Reviewed by Edwin Bartenstein California State University, Northridge
If your research takes you to the study of mines, railroads, labor, agriculture or nearly any kind of business history, you may find considerable help and interesting stimulation in the Krannert Collection at Purdue University. Most of the materials are original works, a few are copies or republications, and some, especially in the early years, are microfilms. There are Sir Hugh Plat’s 1601 treatise on the “setting of Corne” and Samuel Hughes’ “treatise on waterworks for the supply of cities and towns, with a descrip-tion of the principal geological formations of England as influencing the supply of water” written in 1859.
The bulk of the collection was acquired in 1964 by the University when it purchased a large private collection in England. Since that time Professor John M. Houkes, the Krannert Librarian, has been able to add hundreds of titles. On one European buying trip in 1970 he purchased more than 550 volumes when he “visited some 75 second-hand book dealers in 29 cities.”
In his introduction, Professor Houkes says that “it has been necessary to observe some flexibility in defining the meaning given to the words ‘economic’ and ‘business.'” He quotes: “. . . the period which these materials cover antedates the introduction of the straight jacket of modern academic specialization.” The catalogue lists publications and manuscripts in the following areas: banking, finance, accounting, agriculture, social conditions, industrial revo¬lution, population, poor relief, corn laws, social movements, English Socialism, Owenism, utopias, voyages of economic interest and travel accounts.
The collection catalogue extends two or three decades beyond those of other famous collections thus permitting coverage of the gold discoveries, manufacturing developments such as steam engines, iron manufacture, heating and ventilation, telegraphy and photography. Changes brought about by the growth of industrial society are reflected in material concerning slavery, women’s con-ditions, the environment, public services and energy resources.
Some of the accounting authors represented are Paccioli, Payen, Cronhelm, Cazaux, Babbage, and Mayhew. Most of the well-known economists are represented. The breadth of coverage is reflected in the forty page length of the alphabetic listing (one line per item). The book is organized chronologically by year, the first entry being Paccioli’s Summa in 1494. Within years, the arrangement is alpha-betical. Each item description is in the language of the document or publication described.
For accounting historians and for those interested in almost any kind of history this volume must be a valuable source. The chrono¬logical arrangement encourages browsing in the period of interest and could result in the discovery of other sources and interesting background in subject areas outside of the major field of study. Someday it may become more stylish to provide translations into English of the foreign language descriptions. This could make a fine source such as this even more valuable to those among us who are not so adept at languages.
