February 12, 1837 - An irate group of unemployed New Yorkers gathered to protest skyrocketing food and fuel prices and the city's rapidly escalating rents; February 13, 1837 - Riot in New York over high price of flour = indicator of imminent fiscal troubles;  May 10, 1837 - Panic as 1) rising tide of overextended credit, investment suddenly ended, 2) dire consequences of abandoning long reliance on gold and silver as foundation of wealth, advancing personal, national wealth with open-ended credit, bank loans, personal indebtedness; 3) failure of cash-strapped banks in New York; Panic of 1837: 1) September 10, 1833 -  President Jackson declared his intention to remove government deposits from the Bank of the United States; announced that the government would no longer use the Second Bank of the United States, the country’s national bank; 2) transfer of federal funds from conservative Second Bank of the United States to state  banks, known as "pet banks", enabled state banks to extend easy credit (easy terms); led to soaring land sales in the West (1832 - $2,600,000, 1836 - $24,900,000), accompanying boom in canal and road construction (latter largely financed by British investors); 3) 1836 - Jackson issued the Specie Circular, required buyers of government land to pay for it with gold or silver; caused buyers to withdraw specie from the banks and to buy less land;  loss of gold and silver reserves led to "liquidity crisis", restriction of bank credit and to many bank failures; every bank in the country had to suspend converting its paper currency into specie on demand; forced closing of hundreds of banks, wiped out scores of small businesses and farmers who had heavily relied on the support of local fiscal institutions. Unemployment climbed to unprecedented levels, tension and anguish gripped much of the country; in New York, the militia had to be called in to keep order on Wall Street;  1838 - banks resumed specie payments; but the revival was short-lived. The economy remained depressed until 1843.

Panic of 1857: August 24, 1857 (-1859) - The New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company closed, plunged America into the Panic of 1857; had loaned $5 million to railroad builders, and had been swindled out of millions more by manager of its New York branch. Unable to pay its extensive debt to Eastern bankers, Ohio Life was forced into bankruptcy. New York bankers began to panic for fear that they would not be able to meet their financial obligations, and shifted suddenly to hard credit policies. They demanded immediate payment on all mature loans, refusing to accept promissory notes from merchants and other debtors who were short on money. Depositors began to withdraw gold from banks, dropping gold reserves by $20 million by mid-September. September 12 -  Hopes for gold from California sank when the steamer Central America, with its $1.6 million in gold and 400 passengers, was lost at sea in a hurricane. banks suspended gold payments, stocks plummeted, and thousands of businesses, including half of New York City’s brokerages, went bankrupt. People crowded around bulletin boards outside newspaper offices to read the daily updates of suspended banks and failed businesses. Banks in Philadelphia and other American cities soon suspended gold payments, as well. The collapse of credit halted construction of buildings and railroads, and reduced the nation’s trade to a trickle. Unemployment in the Northeast and Midwest skyrocketed, with an estimated 100,000 in Manhattan and Brooklyn out of work by late October. By December - the loss from business failures in New York City alone was $120 million. The economic repercussions spread to Europe and South America, and immigration to the United States dropped substantially. Panic of 1857 served to widen the gap that already existed between the economic interests of the North and South.

November 5, 1857 - 4000 rallied at Tompkins Square to listen to speakers demand that the city government establish more public works to hire the unemployed, guarantee a minimum wage, build housing for the poor, and prevent landlords from evicting the unemployed. The next day, 5000 marched to Merchants’ Exchange on Wall Street to call on the city’s financial institutions to loan businesses money so the unemployed could be hired. On November 9 - an even larger crowd gathered at City Hall. At the insistence of Mayor Fernando Wood, a mass meeting at City Hall the next day was met by 300 city police and a brigade of state militia, while federal troops under General Winfield Scott guarded the federal sub-treasury and customhouse.

