, both in the United States and the wider world. Participants come from Duke’s professional schools, social science departments, and moral and political philosophy.Bridging disciplinary divides, Rethinking Regulation brings together academics who study a wide range of regulatory domains (healthcare, finance, labor relations, environmental protection, antitrust, consumer protection), various jurisdi

2012 SSHA Program: “Histories of Capitalism”

Readers may be interested in the program for this year's Social Science History Association (SSHA) meeting , just concluded in Vancouver, British Columbia. Given that the theme for the meeting is "Histories of Capitalism," it is not surprising the the program includes many business and economic historians; they include Elizabeth Shermer, Dominique Tobbell, Maria Stanfors, Dan Du, Ray Stokes, Daniel Levinson Wilk, Kris Inwood, Louis Cain, Jane Humphries, Christine Desan, Carol Heim, Eileen Boris, Richard Steckel, Sean Vanatta, and Elspeth Brown—a list that is by no means all-inclusive. The complete program is available here . There is no fast way to filter the many sessions, but using the "Conference Schedule" link takes readers to a list of session titles with links to participants and paper abstracts.

CFP: GHI 2013 Workshop on “New Technologies and Cultures of Communication”

On May 9-10, 2013, the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., will hold a workshop on the topic, "New Technologies and Cultures of Communication in the 19th and 20th Centuries." The conveners are Richard R. John (Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism), Peter Jelavich (The Johns Hopkins University), Benjamin Schwantes (German Historical Institute Washington), and Clelia Caruso (German Historical Institute Washington). The call for papers states, in part: Changes in communication routines are often linked to the emergence of new communications media. The advent of electrical media beginning in the mid-19th century has had a significant impact on the communication cultures of modern societies. Technologies such as the telegraph, telephone, and radio affected established communication routines by changing communication practices and altering cultural meanings attached to them. Preexisting communication cultures, in return, shaped usages of these evolvin

Reminder: BHC Doctoral Workshop Applications Due December 1

The Oxford Journals Doctoral Colloquium in Business History will be held in conjunction with the BHC annual meeting . This prestigious workshop, sponsored by the BHC and funded by the Journals Division of Oxford University Press, will take place in Columbus, Ohio, at the conference site on Wednesday, March 20 and Thursday, March 21. The colloquium is limited to ten students. Participants work intensively with a distinguished group of BHC-affiliated scholars that includes at least two BHC officers. The colloquium will discuss dissertation proposals, relevant literatures and research strategies, and employment opportunities in business history. This colloquium is intended for doctoral candidates in the early stages of their dissertation projects.      If you are interested in being considered for this colloquium, please submit to Roger Horowitz ( BHC2013@Hagley.org) by December 1, 2012,   a statement of interest, a CV, a preliminary or final dissertation prospectus of 10-15 pages, an

CFP: Business History Issue on “Business Longevity”

The journal Business History has issued a call for papers for a special issue on "Theoretical and Empirical Research on Business Longevity." Guest editors will be Maria Rosaria Napolitano (University of Sannio, Italy), Vittoria Marino (University of Salerno, Italy), and Jari Ojala (University of Jyväskylä, Finland). The call for papers explains:     The special issue, with a targeted publication date of April 2014, is aimed at investigating firms’ longevity factors. The importance of longevity has been highlighted in earlier studies on family business by focusing on their difficulties in enduring through the third generation. Hence the strong focus in the literature, on the one hand, on business succession in family enterprises, and, on the other, on the identification of enduring firms’ distinctive features. In order to fill both a theoretical and an empirical gap, several contributions have attempted to model the values of longevity and their role in the entrepreneurial

GHI November Workshop Program Now Available

The program for "Translating Potential into Profits: Foreign Multinationals in Emerging Markets since the 19th Century," a workshop to be held at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. (1607 New Hampshire Ave. NW), on November 2-3, 2012, is now available. The convenors are Matthias Kipping (Schulich School of Business, Toronto) and Christina Lubinski (GHI). According to the call for papers, "The purpose of this workshop is to provide historical perspectives on the operations of multinationals in emerging markets, which present significant opportunities but also a range of serious challenges for foreign investors. The intention is to provide some general insights about how these multinationals managed to adapt to these conditions and establish a successful and lasting presence in these markets." The international list of speakers includes scholars from the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Chile, Argentina, and Japan, in addition

This Week: World Bank Archives Workshop on Using History

Readers in the Washington, D.C., area may wish to check out a workshop being held by the World Bank later this week. On October 25-26 , the Bank will host a meeting on "Using History to Inform Development Policy: The Role of Archives." Among the many speakers are business historians Michele Alacevich, William H. Becker, Stephanie Decker, Alexander Field, and Gianni Toniolo. As the organizers explain, the "Using History to Inform Development Policy" workshop will bring together World Bank staff, outside scholars whose research has benefited from the opening of archives of the World Bank and other international agencies, and the development community. Through a combination of case studies and thematic papers participants will explore how history strengthens the effectiveness of development work and discuss the benefits of using methodological tools from different social sciences—a mixture of narrative techniques and economic analysis. . . . The workshop is also

