The Executive Summary - 9/19/22 - 9/22/22

A roundup of articles and other materials of interest to scholars of business and economic history.

Get in, we're going mid-year conferencing

This year, the BHC is once again convening in virtual space for a "mid-year conference," a one-day, whirlwind online event to reconnect, however briefly and fleetingly, with your business history colleagues near and far.

This year's theme is "Method and Madness," which is honestly the best description of the historical profession I've seen in some time. The format is a series of interactive workshops - we're reinventing interpretation, reinventing sources, and reinventing form, all in the course of an East Coast morning. Sensory history! Topic modeling! Emails! TikTok! Microhistory! Account books! Literally, there's a workshop for everyone.

The mid-year conference is happening on Friday, Sept. 30. Don't miss it! And don't miss it because you forget to register -- all participants must register to attend.

And speaking of the BHC, the deadline to submit proposals for the Detroit meeting (Nov. 1) is rapidly approaching. Please feel free to continue to use H-Business as one avenue to find co-panelists through discussion posts. The BHC also offers a session organizer on their site.

Some irreverent weekend links:

• Toward a unified theory of Yeti coolers.
• The iconic PSL was almost named the "Fall Harvest Latte."
• Why Patagonia's founder gave away the company.
• Monica Prasad on why the GOP has never really been the party of big business.

Send all comments, suggestions, ideas, and leads for this section to Associate Editor Ashton Merck.