economic history Archives

By Editor March 08, 2024

"Powers, Polycentrism, and Commercial Regulations in the Iberian Spaces: Monopolies, Privileges, and Exclusive Regimes"

The OI is proud to support this ambitious two-city, multi-day, event organized by Fabrício Prado (William & Mary) in conjunction with the Institute of Historical Research at UNAM, Mexico City as part of the Social History of Commercial Regulations Project – HIRECOM. The conference will begin on the campus of William & Mary, April 11 through 13, then continue… Read More

1 min read

By OI December 02, 2022

"Transforming Waste into Wealth: The Political Economy of Alcohol in the Leeward Islands, 1670-1737"

OI Colloquium with Lila O’Leary Chambers Alcohol played a crucial role in supporting the Leeward Islands’ transition from a “society with slaves” to an entrenched “slave society” across the early eighteenth century. Rather than acting solely as a signifier of planter excess, this chapter reveals that white settlers and enslaved and free African and African-descended peoples incorporated it in… Read More

4 min read

By OI December 02, 2022

Private Profits and Public Affairs

Join us for an OI Author Conversation with Hannah Farber and Michael Zakim The rise of capitalism and the expansion of the market economy transformed the early U.S. republic, reshaping relations within the labor force as well as the relationship between state and society. As contingent as… Read More

3 min read

By Tom Cutterham December 12, 2018

Capital, Deception, and the Heirs of Daniel Parker

WMQ author Tom Cutterham (October 2018) offers further thoughts on his piece, “‘A Very Promising Appearance’: Credit, Honor, and Deception in the Emerging Market for American Debt, 1784—92” (William and Mary Quarterly, volume 75, no. 4). by Tom Cutterham Where is the line between entrepreneur and con-artist? That’s the question that animates Jane Kamensky’s account of early nineteenth-century Boston financier Andrew… Read More

WMQ 6 min read

By Abby Chandler September 24, 2018

Selling Empire and the 1760s Textile Debate

Today’s post is part of our series marking the 75th anniversary of the Omohundro Institute by exploring the OI books that have had an impact on a scholar’s life. by Abby Chandler This particular story begins at the Newport Historical Society in the summer of 2005. I had just completed the first year of a doctoral program which would result in a dissertation on sexual misconduct trials in colonial New England and my first book, Law and Sexual Misconduct in New England, 1650-1750: Steering Toward England. I was in Rhode Island because I was interning at the NHS and my supervisor had asked me to create a first person interpretive program for a Loyalist named Martin Howard who had lived in their Wanton-Lyman-Hazard house. Among his multiple endeavors, in 1764 Howard helped found an organization known as the Newport Junto, whose members who supported the expansion of the British Empire in the mid-eighteenth century by advocating for a wide range of political causes and interests. They believed the solution for Rhode Island’s bitter partisan politics was for Rhode Island to become a royal colony instead of a chartered colony. They supported the Sugar and Stamp Acts. They published a long series of letters signed by O.Z. in the Newport Mercury in 1764 and 1765 campaigning for home textile production in Rhode Island. Read More

books 14 min read

By oieahc August 01, 2018

Continuing the Conversation: "Poor Relief"

The following post is the result of questions raised during a panel (#33) at the OI’s 24th annual conference, June 14–17, 2018. If you have a conversation you would like to continue post-conference, or materials to share (such as a bibliography), please send them to the OI at oieahc@wm.edu. And be sure to join us for the 25th… Read More

conferences 11 min read

By Dael A. Norwood December 19, 2017

Global Trade and Revolution: The Politics of Americans’ Commerce with China

Today’s post accompanies “The Age of Revolutions,” episode 165 of Ben Franklin’s World and part of the Doing History 2: To the Revolution! series. You can find supplementary materials for the episode on the OI Reader app, available through iTunes or Google Play. by Dael A. Norwood In February 1784, just over a month after the U.S. Congress had ratified the Treaty of Paris and proclaimed the end of the war for Independence, the ice damming New York’s harbor finally receded. In its wake came a small, square-sterned ship: the Empress of China.[1] What set the Empress apart from the other ships leaving New York that winter was its ambition. It was bound for Canton, China – Guangzhou – a port no other American ship had yet reached. Seeking that distant destination, the ship was loaded with more than just ginseng and Spanish dollars as it sailed down the East River; it bore Americans’ hopes for a new era of prosperity, too. Read More

Doing History 14 min read

By Karin A. Amundsen April 05, 2017

Meddling Metals in Early Virginia

Jamestown Rediscovery-Omohundro Institute fellow Karin Amundsen discusses the work she undertook while in Williamsburg last fall. The next round of JR—OI fellowship applications is due April 17. Read More

fellowships 15 min read

By oieahc November 15, 2016

Garter Day in the Archives

Today, Georgian Papers Programme fellow Rachel Banke writes about her experience while conducting research in the Georgian archives at Windsor Castle’s Round Tower. Applications for the next round of GPP fellowships are due February 20, 2017. Scholars at all levels—graduate students, junior and senior faculty, and independent scholars of all ages—are eligible for the award. Apply here. Read More

Georgian Papers Programme 5 min read

By oieahc August 03, 2016

An old topic made new--iron in America

In this week’s post, Keith Pluymers (July 2016) describes the shifts in perspective that led him to reconsider a well-worn topic and ultimately to publish his first piece in the William and Mary Quarterly. by Keith Pluymers In 2013 while on a Mellon Research Fellowship at the Virginia Historical Society, a combination of archival discovery and a fortuitous meeting with a… Read More

WMQ 7 min read

By oieahc March 15, 2016

The “offal” difficulties of writing readable economic history

WMQ author (January 2016) Emma Hart looks at the difficulty of writing economic history. (She also kicks it off with a pretty good pun. How often does “offal” get to feature in jokes of any kind?) After two decades in the business, I realize that my historical interests are not the most popular preoccupations, even among specialists. I’m fascinated by… Read More

WMQ 7 min read

"Powers, Polycentrism, and Commercial Regulations in the Iberian Spaces: Monopolies, Privileges, and Exclusive Regimes"

"Transforming Waste into Wealth: The Political Economy of Alcohol in the Leeward Islands, 1670-1737"

Private Profits and Public Affairs

Capital, Deception, and the Heirs of Daniel Parker

Selling Empire and the 1760s Textile Debate

Continuing the Conversation: "Poor Relief"

Global Trade and Revolution: The Politics of Americans’ Commerce with China

Meddling Metals in Early Virginia

Garter Day in the Archives

An old topic made new--iron in America

The “offal” difficulties of writing readable economic history

Recent Posts

A Folder of One’s Own: Hannah Lawrence Schieffelin’s Life in Poetry

J.E. Morgan

Noel Edward Smyth

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"Powers, Polycentrism, and Commercial Regulations in the Iberian Spaces: Monopolies, Privileges, and Exclusive Regimes"

"Transforming Waste into Wealth: The Political Economy of Alcohol in the Leeward Islands, 1670-1737"

Private Profits and Public Affairs

Capital, Deception, and the Heirs of Daniel Parker

Selling Empire and the 1760s Textile Debate

Continuing the Conversation: "Poor Relief"

Global Trade and Revolution: The Politics of Americans’ Commerce with China

Meddling Metals in Early Virginia

Garter Day in the Archives

An old topic made new--iron in America

The “offal” difficulties of writing readable economic history

Recent Posts

A Folder of One’s Own: Hannah Lawrence Schieffelin’s Life in Poetry

J.E. Morgan

Noel Edward Smyth

Subscribe to the Blog

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