CFP: The Trades of Burial in the Mid-Atlantic US

The Museum of Early Trades & Crafts (METC) is seeking proposals for articles to include in the formal exhibit catalog for the exhibit,"Ghosts, Ghouls and Gravestones: The Trades of Burial" set to run September 2013 through February 2014. All articles should relate in some way to the theme of the exhibit and the state of New Jersey.     According to the Museum's exhibit abstract: starting during the colonial period the final phase of life helped to support numerous tradesmen in the American colonies, later states. Among the several trades involved were gravediggers, coffin-makers, and gravestone carvers. Few tradesmen could survive solely by working these trades, unless they resided in heavily populated areas during prosperous times, but they honed their skills while producing similar products. While they may not have plied their trades full-time these men helped their communities to mourn their dead and continue with life. Those interested in contributing to

“Global Commodities” Conference Program Now Available

"Global Commodities: The Material Culture of Early Modern Connections, 1400-1800" is a conference to be held at the University of Warwick on December 12-14, 2012, sponsored by the Global History and Culture Centre . The conference website now contains information about registration, accommodations, and funding, as well as the preliminary program . According to the organizers, This conference seeks to explore how our understanding of early modern global connections changes if we consider the role material culture played in shaping such connections. In what ways did material objects participate in the development of the multiple processes often referred to as ‘globalisation’? How did objects contribute to the construction of such notions as hybridism and cosmopolitanism? What was their role in trade and migration, gifts and diplomacy, encounters and conflict? What kind of geographies did they create in the early modern world? What was their cultural value vis-à-vis

Hagley Materials on Historypin

This summer, the Hagley Museum and Library created a channel on Historypin to organize and spotlight areas of its collection. Readers can find a description of the process here in the Hagley Library and Archives News. Historypin is a user-generated global archive of photographs taken in the past and present; many historical museums, archives, and societies have begun to use the site to make available coherent "stories" from their collections. For example, using the "tour" feature, Hagley materials are organized into "Making Black Powder in the DuPont Company Yards" ; for other Hagley photographic tours on Historypin, see here .     The Hagley channel on Historypin was developed by Della Hall of the University of Delaware.     Among the many other organizations with Historypin channels are the US National Archives and the Smithsonian Institution Archives .

Naomi Lamoreaux to Speak on Corporations at Columbia Business History Forum

As part of this year's Business History Forum at Columbia University , Naomi Lamoreaux of Yale University will present a talk entitled " 'Corporations Are People Too': The Strange History of Corporations and the Fourteenth Amendment." This session will take place on November 7, 2012, in 107 Warren Hall (115th Street & Amsterdam Avenue). The abstract for the talk states: In 1886 the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Morrison R. Waite, declared at the start of oral arguments in the case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, “The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of opinion that it does.” This simple statement has generally been taken to be the Court’s definitive position on the legal personhood of corporat

“New Perspectives on Ottoman Economic History” Program Posted

The Yale Program in Economic History will sponsor a mini-conference on New Perspectives on Ottoman Economic History to be held at Yale University on November 9-10, 2012. The co-organizers of the conference are Professor Timothy Guinnane, Yale University, Economic Growth Center, and Seven Agir, Middle East Technical University. The program has now been posted, along with registration information. The conference is open to the public, but registration is required to assist in planning. All papers will be available on the conference website approximately three weeks before the meeting. Authors will not present their paper; instead, they will have ten minutes to summarize their results. Rather than have a formal discussant, discussion will be opened immediately to all participants [Interested readers might also like to visit a web resource, "Economic History of the Ottoman Empire," developed by Metin Cosgel at the University of Connecticut.] 

Canadian Business History Group Announced

Several historians of business history in Canada have set up a Google group, " Canadian Business Historians/historiens des affaires canadiens ," in order to coordinate activities among Canadian scholars in the field. They also plan a website and a series of scholarly activities.     The first of these will be the Canadian Business History Workshops, which will feature presentation and discussion of two draft papers (circulated in advance). It is hoped that these will become regular meetings as part of an attempt to build a closer network among business historians in Canada. The inaugural workshop will be held at the Brantford Campus of Wilfrid Laurier University, 73 George Street, Brantford, Ontario N3T 2Y3 on Friday, November 16, 2012. (For a map, please see: http://tinyurl.com/8kmgjtj ). The Workshop will start at noon in the Carnegie Building, Lower Level, Room 100, with lunch, provided by the Dean's office. The schedule is: 12:00-1:30 pm    Lunch 1.30-2.30 pm