Panic of 1893 - Other Great Depression: 1) silver interests ('silverites'): February 12, 1873 - Congress passes Fourth Coinage Act: abolishes bimetallism and authorizes $1 and $3 gold coins; silver dollar (devalued) ceased to be the standard of value in favor of a gold standard (only acceptable metallic standard); February 28, 1878 - Congress passed Bland-Allison Act ("limping bimetallism") - restored coinage of the standard silver dollar, required Treasury to buy silver = result of pressure from western states, compromise between the silver and bimetal-standard groups with gold-standard forces; July 14, 1890 - Congress passed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act (superceded Bland-Allison Act): concession to western silver mining interests, included silver in federal coinage, required Treasury to buy 4.5 million ounces of silver/month with notes redeemable in gold or silver, added substantially to the amount of money already in circulation, drove down price of silver as production increased, reduced Treasury's gold reserves as T-note holders swapped into gold as silver prices fell (January 1895 - gold reserve dropped to $64 million); 2) -prices: October 1890 - Congress passed the McKinley Tariff (set the average ad valorem tariff rate for imports to the United States at 48.4%); 3) bankruptcies: Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company and the National Cordage Company collapsed and touched off panic on Wall Street, more than 15,000 companies (more than 600 banks) failed by end of the year (nearly one-third of the country’s railroad mileage was put into receivership); 4) economic contraction: GNP fell almost 12 percent,

February 20, 1893 - Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (key transporter for Pennsylvania's anthracite mine industry) fell into receivership (ran up debts totaling $125 million); helped plunged America into the Panic of 1893; railroad survived in various forms before fiscal difficulties finally drove it out of business in the early 1970s; 1894 - unemployment rose to 18.4 percent (3 percent of the work force in 1892); 1895 - J.P. Morgan saved the United States Gold Reserves (within days of complete elimination), offered to President Grover Cleveland to form a syndicate (headed by Morgan) to buy bonds from the United States in exchange for 62 million dollars worth of European gold; no alternative, only decision for Cleveland given the circumstances - public opinion very much against Cleveland, ignored the fact that Cleveland had saved the United States' gold reserves.

October 1907 - After San Francisco's 1906 earthquake,  London insurance companies paid claims; large capital outflow  forced Bank of England to nearly double interest rates, reject terms of U.S. trade bills; pushed U.S. into recession, made markets more volatile; failure of F. Augustus Heinze’s United Copper Company led to runs on  banks; closing of Knickerbocker Trust Company precipitated panic when depositors began to withdraw large sums (president was a Heinze associate); J. P. Morgan rallied  bankers to raise cash to help sound institutions to withstand pressure of frightened depositors and to support sagging stock prices; President Theodore Roosevelt authorized deposit of federal funds in New York banks to bolster their reserves; allowed U.S. Steel to acquire Tennessee Coal and Iron Company in order to save the brokerage house that owned it (later regretted decision);  long-range effect of the panic on economy not great, but led to important reforms, notably the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913–14.

January 7, 1931 - The Committee for Unemployment Relief, formed at President Hoover's command, released a report that detailed the depths of the nation's Depression woes: some 4 to 5 million Americans were unemployed; 1932 - some 13 million Americans were without jobs.

April 14, 1935 - Black Sunday in the Dust Bowl, worst duster of all; "dust bowl" was reportedly coined by a reporter in the mid-1930s, referred to the plains of western Kansas, southeastern Colorado, the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, and northeastern New Mexico which had been over-plowed by farmers and overgrazed by cattle and sheep, resulting soil erosion, combined with an eight-year drought which began in 1931, created a dire situation for farmers and ranchers; Roosevelt’s administration introduced programs to help alleviate the farming crisis and to provide farmers with a source of income: Soil Conservation Service (SCS) in the Department of Agriculture promoted improved farming and land management techniques and farmers were paid to utilize these safer practices; 1939 - rains arrived and the drought ended.

(Panic of 1857), George W. Van Vleck (1967). The Panic of 1857, An Analytical Study. (New York, NY: AMS Press, 126 p.). Depressions--1857--United States; United States--Economic conditions.

(Panic of 1857), James L. Huston (1987). The Panic of 1857 and the Coming of the Civil War. (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 315 p.). Depressions--1857--United States; United States--Economic conditions--To 1865; United States--Politics and government--1857-1861.

(Panic of 1893), W. Jett Lauck (1907). The Causes of the Panic of 1893. (Boston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin, 122 p.). Panics. 

