Abstract

"A Commerce of Affection: Bonds of Business and Feeling among Boston Merchants"

Laura McCoy, Northwestern University (lcm@u.northwestern.edu)

This paper will explore how merchants in early to mid-19th century Boston eagerly participated in a “commerce of affection” that they hoped would enable them to withstand the stresses of the economic realm. While sympathy or condolence would not settle material debts, affective bonds could at least soothe anxieties by reminding a merchant that he was not alone in the world. In the early nineteenth century, this meant a great deal. While sympathetic relationships may not have been enough to save a man from sinking into indebtedness , affective exchanges with male family, friends, and business partners often helped mitigate the debilitating emotions that accompanied the uncertain pursuit of profit.
This paper will focus on the affective connections merchant Joseph Coolidge formed with male family members and business partners as he sought his fortune in the China trade in the 1830s and 1840s. Coolidge’s acrimonious relationship with his fellow partners suggests that though the competitive world of trade may have sharpened the need for friends and allies, shared financial interest did not automatically breed feelings of affectionate collaboration among business partners. Neither did shared blood, as demonstrated by Coolidge’s unstable and impatient relationship with his cousin and younger brother, both named Thomas and both also merchants. Coolidge’s strongest affective, professional bond was with an older merchant named Augustine Heard, whose guidance, emotional support, and financial protection enabled Coolidge to navigate difficult emotional and financial quandaries. By exploring the relationships that constituted Joseph Coolidge’s “commerce of affection,” the paper will reveal the important place of familiar, affective labor in the collaborative business world of nineteenth-century merchants.