Financial History Issue 129 (Spring 2019) | Page 9
MUSEUM NEWS
THE TICKER
MoAF to Present “Bubbles and Crashes” Program and
Display in Partnership with the New York Public Library
benefits of capitalism. While many books
have studied financial manias and crises,
most fail to compare times of turmoil with
times of stability. In their book, Goldfarb
and Kirsch provide new insights into the
causes of speculative booms and busts by
identifying an asset class—major techno-
logical innovations—that can, but does
not necessarily, produce bubbles.
In conjunction with the presentation,
the Museum will display several docu-
ments on the topic of historical bubbles
and crashes from its collection at this loca-
tion. Objects date from the 18th century to
the present and include documents from
the South Sea Bubble of the 1720s; the Pan-
ics of 1857, 1873, 1893 and 1907; the Great
Depression of the 1930s; the Dot Com
Bubble of the 1990s; and the Great Reces-
sion of the early 21st century. The display
will be on view from May 21—August 31,
2019. Both the May 21 program and access
to the “Bubbles and Crashes” display are
free and open to the public.
On May 21, the Museum will present a
lunchtime program with Brent Goldfarb
and David A. Kirsch, authors of Bubbles
and Crashes: The Boom and Bust of Tech-
nological Innovation [See related article,
page 17]. The program will be co-pre-
sented with the New York Public Library
and will be held at the library’s 34th Street
location (188 Madison Avenue, NYC),
from 12:30–1:30 p.m.
Financial market bubbles are recurring,
often painful, reminders of the costs and
Judge cartoon from the Panic of 1893 titled,
“He Wanted a Change and He Got It,” July 15, 1893.
American Finance
Front page of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from “Black Thursday,” October 24, 1929.
New South-Sea Annuities receipt, dated 1742.
www.MoAF.org | Spring 2019 | FINANCIAL HISTORY 7