Suchergebnisse

The initial problems in writing the history of a business are similar to those encountered in writing the history of anything else: obtaining free access to all the existing records; determining whether these records are adequate to warrant the writing of a history; and then deciding what one wants to know from the records.

During the past winter the New York Committee on Business Records has dealt in a practical way with one group of the difficulties discussed by Arthur Cole in his article, "Business Manuscripts: A Pressing Problem." This committee has sought to solve the problem by convincing executives that business records are of value not only to themselves but also to scholars, by advising businessmen how they may best arrange their records, and by learning under what conditions scholars may have access to business archives.

Operating theories are more or less concealed in the structure of all historical writing. They are readily discerned when the theories are comprehensive and at variance with generally accepted ideas, as in the case of Thomism or Marxism. They are hard to detect when like Spencerianism they conform closely to the mores of American life. Writers may honestly deny in this latter case that they have any special theory; they are simply recording the "facts" from a "common-sense" viewpoint. But since theory must be either implicit or explicit, it is better for scholarly purposes that it should be explicit. Carefully formulated theory restricts unconscious bias, gives meaning to otherwise formless data, and is more likely to reveal unexpected relationships.

Frontmatter -- Foreword -- Author's Preface -- Contents -- LIST OF MAPS AND TABLES -- 1. THE NORRISTOWN STUDY -- 2 . THE NORRISTOWN COMMUNITY -- 3. SOURCES OF DATA -- 4. THE NORRISTOWN HOUSEHOLD SURVEY -- 5. STUDIES OF POPULATION -- PATTERNS OF MIGRATION AND OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY / Goldstein, Sidney -- CHANGES IN THE JOURNEY TO WORK / Goldstein, Sidney -- SOME FACTORS IN INTER GENERATIONAL OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY / Dorfman, William -- CHANGING PATTERNS OF FERTILITY, 1920-1950 / Goldstein, Sidney -- DIFFERENTIAL FERTILITY IN NORRISTOWN, 1952 / Lee, Anne S. -- 6. STUDIES OF THE IMPACT OF CHANGE ON THE ECONOMIC STRUCTURE -- PATTERNS OF BUSINESS GROWTH AND SURVIVAL / Goldstein, Sidney / Mayer, Kurt -- THE SMALL CITY INDUSTRIALIST, 1900-1950 / Soltow, James H. -- HISTORY OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN NORRISTOWN, 1900-1950 / Calderhead, William L. -- 7. STUDIES OF THE IMPACT OF CHANGE ON THE INDIVIDUAL WORKER -- TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND ITS EFFECTS IN SELECTED INDUSTRIES OF NORRISTOWN / Sharlin, Harold I. -- THE HOSIERY LOOPER IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: A STUDY OF FAMILY OCCUPATIONAL PROCESSES AND ADAPTATION TO FACTORY AND COMMUNITY CHANGE, 1900-1950 / Huganir, George H. -- INDUSTRIAL RELOCATION OF DISPLACED MALE FACTORY WORKERS: SOME SOCIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS / Lalli, Michael -- ATTITUDES TOWARD WORK IN AN INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITY / Palmer, Gladys L. -- 8. STUDIES OF ACCULTURATION AND OF COMMUNICATION -- RESIDENTIAL AND OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY AS INDICES OF THE ACCULTURATION OF ITALIANS IN NORRISTOWN, 1900-1950 / Ianni, Francis A. J. -- THE CATHOLICS IN NORRISTOWN / Cross, Lawrence J. -- ACCULTURATION AMONG THE JEWS OF NORRISTOWN / Messing, Simon D. -- MASS COMMUNICATION, 1900-1950 / Toole, Robert C. -- 9. OTHER STUDIES -- 10. SUMMARY AND EVALUATION -- APPENDIX A: Household Schedule, Personal Schedule, Evaluation Sheet -- APPENDIX B: Theses, Papers, and Publications, Completed or in Preparation under the Sponsorship of the Norristown Seminar -- APPENDIX C: Publicity Releases of the Norristown Study -- Index