(Panic of 1873), (Northern Pacific), M. John Lubetkin (2006). Jay Cooke’s Gamble: The Northern Pacific Railroad and the Panic of 1873. (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 380 p.). Former Cable Television Executive. Cooke, Jay, 1821-1905; Northern Pacific Railroad Company; Financial crises--United States--History--19th century. Soldiers, engineers, businessmen, politicians, Native Americans who tried to build or block the Northern Pacific. 

(Panic of 1907), Robert F. Bruner, Sean D. Carr (2007). The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market’s "Perfect Storm". (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 272 p.). Dean of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and Charles C. Abbott Professor of Business Administration (University of Virginia); Director of Corporate Innovation Programs at the Darden School's Batten Institute (University of Virginia). Depressions--1907--United States; Financial crises--United States--History--20th century; Stock exchanges--United States--History--20th century. One of worst crises in modern financial history, ultimately transformed American financial system, resulted in establishment of modern Federal Reserve.

Panic of October 1907 - outside U. S. Subtreasury building at Wall and Broad St. in October 1907 (above). (source: http://media.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2007/aug/panic540.jpg)

(Depression - 1929), John A. Garraty (1987). The Great Depression: An Inquiry into the Causes, Course, and Consequences of the Worldwide Depression of the Nineteen-Thirties, as Seen by Contemporaries and in the Light of History. (New York, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 292 p.). Depressions--1929; Economic history--1918-1945. 20th century social, industrial, financial, political forces; contemporary writings of 1930s, interrelated passage of various nations through deflation, inflation, farm price collapse, unemployment, factory closings, relief programs, public works; failure of vitally needed international cooperation, pervasive fear of national deficits.

(Depression - 1929), Eds. Melvin Dubofsky and Stephen Burwood (1990). Agriculture During the Great Depression. (New York, NY: Garland, 251 p.). Agriculture--Economic aspects--United States--History--20th century; Agriculture and state--United States--History--20th century; Family farms--United States--History--20th century; Depressions--1929--United States; New Deal, 1933-1939; United States--Rural conditions.

(Depression - 1929), Edited, with an introduction, by Melvyn Dubofsky and Stephen Burwood (1990). The American Economy During the Great Depression. (New York, NY: Garland, 307 p.). Depressions--1929--United States; United States--Economic conditions--1918-1945; United States--Economic policy--To 1933; United States--Economic policy--1933-1945.

(Depression - 1929), Rita Barnard (1995). The Great Depression and the Culture of Abundance: Kenneth Fearing, Nathanael West, and Mass Culture in the 1930s. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 271 p.). Associate Professor of English, Director of the Comparative Literature Program (University of Pennsylvania). Fearing, Kenneth, 1902-1961 --Political and social views; West, Nathanael, 1903-1940 --Political and social views; American literature--20th century--History and criticism; Popular literature--United States--History and criticism; Literature and society--United States--History--20th century; Popular culture--United States--History--20th century; Social problems in literature; Depressions in literature; Economics in literature. Response of American leftist writers of the 1930s to the rise of mass culture, and to the continued propagation of the values of consumerism during the Depression.

(Depression - 1929), Barry Eichengreen (1996). Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919-1939. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 480 p.). Gold standard--History--20th century; Depressions--1929- 

(Depression - 1929), Dietmar Rothermund (1996). The Global Impact of the Great Depression, 1929-1939. (New York : Routlege: New York : Routlege, 180 p.). Depressions -- 1929 -- Developing countries; Developing countries -- Economic conditions; Economic history -- 1918-1945. impact of the Great Depression on Africa, Asia and Latin America, the author examines the Keynesian theory and the role of the international gold standard. Best book on the economically decisive decade of the 20th century.

(Depression - 1929), Elmus Wicker (1996). The Banking Panics of the Great Depression. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 174 p.). Banks and banking--United States--History--20th century; Bank failures--United States--History--20th century; Financial crises--United States--History--20th century; Depressions--1929--United States; United States--Economic conditions--1918-1945.

(Depression - 1929), Eds. Michael D. Bordo, Claudia Goldin, and Eugene N. White (1998). Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the Twentieth Century. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 474 p.). Depressions--1929--United States; United States--Economic conditions; United States--Economic policy.

(Depression - 1929), David M. Kennedy (1999). Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 936 p.). Depressions--1929--United States; New Deal, 1933-1939; World War, 1939-1945--United States; United States--History--1919-1933; United States--History--1933-1945. Definitive history of the critical decades of the American century.

