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Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
1. What is your background? My background ethnically is Anglo and Pennsylvania (PA) Dutch. I was raised on a PA working farm (Herd Farms), which my siblings and I still own. I attended a one room country school three miles from the farm. When I was seven I began working on the farm and …
Posted in: Biography, Business, Five Questions
Posted by: Ellen Terrell
Advertisements. We think of them as a way to find out about products and services, but they can also be useful for learning about companies themselves. I frequently use advertisements to answer historical questions on companies where information is harder to come by. For example, companies looking for capital will try to lure would-be investors …
Posted in: Business, Favorites From the Fifth Floor
Posted by: Ellen Terrell
Tax season has just ended, and I felt it would be an appropriate time to feature data that the IRS gathers from our annual tax returns (none of it attributed to individual companies, individuals, or non-profits!). There are two particular publications I wanted to mention that both use the data gathered from the forms: the …
Posted in: Business, Favorites From the Fifth Floor
Posted by: Ellen Terrell
The Women’s Bureau was organized in 1920 as an agency within the Department of Labor to represent the needs of working women. As part of its mission, it published many books and pamphlets about women’s issues and the working conditions of women. Since March is Women’s History Month, I thought this would be a good …
Posted in: Business, Favorites From the Fifth Floor, Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History, Labor, Women's History
Posted by: Ellen Terrell
Since the budget of the U.S. Government is the current hot topic on Capitol Hill, I thought I would share this U.S. Treasury Report on Monies for 1800. The image is a bit difficult to read, but there are lines for military expenditures for the Army, the Navy, and arms. Further expenditures are indicated for …
Posted in: Business, Presidents
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
I was recently at a dinner party where the gracious hostess embellished the dining room table with Sweethearts, also known as Conversation Hearts and Sweet Talks. As you can imagine, the guests questioned the history of these sweethearts and turned to me for an answer. I promised that when I returned to the Library that …
Posted in: Advertising, Business, Cookbooks and Food, Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History
Posted by: Ellen Terrell
For my first post of February 2011, I wanted to give a heads up for a publication that I find very useful. Coming out this month from the Council of Economic Advisers is the Economic Report of the President. This publication, published annually since 1947, gives an overview of the nation’s economic progress along with …
Posted in: Business, Favorites From the Fifth Floor
Posted by: Ellen Terrell
I had been looking for a good way to start an occasional series on both the well known and lesser known men and women in American business, when I ran across a great series of articles in Moody’s Magazine from 1909 written by Mark M. Reynolds. Each month’s issue featured one or more profiles. As …