Business and Economic History: Dissertation Sessions, 1967-1999

Dissertation sessions have been a fixture of BHC meetings almost from the beginning. The first recorded instance of a dissertation session at a BHC meeting occurred in 1967. (A "Reports of Advanced Student Research" session was held in 1965; those papers are included in the main index.) The full text of papers presented at dissertation sessions from 1967 through 1999 are provided here. Beginning in 2000, dissertation session material is printed in Enterprise & Society. A sublisting of winners of the Krooss Prize, awarded to the author of the best dissertation presented, is included for the years of BEH publication.



For some early meetings, Dissertation Sessions were printed as one continuous document; in that case, the link to the session will provide access to all the papers; after 1985, the individual summaries are always linked separately.



1967 Dissertation Session

Commercial Banks and Economic Growth in the Ninth Federal Reserve District: A Quantitative Approach

Donald J. Elliott
  View as PDF



Charles Elliott Perkins: Beau and Baron

Herbert C. Goltz
  View as PDF



Better Britons for the Burlington

Ian MacPherson
  View as PDF



Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream: The Whig Years, 1832-1854

Gabor S. Borit
  View as PDF

1968 Dissertation Session

Hardware and Drug Wholesaling, 1870-1900

William H. Becker
  View as PDF



Growth, Stability, and Financial Innovation in the American Economy, 1897-1914

Larry Neal
  View as PDF



The Loschian Hierarchy of Cities: An Empirical Study of the Indianapolis Region, 1880

J. A. F. Nicholls
  View as PDF



New York Savings Banks in the Antebellum Years

Alan L. Olmstead
  View as PDF



The Democracy's Railroads: Internal Improvements in Michigan, 1825-1846

Robert Parks
  View as PDF



The Origins, Development, and Current Situation of the Negro Life Insurance Industry

Robert C. Puth
  View as PDF



Discussion of Dissertations

Richard C. Overton
  View as PDF

1969 Dissertation Session

Introduction

Harold F. Williamson
  View as PDF



Gross Farm Revenue in Pre-Civil War Illinois

Robert E. Ankli
  View as PDF



A Business History of the Business Men's Assurance Company

Stephen Butcher
  View as PDF



American Guitar Manufacturing: Oligopoly and the Economics of a Craft Industry

Robert J. Waller
  View as PDF



The Last Families: A Study of Metropolitan Newspaper Ownership, 1950-1967

Elizabeth E. Swayne Yamashita
  View as PDF

1972 Dissertation Session

Economic Stabilization by American Business in the Twentieth Century

Evan B. Metcalf
  View as PDF



The Economic Development of Pueblo, Colorado

Phillip M. Sarver
  View as PDF



Commentary on Dissertations

Samuel H. Williamson
  View as PDF

1973 Dissertation Session

Urbanization and American Economic Development, 1900-1930: Patterns of Demand in Baltimore and the Nation

Allan D. Anderson
  View as PDF



The Public Lands of Western Texas, 1875-1900: The Clash of Public and Private Interests

Wilson Elbert Dolman III
  View as PDF



Business and Government in the Eisenhower Era

Theodore P. Kovaleff
  View as PDF



The Development of National Advertising, 1865-1920

Daniel A. Pope
  View as PDF



A Comparative Statistical Analysis of the Growth of Fifteen U.S. Food Distribution Firms, 1948-1967

George A. Prendergast
  View as PDF



A History of the Chisos Mining Company, 1902-1942

Kenneth Ragsdale
  View as PDF



Commentary of Dissertations

Louis Galambos
  View as PDF



Discussion of Dissertations

Gaston V. Rimlinger
  View as PDF

1974 Dissertation Session

The Emergence of the Trust Company in New York City: 1870-1900

H. Peers Brewer
  View as PDF



Gabriel Kolko vs. the Federal Trade Commission: A Re-evaluation

T. Lane Moore
  View as PDF



The Dynamics of Oligopoly in the Meat Packing Industry: An Historical Analysis, 1875-1912

Mary Yeager [Kujovich]
  View as PDF



Commentary on Dissertations

  View as PDF

No 1975 Dissertation Session



1976 Dissertation Session   View as PDF

Draining the Wet Prairie of East Central Illinois

Roger A. Winsor



The Growth of a Refining Region

Joe Pratt



Business Responses to Keynesian Economics, 1929-64

Robert Collins



A Son of Antaeus: James J. Hill and Agricultural Development of the Northwest

Howard Dickman



Entrepreneurial Historians and History: An Exploration in the Organization of Intellect

Steven A. Sass



Commentary on Dissertation Session

Louis P. Cain   View as PDF

1977 Dissertation Session   View as PDF

Keeping the Corporate Image: Public Relations and Business, 1900-1950

Richard S. Tedlow



The Evolution of Private Mineral Rights: Nevada's Comstock Lode

Gary D. Libecap



The Development of Life Insurance in the United States: A Sociological Analysis

Viviana A. Zelizer



The Rise of an Independent Major: The Sun Oil Company, 1876-1945

August W. Giebelhaus



The Department Store and Social Change in Modern France: The Case of the Bon Marché