Deadline Approaching: Harvard-Newcomen Fellowship

A reminder that the application deadline for the Harvard-Newcomen Postdoctoral Fellowship in Business History is October 15, 2012 . The Felllowship is awarded for twelve months' residence, study, and research at Harvard Business School. The fellowship is open to scholars who, within the last ten years, have received a Ph.D. in history, economics, or a related discipline. The fellowship has two purposes: The first is to enable scholars to engage in research that will benefit from the resources of Harvard Business School and the larger Boston scholarly community. A travel fund and a book fund will be provided.     The second purpose is to provide an opportunity for the fellow to participate in the activities of Harvard Business School. The fellow is required to research and write a case, under the direction of a senior faculty member, to be used in one of the business history courses. Finally, the fellow is encouraged to submit an article to Business History Review during his or

"Archival Legislation for Finance" Workshop Website Now Posted

The European Association for Banking and Financial History (EABH) e.V, in cooperation with Deutsche Bank AG, will hold a Workshop on "Archival Legislation for Finance (ALFF) in Europe," on November 23, 2012. The Workshop will take place at Deutsches Bank in Frankfurt am Main. It is the first in a series of workshops on the legal requirements for archiving financial information (data retention) in European nations. The full program has now been posted, as well as details about registration, travel, and accommodations. Please visit the Workshop website for complete information.

Program Available: “Muck and Brass”

On November 10, 2012, the Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies will host a one-day colloquium titled "Muck and Brass: Money and Finance in Victorian Britain." Co-convened by Dr. Rosemary Mitchell (Leeds Trinity University College) and Dr. Donna Loftus (Open University), the event is designed "to encourage cross-disciplinary dialogue between literary scholars and social, economic, and cultural historians and to showcase interdisciplinary research into the economic and financial cultures of Victorian Britain." The keynote speakers will be Professor Ranald Michie (University of Durham) and Professor Janette Rutterford (Open University). The preliminary program is now available.    Those wishing to attend must register by October 29 , using the form attached to the program document. Please see the colloquium website for complete information.

ICC Anniversary Symposium Papers Available

The Summer 2012 issue of the Marquette Law Review features a symposium on the Interstate Commerce Act and the commission it created: "125 Years Since the Interstate Commerce Act: A Symposium in the Form of a Final Convocation." The articles are freely available for download as a set and individually . The table of contents: Joseph D. Kearney, "Foreword: The Last Assembly of Interstate Commerce Act Lawyers" James W. Ely, Jr., "The Troubled Beginning of the Interstate Commerce Act" Randal C. Picker, "The Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Act: Playing Railroad Tycoon" Thomas W. Merrill, "The Interstate Commerce Act, Administered Contracts, and the Illusion of Comprehensive Regulation" Paul Stephen Dempsey, "The Rise and Fall of the Interstate Commerce Commission: The Tortuous Path from Regulation to Deregulation of America's Infrastructure" Richard D. Cudahy, "The Interstate Commerce Act as a Mode

CFP: “Sugar and Beyond”

The John Carter Brown Library seeks proposals for a conference entitled “Sugar and Beyond,” to be held on October 25-26, 2013, in conjunction with a Fall 2013 JCBL exhibition on sugar in the early modern period. The call states, The centrality of sugar to the development of the Atlantic world is now well known. Sugar was the ‘green gold’ that planters across the Americas staked their fortunes on, and it was the commodity that became linked in bittersweet fashion to the rise of the Atlantic slave trade. Producing unprecedented quantities of sugar through their enforced labor, Africans on plantations helped transform life not only in the colonies but also in Europe, where consumers incorporated the luxury commodity into their everyday rituals and routines. “Sugar and Beyond” seeks to evaluate the current state of scholarship on sugar, as well as to move beyond it by considering related or alternative consumer cultures and economies. . . . This conference aims to serve as an occasio

CFP: Marketing and Consumption History in Ireland

The Journal for Historical Research in Marketing (JHRM) has issued a call for papers for a special issue on "Marketing and Consumption History in Ireland," to be edited by Bernadette Whelan. The call for papers states: Covering the period from the early modern to modern periods, several overarching themes are planned including the history of consumption, the development of consumer identities–the role of gender, age, politics, the history of marketing in Ireland, the marketing of Ireland in an international historical context, historical influences of international marketing and advertising strategies on the Irish advertising industry, the role of advertising in Irish commerce, the evolution of the advertising industry in Ireland and the role of the media. . . . specific topics might include but are not limited to historical perspectives on Ireland in a single country case-study or comparative approach. The submission deadline is June 30, 2013 . For more about

Regional Workshops and Seminars in Business and Economic History

As the new academic year begins, we again offer a round-up of ongoing workshops, forums, and discussion groups in business and economic history. Please check each website for more detailed information; some groups, particularly those in non-US universities, may not yet have posted Fall 2012 information. In addition to their value for those able to participate directly, these groups often maintain mailing lists and sometimes make speakers' papers freely available.  Business History Forum , Columbia University Business History Seminar , Harvard Business School Business History Unit Seminars, LSE Business History @ Erasmus Seminars Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society (Hagley) Research Seminars Centre for Macroeconomics and the Historical Record (MEHR), University of Copenhagen Columbia University Seminar in Economic History CoreSeminar in Economic and Social History , University of Cambridge Economic and Social History of the Premodern World , I