Money, Prices, & Banking

Many of the resources for researching money, currency, exchange rates, prices, and banking overlap so those topics have been grouped together in this section. This section includes only some of the resources on these topics – for more granular discussions, additional articles and other books would be needed to supplement what is included here. Additional citation can be found in the "Money and Banking in the Atlantic Economy" entry by Jane Knodell in the Oxford Bibliographies database.

This section does not look at sources that are more about numismatics though books on that topic can sometimes be helpful. It also does not repeat sources that are in other parts of this guide that may also overlap with these topics. The following materials link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to digital content are provided when available.

American Public Finance and Financial Services, 1700-1815 by Edwin J. Perkins
Call Number: HJ241 .P47 1994
ISBN: 0814206204
Published/Created: 1997-06-01
This book examines the development of financial services in North American from the Colonial period though confederation and early national eras. It highlights the colonial past and the institutional innovations after American independence.
Andrew McFarland Davis (works) External
This is a list of digitized works gathered by Davis on a variety of topics including money and banking. It includes links to: Origin of the National Banking System, The Massachusetts Bay Currency, 1690-1750, Papers relating tho the Land bank of 1740, Colonial Currency Reprints, 1682-1751, A search for the beginnings of stock speculation, Two forgotten pamphleteers in the Massachusetts currency controversy, 1720-1740, Currency and banking in the province of the Massachusetts-Bay, etc.
Canadian Journal of Economics
Call Number: Microfilm (o) 83/32
Published/Created: August 1985
Smith, Bruce D. American Colonial Monetary Regimes: The Failure of the Quantity Theory and Some Evidence in Favour of an Alternative View. Canadian Journal of Economics, vol. 18: 531-65.
This article explores the importance of how money was introduced versus the quantity of money in the Colonial period.
Capital and Credit in British Overseas Trade by Jacob M. Price
Call Number: HC110.C3 P75
ISBN: 0674094808
Published/Created: 1980-12-02
The author is a noted historian of the time period.
The chapters include: Problem of Debt Viewed from the Chesapeake, Capitalization of Merchant Firms, Borrowing on Bond, Borrowing on Banks Commercial Credit. Appendixes include: Markups and Profit Margins in the Chesapeake, Capitalization of Glasgow Chesapeake Firms between 1740 and 1789, and British-Chesapeake Trade, 1669–1776.
Carnegie-Rochester Conf. Ser. Public Policy
Call Number: H96 .C37
Published/Created: Autumn 1987
Michener, Ronald. Fixed Exchange Rates and the Quantity Theory in Colonial America. Carnegie-Rochester Conf. Ser. Public Policy, vol. 27: 233-307.
Casualties of Credit: The English Financial Revolution, 1620-1720 by Carl Wennerlind
Call Number: HG3754.5.G7 W46 2011
ISBN: 9780674047389
Published/Created: 2011-11-30
Modern credit, developed during the financial revolution of 1620-1720, laid the foundation for England's political, military, and economic dominance in the eighteenth century. The author traces how the discourse on credit evolved and responded to the Glorious Revolution, the Scientific Revolution, the founding of the Bank of England, the Great Recoinage, armed conflicts with Louis XIV, the Whig-Tory party wars, the formation of the public sphere, and England's expanded role in the slave trade. Debates about credit engaged some of London's most prominent turn-of-the-century intellectuals, including Daniel Defoe, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Jonathan Swift and Christopher Wren.
Colonial Currency Reprints, 1682-1751 by Andrew McFarland Davis
Call Number: E186 .P85 vol. 32
Published/Created: 1910
Available online from Hathi Trust External
This title was designed to reprint a number of pamphlets that looked at the currency question which were mostly published in the first half of the 18the century. There are also a number of letters as well as some communications published in newspapers. This is a multi-volume set that was originally published in 1910 and then republished in 1964 and 1971.
Comparative Wages, Prices, and Cost of Living by Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor
Call Number: HD4973 .M45 1889
Published/Created: 1889
The author creator for the state was Carol D. Wright. The period of time this title covers is 1752-1860. There is analysis but as the title indicates it includes prices and wages by occupation and by commodity. There are is a series of tables and some of the occupations covered include: blacksmith, bookbinder, butchers, carpenter, glass makers, mason, millwright, printer, painter, shoemaker, etc. Some of the commodities covered include: clothing, dry goods, fish, fruits, fuel, furniture, liquors and beverages, lumber, meat, nuts, paper, tallow, tobacco, etc.
The Currency of the American Colonies, Seventeen Hundred to Seventeen Sixty-Four by Leslie V. Brock
Call Number: HG508 .B7 1975
ISBN: 0405072570
Published/Created: 1978-10-01
One of the best surveys of the monetary history of the American colonies for the period it covers. It discusses the historical evolution of colonial currency in each of the colonies and is an edited version of his 1941 dissertation. It was updated in his article in Essays in History above.
Documentary History of Banking and Currency in the United States by Herman E. Krooss (Editor)
Call Number: HG2461 .K76
Published/Created: 1969
Volume one for this four volume set includes a section on "Colonial Experiments" with transcripts of documents related to commodity money, coinage, bills of credit, and colonial banks.
Dun's Review
Call Number: HF1 .D8
Foulke, Roy A. From Wampum to Continental Currency. Dun's Review, February 1942: 13.

