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Research: Business History in the Archives

Studio of Tingqua, Packing Tea, © Peabody Essex Museum 2006. Photo by Jeffrey Dykes
Many archives now have at least one blog, often used  to present snippets of interesting research that feature the institution's holdings. Some time ago, we highlighted the Hagley's "Stories from the Stacks," a podcast in which scholars discuss their research in light of materials found in the Hagley archives. Another blog of interest is Conversant, the blog of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts. Recently Dan Du served as a guest blogger for Conversant, writing about "A Tea Talk: Discovering the History of American Tea Business at the Phillips Library." Dan Du is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Georgia, working on her dissertation, “This World in a Teacup: Chinese-American Tea Trade in the Nineteenth Century,” which examines a century-long commercial and cultural interaction between Chinese and Americans through the lens of tea.
    Other business history-related posts from Conversant include "Land Disputes in the White Mountains" (parts I and II); "Colonial Corruption: The Failed Reform of His Majesty's Customs in Colonial America in the 1760s"; "The Fernald and Petigrew Shipyard Papers"; "David Pingree (1795-1863), Shipping Merchant"; and "David Pingree (1795-1863), Lumber Baron."

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