Jane Knodell (University of Vermont) and Manuel Bautista Gonzalez (Columbia University) are interested in assembling a panel on the markets, the monetary and financial uses of silver and the actors involved in its intermediation in North America, 17th-19th centuries for the 2020 annual meeting of the Business History Conference (Charlotte, NC, March 12–14, 2020).
- Jane would like to present a paper about how the colony of Massachusetts handled silver money during and after the establishment of its mint (1650–1720), with special attention to the role of merchants and silversmiths in silver markets and monetary policymaking from the period of reference until the late 18th century.
- Manuel would like to present a paper about the use of Mexican silver dollars in New Orleans between 1838 and 1862 and the implications (at the firm and partner levels) of controlling such hard-powered currency for the provision of liquidity in antebellum financial and trade circuits.
- Sharon Ann Murphy (Providence College) has kindly agreed to be considered as chair/discussant for the panel.
Ideally, we would like to find a panelist or panelists who might be interested in issues of metallic/commodity money, monetary policymaking and the political economy of silver and gold in and North American/Atlantic framework, although a paper from a different locale within the same time period could also work.
If interested, please contact Manuel A. Bautista Gonzalez at mab2306@columbia.edu. The deadline for panel submissions is October 1, 2019.
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