Foulke, Roy A. Colonial America: A Financial Experiment. Duns Review, March 1942: 13.

These articles provide an older perspective on the issues.
Easy Money by Dror Goldberg
Call Number: HG508 .G65 2023
ISBN: 0226825108
Published/Created: 2023-03-29
A history of the American invention of modern money from America through the Massachusetts colony during the seventeenth century through the printing local money followed.
Economic Inquiry
Call Number: HB1 .W47
Published/Created: January 1978
West, Robert C. Money in the Colonial American Economy. Economic Inquiry, vol. 16: 1-15.
The purpose of this article was to examine the relationship between paper currency issues and price inflation and to look at developing a monetary model of the colonial economy.
Essays in History
Published/Created: 1992
Brock, Leslie V. The Colonial Currency, Prices, and Exchange Rates Essays in History, 34:70-132.
Brock is a noted historian and this article contains data available on colonial bills of credit in circulation and serves as an update of what is found in his book The Currency of the American Colonies 1700-1764. A Study in Colonial Finance and Imperial Relations.
Data Tables External
Farley Grubb (articles) External
This site has a list and copies of many of Farley Grubb's works. Grubb is a professor at the University of Delaware's Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics. The articles related to his position on Colonial currency including
"The Paper Money of Colonial North Carolina, 1712-1774" (2017)
"Non-Legal-Tender Paper Money: The Structure and Performance of Maryland's Bills of Credit, 1767-1775" (2014).
"Common Currency versus Currency Union: The U.S. Continental Dollar and Denominational Structure, 1775-1776" (2015)
The Financial Revolution in England by P. G. M. Dickson
Call Number: HJ8623 .D5 1993
ISBN: 0751200107
Published/Created: 2016-05-10
This titles was originally published in 1967 and is an important study of the origins and development of the system of public borrowing which enabled Great Britain to emerge as a world power in the eighteenth century.
Handbook of World Exchange Rates, 1590-1914 by Markus A. Denzel
Call Number: HG3815 .D46 2010
ISBN: 9780754603566
Published/Created: 2010-10-28
While this title covers a large swath of time that is outside of this guide, it is still a good resource for data. Also helpful is the discussion around the topic and the limitations about the data as well as the resources used by the author. There are a number of chapters devoted to discussing the topic and limitations on the data, but most of the title is devoted to presenting the data by country.
History of the Issues of Paper-Money in the American Colonies, Antetior to the Revolution by Adolphus M. Hart
Call Number: HG515 .H2
Published/Created: 1851
Available online from Hathi Trust External
An interesting mid-19th century perspective on money in the Colonial period.
Journal of Economic History
Call Number: HC10 .J64
Published/Created: 1985
Wicker, Elmus. Colonial Monetary Standards Contrasted: Evidence from the Seven Years' War. The Journal of Economic History, December vol. 45: 869.
This article explores how the different colonies different money systems impacted how each financed the Seven Years War and how that impacted inflation.
Journal of Economic History
Call Number: HC10 .J64
Published/Created: 1988
Calomiris, Charles W. Institutional Failure, Monetary Scarcity, and the Depreciation of the Continental. Journal of Economic History, vol. 48, no. 1: 47-68
This article looks at the case of money quantity and fiscal/monetary policies for improved economic welfare and to better facilitate transactions.
Journal of Economic History
Call Number: HC10 .J64
Published/Created: December 1970
Weiss, Roger W. The Issue of Paper Money in the American Colonies, 1720-1744. Journal of Economic History, vol. 30: 770-84.
This article explores the different interpretations of monetary history of the colonies from the Jacksonian period's William M. Gouge to the 1890s with Charles Bullock and Davis, through to Richard A. Lester and Leslie Brock, and lastly to E. James Ferguson's Power of the Purse : A History of American Public Finance, 1776-1790.
Journal of Political Economy
Call Number: HB1 .J7
Published/Created: 1992
McCallum, Bennett T. Money and Prices in Colonial America: A New Test of Competing Theories. Journal of Political Economy, vol. 100 no.1: 143–161.
This article should be helpful in understanding the difference between two opposing theories – classical or quantity theory (Leslie Brock, Bennett McCallum, Ronald Mischener) and anticlassical or backing theory (represented by Bruce Smith, Charles Calomiris, Elmus Wicker) – of monetary experiences in the colonies.
Money and Exchange in Europe and America, 1600-1775 by John J. McCusker
Call Number: HG219 .M33
ISBN: 0807812846
Published/Created: 1977-01-01
This title is predominantly devoted to tables of prices and rates of exchange.
"Money in the American Colonies" External by Ronald Michener
Published/Created: June 8, 2003, revised January 13, 2011
This is an article was for EH.net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples.
The Money Supply of the American Colonies Before 1720 by Curtis Putnam Nettels
Call Number: HG508 .N4
Published/Created: 1934
This title coves period 1660-1720 as a series of studies looking at mercantilism and public finance. Specific chapters look at English trade with Spanish-America, southern colonies, and New York and New England. Other chapters include economic relations of the colonies, British payments to the colonies, English currency and coinage, commodity money, the beginning of paper money, etc. This title was republished in 1964.
