Stories From The Stacks

Ginseng is the “emperor of plants,” celebrated in traditional Chinese medicine as a sovereign remedy for diverse ailments and promoter of longevity. The introduction of American ginseng to the Chinese market in the late-eighteenth century found a vast market of eager consumers. In her dissertation project, Audrey Ke Zhao, PhD candidate at the University of California – Santa Cruz, is exploring the history of American ginseng in China. Using multiple collections held in the Hagley Library, such as the Lanman & Kemp drug company records, Zhao uncovers the development of an American export industry in ginseng with global connections and an orientation to the Chinese market. Ginseng imported through Canton challenged the imperial monopoly on the coveted commodity, triggering changes across the political economy of China. In support of her work, Zhao received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. For more information, and more Hagley Histor

From the eighteenth-century Moravians singing hymns on communal farms, to twentieth-century steelworkers laboring in blazing furnaces, to twenty-first century healthcare and warehouse workers cutting loose at Musikfest, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania has moved to many beats. In her latest project, Dr. Kimberly Andrews, associate professor at the University of Ottawa, investigates the history of Bethlehem as a creative writing challenge. Learning about the past through archival materials, oral histories, and living landscapes, Andrews seeks to make meaning of the many changes and challenges faced by the people and places of Bethlehem. In support of her work, Dr. Andrews received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Techology, and Society at that Hagley Musuem and Library. For more information, and more Hagley History Hangouts, visit us online at hagley.org. To make a donation underwriting this program and others like it please visit our Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/underwriting-don

Working parents rely on childcare infrastructure, and as working parent became an ever-larger proportion of the American workforce from the 1960s onward, the lack of accessible, affordable, quality childcare became a major political and cultural issue. In her dissertation research, Julia Fournier, PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, traces the history of childcare in the United States from the late-1960s to the mid-1990s. Among Fournier’s sources is the archive of Catalyst, Inc., an advocacy group promoting women’s interest in the workplace, held in the Hagley Library. Her findings suggest that a confluence of public and private pressures has prevented the development of a coherent federal childcare policy, much less a universal childcare infrastructure. In support of her work, Fournier received finding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. For more information, and more Hagley History Hangouts, visit us online at

In this episode we interview Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl about her new book Crusading for Globalization: US Multinationals and Their Opponents Since 1945. From the publisher: “The first book to shed light on what caused corporate executives to pursue a pro-globalization agenda over the last eight decades. Crusading for Globalization tells the story of an extraordinarily influential group of business executives at the helms of the largest US multinational corporations and their quest to drive globalization forward over the last eight decades. Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl argues that the spectacular expansion of international investment, trade, and production after 1945 cannot be understood without considering the role played by these corporate globalizers and the organization they created, the US Council (today’s United States Council for International Business). By shaping governmental policy through their congressional lobbying and close connections to successive presidential administrations, US Council

The United States drug tests its citizens more than any other country and ties the rights one enjoys, rights to keep one’s baby, to do one’s job, or to vote or move freely, to the results of a given drug test. While Americans lead the world in drug consumption, they also lead the world in drug testing. In her latest book project, Dr. Laura Browder, professor at the University of Richmond, uncovers the history of drug testing in the United States. From 1930s concerns about drunk drivers and heroin addled horses, to 21st century legacies of the War on Drugs that link child custody and job security to drug test results, Browder shows how American citizenship became tied to the chemical composition of one’s blood. In support of her work, Dr. Browder received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. For more information, and more Hagley History Hangouts, visit us online at hagley.org. To make a donation underwriting this program and others l

Innovation plays a role in the beauty and fashion industry as it does in any line of business. New products, new techniques, and new markets animate the industry, and punctuate its history. In her latest book project, Dr. Denise Sutton, associate professor at the City University of New York, examines several case studies in fashion and beauty innovation. From ready-to-wear apparel for pregnant women, to beauty products for people of color, to Kevlar attire in hazardous workplaces, each case demonstrates the centrality of innovation to the business of fashion. In support of her work Dr. Sutton received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. For more information, and more Hagley History Hangouts, visit us online at hagley.org. To make a donation underwriting this program and others like it please visit our Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/underwriting-donation-tickets-1470779985529?aff=oddtdtcreator.

