Calder - Financing the American dream : a cultural history of consumer credit

Financing the American Dream

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A CULTURAL HISTORY OF
CONSUMER CREDIT

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L ENDOL C ALDER

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

Copyright 1999 by Princeton University Press

Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,

Princeton, New Jersey 08540

In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,

Chichester, West Sussex

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Calder, Lendol Glen.

Financing the American dream : a cultural history of

consumer credit / Lendol Calder.

p. cm.

Revision of authors thesis (doctoral)University of Chicago, 1993.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-691-05827-X (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Consumer creditUnited StatesHistory.

2. Consumption (Economics)United StatesHistory.

3. ConsumersUnited StatesHistory I. Title.

HG3756.U54C35 1999

332.70973dc21 98-34875

This book has been composed in Sabon

Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources

http://pup.princeton.edu

Printed in the United States of America

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

FOR KATHY

WITH LOVE AND THANKS

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I have no doubt that some of you who read this book...
are trying to get out of debt, a very ancient swamp.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden

* Acknowledgments *

I OWE A great deal to several groups of people for help in writing this book. It began nine years ago as a dissertation, so first I want to thank my advisor, Neil Harris of the University of Chicago, for his unfailing support from the very beginning of the project. He supplied me with an abundance of advice and encouragement and, best of all, seemed to know when I needed one or the other. The other members of my committee, Arthur Mann and Leora Auslander, gave close readings to all my drafts of chapters and provided foundational advice. Arthur did not live to see the completed manuscript, but he left his imprint on the work in his good-natured refusal to let me talk nonsense when I was forming my arguments. Leora helped me think more deeply about the theoretical implications of consumer culture.

In the early going, the Chicago Eutychus Society gave me helpful criticism, while several members of that group, Fred Beuttler and Mike Kugler especially, helped me stay the course during some difficult personal moments. During that time my parents Leslie and Arvella Calder came to my aid and saved me from having to do some unwanted personal research into the subject of debt; the love and support they have given me over these years is impossible to calculate.

Since leaving graduate school, many of the ideas in this book were refined and improved while teaching them to undergraduate students, an experience that confirms for me the fruitful compatibility of writing and teaching. I want to thank all the members of my History of Consumer Culture in America courses and seminars at the University of Washington, Colby-Sawyer College, and Augustana College, particularly Julie Clifton, Shannon Smith, Jacqueline Swain, and David Morgan. Troy Swanson, my research assistant at Augustana College, did yeoman work in helping me gather research materials for revisions made to the dissertation.

The University of Chicago Social History Workshop and the University of Washington History Research Group offered generous advice and comments on drafts of several chapters. Beth Barton Schweiger gave of her time to read and comment on a chapter; I only regret I did not ask her to read the entire manuscript. I owe a special debt of thanks to two people who did. Otis Pease and William Childs pointed me in some new directions, corrected errors, and encouraged me to think others might want to read what I had written. Their careful attention to the manuscript, right down to checking the notes, set a high standard I can only repay by emulating their example when asked to do the same for others.

Several librarians and archivists came to my aid in especially helpful ways, including Frank Conway at the University of Chicagos Regenstein Library; the librarians at the Library of Congress who let me browse through their considerable collection of materials on nineteenth-century money management; the staff of the Rockefeller Archive Center, where the Russell Sage Foundation files are located; staff at the Ford Motor Company archives, who expertly guided me to just what I needed to see in their vast collections; Daniel Wren, curator of the Harry Bass Collection in Business History at the University of Oklahoma, where some of E.R.A. Seligmans papers are kept; and Barbara Doyle-Wilch, director of the Augustana College Library, who brought me helpful articles without my even asking.

I am especially grateful to those who were generous with the various kinds of moral and material support without which no book could be written, including Ann Brown, Denis and Margie Haack, Connie Jennings, Tom Mayer, Peter Rooney, Jack and Nancy Swearengen, Tara Rice, Jane Tiedge, and Jeff and Jill Webb.

My editor at Princeton University Press, Brigitta van Rheinberg, made me the envy of all my colleagues. From the moment we first corresponded she never let me doubt the worth of the book. She was quick with advice, firm in moving me along, flexible when I could not make deadlines, and lavish with encouragement. Indeed, everyone I came into contact with at Princeton University Press impressed me with their professionalism and friendly support. In particular, I thank Brian MacDonald for his expert copy editing.

My greatest debts of all are to my wife, Kathy, to whom this book is dedicated. Her considerable gifts as a writer are manifest on nearly every page. On top of her own busy schedule she read at least two drafts of each chapter and helped me to see what was clear and what was not, what really made sense and what was still wishful thinking. Beyond editing, it would be impossible to list all that she sacrificed to see this book finished. In spite of all the hardships placed on her this past year, and many were of my making as I ignored everything to work on this book, she lived up to the tribute that has special meaning for native Texans like hersplendid behavior. She gave me her all. Her love is boundless.

Finally, I want to thank my children, Abigail and Andrew. They frequently interrupted my writing to invite me to tea parties and to play rough. Because of these intermissions, their contribution to my happiness while writing was incalculable.

Financing the American Dream

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* Introduction *

CREDIT, CONSUMER CULTURE, AND THE AMERICAN DREAM

THE AMERICAN dream is a puzzle, both for those who study it and for those who pursue it.

What would you say is the American Dream? writes a man to Ask Marilyn, a syndicated newspaper column featuring riddles, brainteasers, and philosophical conundrums. Who better to ask than the author of Ask Marilyn? Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame for Highest IQ, Marilyn vos Savant slices Gordian knots for a living. Todays American Dream, she replies, includes a house in the suburbs with a backyard for the kids to play in, a patio for barbecues, a shady street, bright and obedient children, camping trips, fishing, two family cars, seeing the kids taking part in school and church plays, and online access to the world. A good answerthis is the American dream as most people know it. But it is not the end of the puzzle. In fact, it is just the beginning.