THE PROGRAM IN EARLY AMERICAN ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

This survey of Philadelphia-area collections involving economic history has been compiled under the auspices of the Library Company of Philadelphia’s Program in Early American Economy and Society (PEAES). The program is dedicated to promoting scholarly research and publication related to the origins and development of the early American economy, broadly conceived. Its many activities encompass work in fields such as entrepreneurship, business, commerce, manufacturing, labor, political economy, finance, agriculture, household economies, and technology.

PEAES aims to be a clearinghouse for everyone interested in the development of the early American economy, and actively seeks links to scholars, interested individuals, other programs pursuing complementary goals, and institutions that wish to build a broader understanding of the early American economy. (For more on the current state of economic history, see: Economic History of Today.)

The program offers research fellowships, organizes conferences, makes awards for the best journal articles relating to the early economy, sponsors a monograph publication series with Johns Hopkins University Press, and brings conference papers and other scholarly work to publication in academic journals. PEAES also offers an ongoing series of public programs, disseminating its resources to as wide an audience as possible, and in the Summer of 2004 ran an NEH seminar for school teachers. With money from a fund dedicated to acquisitions, the Library Company actively purchases primary research materials related to the scope of PEAES. Those who are interested in its activities are urged to browse the program website at: www.librarycompany.org/Economics. For more information about the Library Company's collections, please visit the main homepage: www.librarycompany.org or contact Wendy Woloson, Curator of Printed Books and PEAES Bibliographer, at woloson@librarycompany.org. For more information about PEAES in general, please contact Cathy Matson, PEAES Director, at cmatson@udel.edu.