Businesses tell stories about themselves, in their advertising, in their marketing, and in their corporate biographies. Official or authorized histories of corporations form a distinctive thread in the literature in business history. In his latest book project, Dr. Lee McGuigan, assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, is researching the official corporate history as a distinctive form of media and mode of communication. His initial findings suggest that corporations used their official histories for various purposes; to reify their identity, to promote their accomplishments, or to define their internal culture, depending on the intended audience. In support of his work, Dr. McGuigan received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. For more information, and more Hagley History Hangouts, visit us online at hagley.org. To make a donation underwriting this program and others like it please visit our Eventbrite page: https:

American labor unions struggled to adjust to the changing dynamics of the world economy during the mid-to-late twentieth century. Charting this complex process is Dr. Melanie Sheehan, assistant professor of history at Hartwick College and recent Hagley-NEH postdoctoral fellow. Sheehan has discovered that during the post-WWII moment, union economists supported trade liberalization as a means of multiplying the comparative advantages enjoyed by U.S. producers and exporters so long as it was accompanied by aid to impacted industries and displaced workers. However, while trade liberalization proceeded apace, and foreign competition rapidly gained ground against American made goods, the planned and hoped-for aid failed to materialize. This forced unions to reassess their commitment to liberal trade policies, as their industries, first textiles, then steel, and finally automotives, faced the implications of increasingly efficient foreign competition. In support of her work Dr. Sheehan received funding from the C

Building international cooperation is a slow, painstaking process, one made more difficult when some people don’t see the need for it. To businesses, however, international cooperation is positively necessary as a means to secure intellectual property rights, market share, and profit opportunities. In his dissertation research, Joël Praz, PhD student at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, is uncovering the significance of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, an international patents union today administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Using numerous collections held in the Hagley Library, Praz has found that private businesses in the United States began to value international cooperation around patent law increasingly after the Second World War. In support of his work Praz received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. For more information and more Hagley

Our previously scheduled episode featuring Alessandra La Rocca Link has been postponed. In lieu of which, we present this recording made during the Hagley Author Talk featuring David Suisman hosted on February 27th, 2025 by the Hagley Museum and Library. Suisman discusses his latest book, "Instrument of War: Music and the Making of America's Soldiers." From the publisher: "Since the Civil War, music has coursed through the United States military. Soldiers have sung while marching, listened to phonographs and armed forces radio, and packed the seats at large-scale USO shows. “Reveille” has roused soldiers in the morning and “Taps” has marked the end of a long day. Whether the sounds came from brass instruments, weary and homesick singers, or a pair of heavily used earbuds, where there was war, there was music, too. Instrument of War is a first-of-its-kind study of music in the lives of American soldiers. Although musical activity has been part of war since time immemorial, the significance of the US milit

While popular memory may have forgotten them, about half of the sailors, soldiers, missionaries, tradesmen, and colonists that made up the Spanish Empire were black, people who were part of the African diaspora. Studying their history allows scholars new ways to research and interpret Spanish colonialism, perhaps especially in the Pacific context. Dr. Leo Garofalo, Virginia Eason Weinmann 1951 Professor of History at Connecticut College, is laying the foundation for generations of new research on the Black Pacific. In his work on Afro-Andeans he has illuminated the central role played by the black people of Spanish Peru in the expansion of Iberian power across the Pacific Ocean. As skilled sailors and shipbuilders they built and operated the ships, charted the routes, and advanced the missions that formed the very marrow of imperial might. Focus on the African diaspora as it emanated across the Atlantic and Indian oceans accompanying and staffing Iberian imperial projects, underscores the intersection of the

During the Cold War, rival superpowers the USA and the USSR vied with one another for world dominion in many arenas: military, diplomatic, and even haute coture. In the latter connection, French designers played arbiter, judging the synthetic textiles developed under capitalist and communist systems for their value in fashion. In her dissertation project, Monica Geraffo, PhD candidate at the University of California at Los Angeles, discovers why synthetic textiles played such a central role in the Cold War rivalry between political blocs. Using the extensive DuPont company records held in the Hagley Library, Geraffo highlights the shared interests of chemical firms, fashion houses, and political leaders, which aligned around synthetic textiles in the Cold War context. In support of her research, Geraffo received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. For more information and more Hagley History Hangouts, visit us online at hagley.org.

In this interview with Roger Horowitz, Ana Maria Otero-Cleves discusses the place of important objects in her book Plebian Consumers, especially textiles, machetes, and patent medicine. Otero-Cleves also elaborates on the crucial importance of Hagley’s Lanman and Kemp collection due to its extensive correspondence with Colombian merchants in the late 19th century to obtain supplies for its patent medicines. From the publisher: “Plebeian Consumers is both a global and local study. It tells the story of how peasants, day workers, formerly enslaved people, and small landholders became the largest consumers of foreign commodities in nineteenth-century Colombia, and dynamic participants of an increasingly interconnected world. By studying how plebeian consumers altered global processes from below, Ana María Otero-Cleves challenges ongoing stereotypes about Latin America's peripheral role in the world economy through the nineteenth century, and its undisputed dependency on the Global North. By exploring Colombians

