Economic History

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During the three-quarters of a century following the gift of the Pliny, growth of the rare books collection proceeded slowly under the care of particularly interested members of the faculty. The most notable of these, Richard S. Howey of the Economics Department, began his book selecting life in 1930, continuing through the Great Depression and the succeeding lean and fat years until 1989, well after his retirement, reading catalogues and handing his recommendations to the library for order placement year after year, book after book, always with an eye to both future research use and price, each purchase adding to the holdings of economic history, history of economics, and social history. The impact of these individual selections upon the development of the library in general and the Department of Special Collections in particular has been even greater than the acquisition of the 40,000 volume economic and social history section of the John Crerar Library which was accomplished through his efforts in 1954.

The pre-1850 imprints selected by Prof. Howey now form the basis of the Howey Economic History Collection in the Department of Special Collections. Establishment of the collection broadened our long-standing interest in these subjects in Italy and Great Britain to include most major European countries and their overseas possessions. The Department's holdings in economic history now include over 15,000 volumes of broadsides, acts, speeches, pamphlets, journals and books. They include major works and minor ones, famous writers and those so obscure that not even their names are known. Some indication of the remarkable strength of this collection can be gained by measuring it against the benchmark collection for this subject, the Kress Library of Business and Economics at Harvard University—approximately 40% of the Howey holdings are not represented in that primary collection of economic history.

The Department also has very large holdings of manuscripts in economic history—for example, an Italian Renaissance Business Records collection associated with the Altoviti family and their connections (Landi, Sermatelli, Guicciardini) from Florence and Rome, 1542-1754; financial and legal papers of the East India Company, the Royal Fishery Company, the Bolton Company of Madeira wine merchants, and the Russia Company; the Fletcher of Saltoun collection of estate account-books, notes on agriculture, commonplace-books and family accounts, from Scotland, 1750-1806; partial archives of the notary Gaufridy, homme d'affaires to the Marquis de Sade, 1774-1800; and the Rubinstein collection (named for the first head of Special Collections and acquired through his generosity and that of Bernard M. Rosenthal) of legal papers, estate and business letter-books, account-books and inventories, and estate maps of the Orsetti family of Lucca, Italy, 1180-1874.