Origins of Commercial Banking in America, 1750-1800 by Robert E. Wright
Call Number: HG2466 .W75 2001
ISBN: 0742520870
Published/Created: 2001-08-21
Issues addressed cover a lack of liquidity, the impact of the Revolution, as well as business and banking after the Revolution.
“Paper Money and Inflation in Colonial America.” External by Owen F. Humpage
Published/Created: May 13, 2015
Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
Other People's Money: How Banking Worked in the early American Republic by Sharon Ann Murphy
Call Number: HG2472 .M87 2017
ISBN: 9781421421742
Published/Created: 2017-02-28
The time period is a little out of scope as it begins with the Revolutionary period up to the Civil War but can be helpful in understanding the latter part of the Colonial period. It is broken down by theme not time period and looks at how banking and money worked before the federal government created a national system of US paper currency. Chapters one and two may be the most helpful: chapter one is on how money worked and two is on how banks worked. An excerpt is available in a Time Magazine piece External in the February 27, 2017 issue.
Prices in Colonial Pennsylvania by Anne Bezanson, Robert D. Gray, Miriam Hussey
Call Number: HB235.U6 B4
Published/Created: 1935
Covering the time period beginning in 1720 (start date/coverage may vary depending on the commodity) and ending with 1775. Monthly and annual presentation on: wheat and flower; bread/ corn; tobacco; rice; beef and pork; staves; pitch, tar, and turpentine; iron; sugar; molasses and rum; indigo; cotton; Madeira; salt as well as information on Sterling trade, additional commodities, rate of exchange. There are also Appendix table that correspond. Available via De Gruyter for those with a subscription.
"The Relationship Between Money and Prices: Some Historical Evidence Reconsidered" In Minneapolis Quarterly Review External by Bruce D. Smith
Published/Created: Summer 1988 (Vol. 12: 18-32)
This is a link to a 2002 reprint of an article in the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Quarterly Review
While the article is substantially about his school of thought regarding the topic of money in Colonial America, there is a part that discusses what is meant by money in Colonial America.
Taxation in Colonial America by Alvin Rabushka
Call Number: HJ2368 .R33 2008
ISBN: 9780691133454
Published/Created: 2008-02-24
Table of contents
This book is a pretty complete history of taxation in colonial British North America – all taxes in all the British colonies – starting with the establishment of Jamestown and ending with the Revolution. There is an extensive index as well as 3 appendix charts covering the years 1610-1780 with the data presented by colony – the first with estimated populations, the second is for the estimated white population, and lastly there is one for estimated Negro population.
Underwriters of the United States by Hannah Farber
Call Number: HE964.5.U5 F37 2021
ISBN: 9781469663630
Published/Created: 2021-11-23
This book looks primarily at the founding of America from the Revolution to 1860, Chapter 2 focuses on the years 1622–1776. The author indicates that North America’s first insurance brokerages opened in the mid-eighteenth century and helped colonial merchants take advantage of new commercial opportunities. Commercial expansion meant colonists of the Empire were demanding goods as well as producing many of the goods seen throughout the Empire.
The Value of a Dollar, 1600-1865 by Scott Derks (General Editor); Tony Smith
Call Number: HB235.U6 D47 2005
ISBN: 1592370942
Published/Created: 2005-10-01
Chapters one and two cover up to the American Revolution. Each section includes data/information on: currency, selected incomes, services & fees, financial rates & exchanges, slave trades, commodities, and selected prices. Much of the data has been pulled from newspapers and other historical documents.
Wholesale Commodity Prices in the United States, 1700-1861 by Arthur Harrison Cole
Call Number: HB235.u6 C56
Published/Created: 1938
This is a two volume set where Volume One is mostly analysis with some graphs and Volume Two is the statistical supplement. Most of the data and analysis is by place, and is not a general aggregate. It is presented as monthly data, by year with the commodities and then by city.
Wholesale Prices for 213 Years, 1720 to 1932
Call Number: S95 .E325 no. 142
Published/Created: 1932
This memoir (#142) was published as part of the New York Agriculture Experiment Station at Cornell. It comes in two parts – Part 1 covers 135 years (1797-1932) by G.F. Warren and F.A. Pearson and part 2 covers New York City (1790-1800) by Herman M. Stoker. Both parts contain analysis, graphs, and charts.
The World Economy, Historical Statistics by Angus Maddison
Call Number: HF1359 .M333 2003
ISBN: 9264104127
Published/Created: 2004-03-18
Much of this title offers data and discussion outside of the Colonial period, but section HS-1 covers western European countries and HS-2 focuses on the U.S. and other British colonies. It includes source notes and estimates for 1500, 1600, 1700, and at decade intervals after 1820 for population and GDP. The web based Angus Maddison Project External is an effort to keep Maddison's project going.

Colonies in America: Commerce, Business, and the Economy

Money, Prices, & Banking