(Depression - 1929), T. H. Watkins (1999). The Hungry Years: America in an Age of Crisis, 1929-1939. (New York, NY: Holt, 587 p.). Former Editor of Wilderness Magazine, Teacher of History (Montana State University). Depressions--1929--United States; Depressions--1929--United States--Personal narratives; United States--History--1933-1945; United States--History--1919-1933; United States--Social conditions--1933-1945; United States--Social conditions--1918-1932.

(Depression - 1929), Ben S. Bernanke (2000). Essays on the Great Depression. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 310 p.). Member of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Economics and Public Affairs (Princeton University). Depressions--1929--United States; Depressions--1929. Coherent view of the economic causes and worldwide propagation of the depression. 

(Depression - 1929), James R. McGovern (2000). And a Time for Hope: Americans in the Great Depression. (Westport, CT: Praeger, 354 p.). Emeritus Professor of History (University of West Florida). National characteristics, American; United States--History--1933-1945; United States--Social life and customs--1918-1945; United States--Social conditions--1933-1945. Americans' solid value systems, their diverse support systems, their religious life, and the role of FDR and the New Deal. 

(Depression - 1929), Studs Terkel (2000). Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression. (New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 480 p. [orig. pub. 1970]). Depressions--1929--United States--Personal narratives; United States--History--1933-1945; United States--History--1919-1933; United States--Economic conditions--1918-1945; United States--Social conditions--1933-1945. Classic oral history of men and women who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s.

(Depression - 1929), Maury Klein (2001). Rainbow's End: The Crash of 1929. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press. New York Stock Exchange--History; Depressions--1929; Depressions--1929--United States; Stock Market Crash, 1929; United States--Economic conditions--1918-1945. 

(Depression - 1929), William Solomon (2002). Literature, Amusement, and Technology in the Great Depression. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 271 p.). Assistant Professor in the Departments of English and American Studies (Stanford University). American fiction--20th century--History and criticism; Depressions in literature; Literature and technology--United States--History--20th century; Popular culture--United States--History--20th century; Depressions--1929--United States; Popular culture in literature; Amusements in literature; Technology in literature; Carnival in literature; Play in literature.

(Depression - 1929), Frank G. Steindl (2004). Understanding Economic Recovery in the 1930s: Endogenous Propagation in the Great Depression. (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 228 p.). Regents Professor of Economics and Ardmore Professor of Business Administration (Oklahoma State University). Depressions--1929--United States; Business cycles--United States; United States--Economic policy--To 1933; United States--Economic policy--1933-1945; United States--Economic conditions--1918-1945; United States--Politics and government--1933-1945. Macroeconomic developments responsible for the move back to a pre-Depression level economy.

(Depression - 1929), Susan Currell (2005). The March of Spare Time: The Problem and Promise of Leisure in the Great Depression. (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 235 p.). Leisure--United States--History--20th century; Depressions--1929--United States; United States--Social conditions--1933-1945.

(Depression - 1929), Peter Fearon (2007). Kansas in the Great Depression: Work Relief, the Dole, and Rehabilitation. (Columbia : University of Missouri Press: Columbia : University of Missouri Press, 316 p.). Professor of Modern Economic and Social History (University of Leicester, UK). Public service employment--Kansas; New Deal, 1933-1939--Kansas; Depressions--1929--Kansas. Role of Kansas state government, of federal government, relationship between the two governments played in providing relief to those hardest hit by  Depression.

(Depression - 1929), Randall E. Parker (2007). The Economics of the Great Depression: A Twenty-First Century Look Back at the Economics of the Interwar Era. (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 257 p.). Professor of Economics (East Carolina University). Depressions--1929--United States; United States--Economic conditions--1918-1945. Evolution, current state of economic literature on  Great Depression: status of remaining debates, what economists do, do not know about economics of interwar era, new directions economic research is taking to better understand.

(Depression - 1929), Amity Shlaes (2007). The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 464 p.). Visiting Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Syndicated Columnist at Bloomberg. Depressions--1929--United States; New Deal, 1933-1939; United States--History--1919-1933; United States--History--1933-1945; United States--Social conditions--1933-1945; United States--Economic conditions--1918-1945. Reinterpretation of Great Depression; rejects old emphasis on New Deal, turns to neglected, moving stories of individual Americans; shows how brave leadership helped establish steadfast character of America.

