History Commons^™

On The Margins, Rowan Cahill

Rowan Cahill

Jcpenney And His Agrarian Animals: The Award-Winning Livestock Of A Department Store Icon, David Kruger

David Delbert Kruger

Widely known for his department store chain, James Cash Penney (1875-1971) greatly contributed to American agriculture through his horse and cattle breeding enterprises. Beginning in 1917, three years after moving to New York City, Penney began using his personal capital to acquire, breed, and sell outstanding animals for agricultural purposes. By the 1920s, his Guernsey dairy herd had earned a worldwide reputation for quality and production, with herd sire Foremost eventually becoming the namesake for one of the largest dairy cooperatives in the United States. By the 1940s, Penney was personally developing award-winning beef cattle herds on the Missouri farm …

"The Most Interesting Trip I Have Ever Taken Among The Stores": James Cash Penney's Return To Wyoming In The Great Depression, David Kruger

David Delbert Kruger

The article explores James Cash Penney's return trip to Wyoming during the Great Depression, and contextualizes the Wyoming origins of the JCPenney department store chain. Penney's ongoing relationship with the state after the Great Depression is also explored.

The Golden Age Of Comic Books: Representations Of American Culture From The Great Depression To The Cold War, Mark Kelley

Mark Kelley

No abstract provided.

This Was J. C. Penney: A Century Of Main Street Department Stores, David Kruger

David Delbert Kruger

Talk given as invited plenary speaker, providing an overview of the boom and bust of Main Street department stores throughout Montana, with particular emphasis on James Cash Penney and his Golden Rule/JCPenney department store locations.

The Long Exception: Rethinking The Place Of The New Deal In American History, Jefferson Cowie, Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

"The Long Exception" examines the period from Franklin Roosevelt to the end of the twentieth century and argues that the New Deal was more of an historical aberration—a byproduct of the massive crisis of the Great Depression—than the linear triumph of the welfare state. The depth of the Depression undoubtedly forced the realignment of American politics and class relations for decades, but, it is argued, there is more continuity in American politics between the periods before the New Deal order and those after its decline than there is between the postwar era and the rest of American history. Indeed, by …

Intensified Regulatory Scrutiny And Bank Distress In New York City During The Great Depression,” With Patrick Van Horn, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

Bank distress peaked in New York City, at the center of the United States money market, in July and August 1931, when the banking crisis peaked in Germany and before Britain abandoned the gold standard. This article tests competing theories about the causes of New York’s banking crisis. The cause appears to have been intensified regulatory scrutiny, which was a delayed reaction to the failure of the Bank of United States, rather than the exposure of money center banks to events overseas.

J. C. Penney: Missouri Man, Wyoming Institution, David Kruger

David Delbert Kruger

Traces the business career of James Cash Penney (1875-1971), founder of the national chain of J. C. Penney stores. Born in Missouri, Penney came to Wyoming in 1902 and became partners with Guy Johnson and Thomas Callahan, owners of the small chain of Golden Rule stores. Penney opened a store in Kemmerer, Wyoming, that was immediately successful. A deeply religious man, Penney believed in making his store a part of the community rather than exploiting the customers. Business quickly expanded and more Golden Rule stores opened, and, eventually, Penney bought out his partners. At its peak the Penney chain numbered …

Quarterly Data On The Categories And Causes Of Bank Distress During The Great Depression, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

No abstract provided.

Distress During The Great Depression: The Illiquidity-Insolvency Debate Revisited, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

During the contraction from 1929 to 1933, the Federal Reserve System tracked changes in the status of all banks operating in the United States and determined the cause of each bank suspension. This essay analyzes chronological patterns in aggregate series constructed from that data. The analysis demonstrates both illiquidity and insolvency were substantial sources of bank distress. Periods of heightened distress were correlated with periods of increased illiquidity. Contagion via correspondent networks and bank runs propagated the initial banking panics. As the depression deepened and asset values declined, insolvency loomed as the principal threat to depository institutions.

Check Is In The Mail: Correspondent Clearing And The Banking Panics Of The Great Depression, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

Weaknesses within the check-clearing system played a hitherto unrecognized role in the banking crises of the Great Depression. Correspondent check-clearing networks were vulnerable to counter-party cascades. Accounting conventions that overstated reserves available to corresponding institutions may have exacerbated the situation. The initial banking panic began when a correspondent network centered in Nashville collapsed, forcing over 100 institutions to suspend operations. As the contraction continued, additional correspondent systems imploded. The vulnerability of correspondent networks is one reason that banks that cleared via correspondents failed at higher rates than other institutions during the Great Depression.

The Records Of The Federal Reserve Board Of Governors In The National Archives Of The United States, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

The archives of the Federal Reserve System are found in Record Group 82 at the National Archives of the United States. This article describes the materials available in that record group and ways to locate useful documents. Section i provides a brief history of the Federal Reserve; it describes the organization of the institution and how it changed over time. The focus is on issues important for understanding the types of documents that may or will not be found in the archives. Section ii describes the process by which the documents were generated and preserved. Section iii provides a broad …