Rise of Big Business (eBook)

Glenn Porter is the Director Emeritus of the HagleyMuseum and Library, an internationally renowned research library inbusiness history and one of the leading American industrialmuseums. He is the author of numerous articles, chapters, andreviews, and the books he has written, co-authored, or editedinclude: Merchants and Manufacturers: Studies in the ChangingStructures of Nineteeth-Century Marketing (1971); Enterpriseand Economic Development: Essays in Canadian Business and EconomicHistory (1973); Regional Economic History: The Mid-AtlanticArea since 1700 (1976); The Encyclopedia of AmericanEconomic History (3 vols., 1980); The Workers' Worldat Hagley (1981); The Papers of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.(1991); and Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture(2002). While on the faculty of the Harvard Business School, heserved as editor of the Business History Review, and he wasalso the general editor for two book series, at JAI press and atthe John Hopkins University Press. Dr. Porter served on the editorial board of the JournalAmerican History, as President and Trustee of the BusinessHistory Conference, as Trustee of the Andalusia Foundation and ofthe WORLDESIGN Foundation, on the Department of theInterior's advisory committee on National Historic Landmarks,on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration'sHistory Advisory Committee, and as President of the IndependentResearch Libraries Association. At Hagley, he headed the RegionalEconomic History Research Center before becoming Director of theHagley Museum and Library in 1984. He retired from that post in2002 and now enjoys life in New Mexico.

Foreword v

Preface to the Third Edition IX

CHAPTER ONE: What is Big Business? 1

CHAPTER TWO: The Appearance and Spread of Big Business31

The Advent of Industrialization 31

Pioneers in Big Business: The Railroads 34

Preconditions for Big Business 43

Vertical Growth 48

Horizontal Growth 61

The Great Merger Wave 79

CHAPTER THREE: Corporate Triumph: "Capitalistic,Centralizing, and Mechanical" 93

Bibliographical Essay 129

Index 149

Photographs follow page 9