Michael Miller




Commentary on Dissertations

Glenn Porter
View as PDF

 

1978 Dissertation Session

Introduction to Dissertation Session

Jeremy A. Atack
  View as PDF



Dissertation Summaries   View as PDF



The Adoption and Diffusion of the Combined Harvester-Thresher: A Study on Economic History

J. Larry Deaton




The Rise of the American Electrochemicals Industry, 1880-1910: Studies in the American Technological Environment

Martha M. Trescott




South Africa's Impact on Britain's Return to Gold, 1925

Bruce R. Dalgaard

1979 Dissertation Session  View as PDF

Chicago, 1870 and 1900: Wealth, Occupation, and Education

Edward Bubnys




Saving & Investment in Medieval Egypt

Gladys M. Frantz




The Coming of Sound to the American Cinema: A History of the Transformation of an Industry

Douglas Gomery




Taunton and Mason: Cotton Machinery and Locomotive Manufacture in Taunton, Massachusetts, 1811-1861

J. W. Lozier




An Empirical Investigation of Farmers' Behavior under Uncertainty: Income, Price, and Yield Variability for Late 19th Century American Agriculture

Robert A. McGuire




Commentary on Dissertation Session

Harold D. Woodson
  View as PDF

No dissertation sessions, 1980-1984



1985 Dissertation Session

Diffusion During Depression: The Adoption of the Tractor by Illinois Farmers

Robert Charles Graham
  View as PDF



Ingenious Yankees: The Rise of the American System of Manufactures in the Private Sector

Donald Hoke
  View as PDF



The Decline and Rise of Charcoal Iron: The Case of Canada

Kris E. Inwood
  View as PDF

1986 Dissertation Session

Business Location in 1860 and 1870: Evidence from the Manufacturing Censuses

Susan Hotopp
  View as PDF



From Conflict to Consensus: The American Institute of Accountants and the Professionalization of Public Accountancy, 1886-1940

Paul J. Miranti, Jr.
  View as PDF

1987 Dissertation Session

The Photochemical Industry: Historical Essays in Business Strategy and Internationalization

Lutz Alt
  View as PDF



Managing Industrial Decline: Four British Colliery Companies between the Wars

Michael Dintenfass
  View as PDF



Henry E. Huntington and Metropolitan Entrepreneurship in Southern California, 1898-1917

William B. Friedricks
  View as PDF



Coordinating Market Forces: The Anatomy of Investment Decisions in the Japanese Steel Industry, 1945-1975

Patricia A. O'Brien
  View as PDF

1988 Dissertation Session

Industrial Transformation and Market Integration along the American Manufacturing Frontier: The Midwest from 1850 to 1880

Timothy E. Sullivan
  View as PDF



Farmers as Entrepreneurs: Regulation and Innovation in American Agriculture during the Twentieth Century

Sally Clarke
  View as PDF



Running the Machine: The Management of Technological Change on American Railroads, 1850-1910

Steven W. Usselman
  View as PDF



The Passenger Train in the Motor Age: The California Experience, 1910-1941

Gregory L. Thompson
  View as PDF

1989 Dissertation Session

Testing the Phantom F-4 II: Engineering Practice in the Development of American Military Aircraft, 1954-1969

Glenn E. Bugos
  View as PDF



The Economics of Multiple Governments: New Jersey Corporate Chartermongering, 1875-1929

Christopher Grandy
  View as PDF



United States Direct Investment in Japan: Studies in Government Policy and Corporate Strategy

Mark Mason
  View as PDF



State Intervention and Industrialization: The Origins of the Brazilian Automotive Industry

Helen Shapiro
  View as PDF

1990 Dissertation Session

International Cooperation and Domestic Cartel Control: The International Steel Cartel, 1926-1938

Daniel Barbezat
  View as PDF



Private and Public Responses to Market Failure in the U.S. Electric Power Industry, 1882-1942

William M. Emmons III
  View as PDF



Spreading the Word: The Postal System and the Creation of American Society—A Sketch

Richard R. John
  View as PDF



Analyzing the Prewar Business Cycle

Anthony Patrick O'Brien
  View as PDF



Directions in Business History: Comments on the Dissertations

Ross Thomson
  View as PDF

1991 Dissertation Session

Regulated Enterprise: Natural Gas Pipelines and the Competition for Northeastern Markets, 1938-1954

Christopher J. Castaneda
  View as PDF



Stage to Studio: American Musicians and Sound Technology in Motion Pictures, Radio, and Recording, 1890-1946

James P. Kraft
  View as PDF



The Clearing Banks and the Finance of British Industry, 1930-1959

Duncan M. Ross
  View as PDF



Selling Power: Marketing and Monopoly at Boston Edison, 1886-1926

David B. Sicilia
  View as PDF

1992 Dissertation Session

Financing the Corporate Revolution

William Michael Doyle
  View as PDF



Information Systems and Internal Organization: A Study of the Dow Chemical Company, 1890-1914

