Smithsonian Collections Online:
Explore American history and culture through advances in business and industry in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The evolution of business is inextricably linked with American and international history and identity. For the first time, researchers can now explore this aspect of American and international life via catalogs, pamphlets, advertising materials, and ephemera on essential industries that emerged in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries -- steam engines, railroads, motorized vehicles, agricultural/farm machinery, building and construction, mining, and more.
Trade Literature and the Merchandizing of Industry, which covers approximately 1820 to 1926, exposes technological advances over time, changes in fashion and design, architectural advances, societal changes, and business history. In doing so, it reveals vital aspects of American culture, society, and history, making Trade Literature and the Merchandizing of Industry an ideal complement to Making of the Modern World, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, Sabin Americana, and Financial Times Historical Archive, 1888-2010.
Trade Literature and the Merchandizing of Industry is comprised of items selected from the National Museum of American History Archives Center and Smithsonian Libraries and contains about one million pages of primary source content.
This digital collection allows researchers to:
- Trace the history of companies/industries
- Follow the impact of the Industrial Revolution on technology
- Compare and contrast marketing and management techniques
- Examine illustrations of the new machinery, technology, and manufacturing processes that impacted daily lives
Key research areas covered include:
- Railroads and railway equipment
- Agricultural machinery
- Transportation equipment
- Power generation
- Building and construction
- Iron and steel
- Mines and mining equipment
- Motorized vehicles
Additional Details
subjects covered
- Business & Economics
- European Studies
- Science & Technology
- U.S. History
Platform Features & Tools
Term Frequency
It allows researchers to see the frequency of search terms within content sets to identify central themes and assess how people, places, events and ideas interact and develop over time.
Buscador de temas
Esta herramienta agrupa los temas más comunes y revela conexiones ocultas entre los términos de búsqueda, lo que ayuda a dar forma a la investigación integrando contenidos diversos con información relevante.
Búsquedas simultáneas
Busca al mismo tiempo dentro de los productos complementarios de fuentes primarias, incluidos los ebooks, a través de un entorno de búsqueda unificado que posibilita nuevas e innovadoras conexiones de investigación.
