The Evolution of Commercial Credit Reporting Agencies in Nineteenth-Century America

1974 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Madison
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Credit Reporting ◽  
Nineteenth Century America ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
New Industry ◽  
American Economy

Professor Madison examines the formative decades of an important new industry in the nineteenth-century American economy. Overcoming a wide range of problems and challenges, firms such as the Bradstreet and the Dun agencies became established enterprises by the end of the century primarily because they effectively met new needs in a changing business environment.

Rates of Return for Land-Grant Railroads: The Central Pacific System

1970 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 602-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lloyd J. Mercer
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Land Policy ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
Rates Of Return ◽  
The Public ◽  
Nineteenth Century America ◽  
American Economy ◽  
Distribution Of Income

Land was the resource that nineteenth-century America possessed in greatest abundance. A large part of the land was initially in the public domain and was transferred to private ownership in the course of the century. Land policy, therefore, had the potential for creating significant and long lasting effects on the American economy—on the rate of settlement of the West, the distribution of income, the rate of economic growth. A substantial body of literature, much of it severely critical, has developed concerning the economic effects of nineteenth-century American land policy. Unfortunately, the criticisms often rest primarily on tales of corruption and thievery, rather than on economic analysis. Certainly many of the stories are true, but they represent an insufficient basis for evaluating the economic effects of land policy. A detailed economic analysis of individual policies is required.

Useful Objects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reed Gochberg
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
American Culture ◽  
Science And Literature ◽  
Useful Knowledge ◽  
Nineteenth Century America ◽  
Alternative Systems ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Ideas

Useful Objects: Museums, Science, and Literature in Nineteenth-Century America explores the debates that surrounded the development of American museums during the nineteenth century. Throughout this period, museums included a wide range of objects, from botanical and zoological specimens to antiquarian artifacts and technological models. Intended to promote “useful knowledge,” these collections generated broader discussions about how objects were selected, preserved, and classified. In guidebooks and periodicals, visitors described their experiences within museum galleries and marveled at the objects they encountered. And in fiction, essays, and poems, writers embraced the imaginative possibilities represented by collections and proposed alternative systems of arrangement. These conversations spanned spheres of American culture, raising deeper questions about how objects are valued—and who gets to decide. Combining literary criticism, the history of science, and museum studies, Useful Objects examines the dynamic and often fraught debates that emerged during a crucial period in the history of museums. As museums gradually transformed from encyclopedic cabinets to more specialized public institutions, many writers questioned who would have access to collections and the authority to interpret them. Throughout this period, they reflected on loss and preservation, raised concerns about the place of new ideas, and resisted increasingly fixed categories. These conversations extended beyond individual institutions, shaping broader debates about the scope and purpose of museums in American culture that continue to resonate today.

Radical Friend

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy A. Hewitt
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Activism ◽  
Underground Railroad ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Nineteenth Century America ◽  
Local Leader ◽  
William Lloyd Garrison ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Woman's Rights ◽  
Radical Activism

A pillar of radical activism in nineteenth-century America, Amy Kirby Post (1802–89) participated in a wide range of movements and labored tirelessly to orchestrate ties between issues, causes, and activists. A conductor on the Underground Railroad, co-organizer of the 1848 Rochester Woman’s Rights Convention, and a key figure in progressive Quaker, antislavery, feminist, and spiritualist communities, Post sustained movements locally, regionally, and nationally over many decades. But more than simply telling the story of her role as a local leader or a bridge between local and national arenas of activism, Nancy A. Hewitt argues that Post’s radical vision offers a critical perspective on current conceptualizations of social activism in the nineteenth century. While some individual radicals in this period have received contemporary attention—most notably William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and Lucretia Mott (all of whom were friends of Post)—the existence of an extensive network of radical activists bound together across eight decades by ties of family, friendship, and faith has been largely ignored. In this in-depth biography of Post, Hewitt demonstrates a vibrant radical tradition of social justice that sought to transform the nation.

“That Mysterious People”: Jewish Merchants, Transparency, and Community in Mid-Nineteenth Century America

1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowena Olegario
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Business Culture ◽  
Credit Reporting ◽  
Nineteenth Century America ◽  
Open Networks

In the mid-nineteenth century, American wholesalers began increasingly to rely on credit-reporting agencies to provide information about customers in distant localities. The demand for dependable information, coupled with the dynamism and competitiveness of the American market, helped usher into place a business culture that favored transparency and open networks. This article examines one group of merchants—immigrant Jews—whose traditions stood in contrast to the business elite's growing demand for disclosure.

scholarly journals The Good Consumer: Credit Reporting and the Invention of Financial Identity in the United States, 1840–1940

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 686-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh Lauer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Consumer Credit ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Account ◽  
Credit Reporting ◽  
American Economy ◽  
Financial Identity

The Good Consumer offers a historical account of consumer credit reporting in the United States, from its nineteenth-century antecedents in commercial credit reporting through its professionalization and transformation into a key communication infrastructure during the first half of the twentieth century. While describing the technical and institutional development of the modern credit bureau, The Good Consumer draws special attention to one of the most consequential effects of credit reporting: the invention of financial identity. Formalized systems of credit evaluation produced their own categories of social reality and fostered new forms of economic objectification. The title refers to the “goodness” of credit consumers in several contexts: as prompt paying customers, trustworthy and morally upright citizens, profitable target markets, and collectively as a vital force behind the growth of the twentiethcentury American economy.

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