Margaret C. Levenstein
  View as PDF



To Build Wings for the Angels: Los Angeles and Its Aircraft Industry, 1890-1936

Joseph E. Libby
  View as PDF



What Caused Conglomerate Formation: An Examination of Managerial Behavior and Internal Capital Markets in the 1960s Conglomerates

Barbara McCutcheon
  View as PDF

1993 Dissertation Session

The Baldwin Locomotive Works, the Capital Equipment Sector, and American Industrial Practice in the Nineteenth Century

John K. Brown
  View as PDF



The Business of Progress: The Transformation of American Advertising, 1870-1920

Pamela Walker Laird
  View as PDF



Niche Products in the British Motor Car Industry: A History of MG and Triumph Sports Cars, 1945-81

Timothy R. Whisler
  View as PDF



Cooperatives and Corporations: The Sun-Maid Antitrust Case and the Legal Status of Agricultural Cooperation, 1890-1943

Victoria Saker Woeste
  View as PDF

1994 Dissertation Session

Building an American Book Trade: Philadelphia Publishing in the New Republic

Rosalind Remer
  View as PDF



Mr. Kaiser Goes to Washington: Saga of a Government Entrepreneur

Stephen B. Adams
  View as PDF



The Rise and Fall of Fraternal Methods of Social Insurance: A Case Study of the Independent Order of Oddfellows of British Columbia Sickness Insurance, 1874-1051

J. C. Herbert Emery
  View as PDF



The Entry of Established Electronics Companies into the Early Computer Industry in the UK and the USA

Anthony Gandy
  View as PDF



Comment on Recent Dissertations in Business History

William R. Childs
  View as PDF

1995 Dissertation Session

Beyond the Broker State: A History of the Federal Government's Policies toward Small Business, 1936-1961

Jonathan Bean
  View as PDF



Corporate Incentives for Managers in American Industry,, 1900-1940

John Landry
  View as PDF



Amplifying the Voice of Business: Hill and Knowlton's Influence on Political, Public, and Media Discourse in Postwar America

Karen S. Miller
  View as PDF



Chain Building: The Consolidation of the American Newspaper Industry, 1955-1980

Elizabeth M. Neiva
  View as PDF

1996 Dissertation Section

The Making of New York City's Bourgeoisie, 1850-1886

Sven Beckert
  View as PDF



Imgaining Consumers: Manufacturers and Markets in Ceramics and Glass, 1865-1965

Regina Lee Blaszczyk
  View as PDF



Whiskey-Manure Engines and "Haut, Fiery Gouts": The Scotch Whiskey Industry and Its Causal Relation to Scotland's Economic Transformation

Peter deH. Caldwell
  View as PDF



Corporate Response to Technological Change: Dieselization and the American Railway Locomotive Industry during the Twentieth Century

Albert Churella
  View as PDF



The Struggle for Control of the Modern Corporation: Organizational Change at General Motors, 1924-1958

Robert F. Freeland
  View as PDF



Dissertation Session Comments

Christine Meisner Rosen
  View as PDF

1997 Dissertation Session

Of Business Biography, Media Romance, and Corporate Family Drama

Eric Guthey
  View as PDF



Wine, Work, and Wealth: Class Relations and Modernization in the Champagne Wine Industry, 1970-1914

Kolleen M. Guy
  View as PDF



The Electric Car and the Burden of History: Studies in Automotive Systems Rivalry in America, 1890-1996

David A. Kirsch
  View as PDF



The Myth of the Corporate Economy: Factor Costs, Industrial Structure, and Technological Choice in the Lancashire and New England Cotton Industries, 1900-1913

Timothy Leunig
  View as PDF



Railroads and the Brazilian Economy before 1914

William R. Summerhill
  View as PDF



The Finance and Growth of the Lancashire Cotton Textile Industry, 1870-1914

J. S. Toms
  View as PDF



Dissertation Session Comments

Ann M. Carlos
  View as PDF



Dissertation Session Comments

Steven Tolliday
  View as PDF

1998 Dissertation Session

New Technology, New People, New Organizations: The Rise of the MOS Transistor, 1945-1975

Ross Bassett
  View as PDF



"Business Shall Proceed in the Following Manner": Corporate Managers, the Bureaucratization Process, and the Creation of Divergent Corporate Cultures, 1880-1932

Christiane Diehl-Taylor
  View as PDF



Growth, Stagnation, and Transition: Economic Implications of Soviet Ministerial Organization

Kerry Ellen Pannell
  View as PDF



Managing the Mills: Labor Policy in the American Steel Industry, 1892-1937

Jonathan Rees
  View as PDF

1999 Dissertation Session

Introducing Otto H. Kahn

Theresa M. Collins
  View as PDF



Caps and Gowns: Historical Reflections on the Institutions That Shaped Learning for and at Work in Germany and the United States, 1800-1945

Hal Hansen
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Fueling the Fires of Genius: Women's Inventive Activities in American War Eras

Lisa A. Marovich
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