(Dust Bowl), Paul Bonnifield (1979).The Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt, and Depression.  (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 232 p.). Depressions--1929--Great Plains; Droughts--Great Plains--History; Agriculture--Great Plains--History; Dust Bowl Era, 1931-1939; Great Plains--History; Great Plains--Economic conditions; Great Plains--Climate.

(Dust Bowl), Timothy Egan (2005). The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 320 p.). National Enterprise Reporter (New York Times). Dust Bowl Era, 1931-1939; Droughts--Great Plains--History--20th century; Dust storms--Great Plains--History--20th century; Depressions--1929--Great Plains; Great Plains--History--20th century; Great Plains--Social conditions--20th century. Portraits of the people who settled the plains, stayed, survived the "black blizzards".

(Dust Bowl), James N. Gregory (1989). American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 338 p.). Migration, Internal--United States--History--20th century; Agricultural laborers--California--Economic conditions; Agricultural laborers--California--Social conditions; Depressions--1929--United States--History; Dust Bowl Era, 1931-1939; California--Population--History--20th century; Oklahoma--Population--History--20th century.

(Dust Bowl), Charles J. Shindo (1997). Dust Bowl Migrants in the American Imagination. (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 252 p.). Migrant agricultural laborers in art; Arts, American--20th century; Migrant agricultural laborers--United States--History; Depressions--1929--United States; Dust Bowl Era, 1931-1939; Dust storms--Great Plains; Labor camps--California; Droughts--Great Plains; Great Plains--Rural conditions; California--Rural conditions. 

(Dust Bowl), Donald Worster (1979). Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 277 p.). Dust Bowl Era, 1931-1939; Agriculture--Southwestern States--History--20th century; Agriculture--Great Plains--History--20th century; Dust storms--Southwestern States--History--20th century; Dust storms--Great Plains--History--20th century; Depressions--1929--United States; Southwestern States--History--20th century; Great Plains--History--20th century. Devastating years between 1929 and 1939 in ecological and  human terms.

Stefan Altorfer, Benedikt Koehler, Mark Duckenfield (2006). History of Financial Disasters 1763-1995. (London, UK: Pickering & Chatto, 1200 p.). Economic History Department (London School of Economics). Financial disasters; financial crises; economic history. Volume 1: 1763-1840s, edited by Stefan Altorfer (European Financial Crisis of 1763; European Crisis of 1772-3; Assignat Inflation during the French Revolution, 1789-97; Crisis of The Second Bank of the United States, 1818-19; London Crisis of 1825; Panic in the US of 1837; Railway Mania in the 1840s); Volume 2: 1850-1925, edited by Benedikt Koehler (Ohio Life Crisis of 1857; Overend & Gurney, 1867-9; New York's Black Friday of 1869; Vienna Crash of 1873; Crisis of 1907 that spawned the Federal Reserve Bank; German Hyperinflation of the 1920s); Volume 3: 1929-1995, edited by Mark Duckenfield (New York Stock Exchange Crash of 1929; European Collapse and World Depression of 1931; Devaluation of Sterling in 1967; US Stock Market Crash of 1987; Black Wednesday, 1992; Mexican Peso Crisis, 1994). Key economic and financial turning points that have shaped the western world.

Bound for Glory: America in Color, 1939-1943 http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/boundforglory                                      For many people, the world of Depression-era photography in the United States can be characterized by the somber black-and-white images of rural poverty or by the vivid depictions of everyday struggles. Interestingly enough, there were a number of color images taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information from the years 1939 to 1943. The Library of Congress has created a delightful digital exhibition of these images to complement a current exhibition in their headquarters in Washington, DC. Visitors to the site can read an introductory essay on the collection, and then begin by perusing photographs of small children at the Vermont State Fair, homesteaders in New Mexico, and a street corner in Dillon, Montana. The site is rounded out with a link to the entire collection of color photographs hosted by the Library of Congress's American Memory Project.

Financial Crises

History of Financial Panics (1837, 1857, 1869, 1873, 1893, 1903, 1907, 1929, 1987)