In this episode of the Hagley History Hangout we interview Simone M. Muller, professor of global environmental history at the University of Augsburg and author of the Hagley Award-winning book The Toxic Ship: The Khian Sea and the Global Waste Trade. From the publisher: “An infamous voyage explores the hazardous waste trade and environmental justice - In 1986 the Khian Sea, carrying thousands of tons of incinerator ash from Philadelphia, began a two-year journey, roaming the world's oceans in search of a dumping ground. Its initial destination and then country after country refused to accept the waste. The ship ended up dumping part of its load in Haiti under false pretenses, and the remaining waste was illegally dumped in the ocean. Two shipping company officials eventually received criminal convictions. Simone M. Müller uses the Khian Sea's voyage as a lens to elucidate the global trade in hazardous waste—the movement of material ranging from outdated consumer products and pesticides to barges fille

Kodak enjoyed dominance over the international photography market for much of the twentieth century. Part and parcel of that success was dominance over the science of photography, achieved and maintained by a worldwide network of research laboratories. In his latest research Joris Mercelis, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, finds that the international network of Kodak research laboratories had two primary functions. In the shorter term their function was problem solve the tricky process of manufacturing photographic film in the different environmental conditions prevailing in different world regions, a process that proved difficult to standardize. In the longer term, and perhaps more significantly, Kodak laboratories conducted novel and cutting-edge research into the fundamentals and applications of photographic science. In support of his work Dr. Mercelis received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society, including a NEH-Hagley postdoctoral fellowship.

Americans, understandably, have an emotionally fraught relationship with firearms, and American gun culture bears the marks of this emotional complexity. When, and perhaps more important, why did the firearm, a tool for killing, come to bear this unique cultural baggage in America? Between 1870 and 1920, when firearms were no longer seen as a tool first, but a consumer good laden with symbolic meaning and community associations. So argues Courtney Slavin, PhD candidate at Clark University, in her dissertation project. Using a combination of primary sources, including business records, catalogs, and consumer correspondence, all held in the Hagley Library collections, Slavin reconstructs a time when Americans began thinking about and using guns less as functional firearms and more as symbols. Fitting into a cultural milieu of anxiety over masculinity, fears of over civilization, perceived loss of tradition and community, guns accreted a load of cultural meanings atop of and around their physical objects. The

Hagley’s Ben Spohn interviews Albert Churella about the final volume in his landmark trilogy on the history of the Pennsylvania Railroad. From the publisher: “The final volume of Albert J. Churella's landmark series, The Pennsylvania Railroad, concludes the story of the iconic transportation company, covering its long decline from the 1930s to its merger with the New York Central Railroad in 1968. Despite some parallels with World War I, the experience of World War II had a substantially different impact on the Pennsylvania Railroad. The introduction of new technologies, personnel, and commuter routes had significant effects on this giant of American transportation. The recession of 1958 sparked a period of decline from which it and many other railroads struggled to fully recover. The Pennsylvania Railroad: The Long Decline, 1933-1968 provides an unparalleled look at the final years of this legendary company, which in its prime was the largest corporation in the world, with a budget second only to that o

Where can you find music in the archive? Everywhere, if you know how to look. So argues our guest musicologist Rebecca Geoffroy-Schwinden, associate professor at the University of North Texas and former NEH-Hagley postdoctoral fellow. In this episode, Dr. Geoffroy-Schwinden discusses her latest book project about amateur music making in the Francophone world during the Age of Revolution. Her particular focus is on the meaning of music in the private lives of women around the Atlantic world, women like those in the du Pont family. When Geoffroy-Schwinden delved into the archive she was stunned and delighted to find music everywhere, hidden in plain sight. In support of her work Geoffroy-Schwinden received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. For more Hagley History Hangouts, and more information on our research funding opportunities, please visit us at Hagley.org.

The mid-twentieth century emergence of multinational corporations wealthier and more powerful than many nations presented a problem for organizations tasked with overseeing international cooperation and development. How to create a regulatory framework around multinationals that would protect the interests of disadvantaged peoples and regions, while not limiting the ability of multinational corporations to deliver economic development. In turn, international business associations reacted to this push toward regulation with a well-organized opposition. In her dissertation research, Maia Müller, PhD candidate at the University of Lausanne, examines the role of business associations in the struggle over regulation of multinational corporations between the 1960s and 1990s. These powerful lobbying organizations provided a unified and legitimizing voice advocating for the perceived interests of the business community, one increasingly dominated by multinational corporations. Her transnational study reveals the sec

Ice, ice, baby. In nineteenth-century America ice was everywhere. Extracted from northern ponds and shipped around the world, ice became a valuable commodity and a vital input in numerous industries. In his latest research Dr. Andrew Robichaud, Associate Professor of History at Boston University, explores the ice industry in nineteenth-century America and its many and complex impacts. From fruit to beer, from cattle carcasses to human cadavers, American ice had its role to play. In support of his work, Dr. Robichaud received funding from the Hagley Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. For more information, and more Hagley History Hangouts, join us online at Hagley.org.