Of the things that frustrate me to no end, willful ignorance tops the chart. History is what it is; a recollection of the past. I would be guilty of willful ignorance myself to say that history, or interpretations there of, haven’t been used for political and ideological purposes in the past. They have, since history was first recorded, there have always been interpretations of events that fed a narrative of the authors choosing to some agenda’s needs. Modern history is certainly no exception. Fictitious narratives and interpretations have been generated by many ideological groups, most notably by ideologues with a personal agenda and a need to subvert a population so that population will follow the ideolog, and do their bidding. The Nazis, soviets, present day Russia, and, sadly, the present administration in America are but a few examples. Rewriting history is nothing new, but in this day and age of infinite connectedness, we should be doing better at remaining aware that it’s being done.
Written histories often represent the attitudes of people groups, national or regional. The Lost Cause narrative of the American Civil War is an example of this kind of revisionist interpretation in service of ego fragility. Usually, over time these kinds of revisionist histories are reinterpreted and at some point, they eventually get closer to the facts of the events. Newer interpretations tend to acknowledge the various perspectives of those participating in, or observing events. Well written history will also include analysis of previous interpretations and the drivers of those interpretations. Distance from the events allow a more circumspect view and less attachment to the interpreted narratives generated by those earlier historians. The exceptions enter public view when the writer has an agenda they wish to reenforce. The Lost Cause narrative is an exception that has been reenforced over the last century and a half, and it persists in some areas to this day. Holocaust denial is an example of a whole genre of agenda driven historical revision serving a ideological agenda. The romantic, and completely fictitious Völkisch history created by a handful of Germans in the 1920s and 30s was an agenda driven historical fantasy that provided a background for the Nazi’s to build on.
The ham-fisted attempts of the current American administration to turn back the clock and ignore or remove the civil rights more than half of the population is an outrage, as are its attempts to disenfranchise citizens and prevent them from voting. A small segment of the population, egged on by the administration and far-right wingnuts wishes to rewrite American history to serve their agenda. America is a nation of immigrants. It always has been. Unless you are descended from indigenous people, you are an immigrant descendant. A significant number of my ancestors were hear before 1776. I am an immigrant descendant.
This is a partial representation of my family tree. Above the red line are family that immigrated to the colonies or were born in the colonies before 1776.
While I am proud to say that some of my ancestors participated in the founding of this nation, as a historian, I must acknowledge that this carries with it darker aspects of their lives. Colonialism, the abhorrent treatment of First Nations people, and the atrocities of slavery. These are also part of my family’s past. It’s not a bad thing to acknowledge the truth. It is what it is. I wasn’t there. America has a complicated past, and present; colonialism, genocide, slavery, meddling in other sovereign nations politics for our benefit, and we have been at war with someone for most of the last 250 years. Being willfully ignorant of the past and hiding your head in the sand are not solutions to anything, they are delusion.
Question authority, study history, read widely, demand evidence of any claims, seek evidence from as many sources as possible, verify all evidence, refuse to be made a fool for someone else’s agenda or ego.
This second project from Abbott’s Bookbinding: A Step-By-Step Guide takes the pamphlet stitched text block and cases it in a hard cover. The project utilizes the quarter binding and both the foredge and corner variations of the half binding producing 3 hard bound volumes. The brief calls for 4 to 6 folios of 80-130gsm text paper and two sheets of 100-130gsm colored paper for endpapers. It builds on the previous pamphlet stitched project by adding tipping on the endpapers and reinforcing the spine of the text block with Fraynot, the construction of the hard cover using 1.5-2.0mm millboard, book cloth, and 100-130gsm decorative paper with PVA, and casing in the text block to the cover with paste.
Execution
My interpretation of this project’s intent was to build on the skills from the previous project adding spine reinforcement and a cased cover. It provides the opportunity to work with three common cover forms, the quarter cover, and half cover in both foredge and corner variations. At this point I had received some of the paper ordered and was able to make the textblock from a quality 80gsm laid linen paper. The text blocks were made from 4 sheets (8 folios) of 11″ x 17″ paper. The board used is a low cost/quality common 1.5mm grayboard. Fraynot wasn’t reasonably available so a light weight, loose weave (not as loose as scrip) cotton fabric was used. The book cloth is a low cost/quality thin cloth. And the endpapers and cover paper are 90gsm printed scrapbooking paper. The PVA is an archival neutral PH, and the past is Nori cornstarch paste.
All three text blocks were folded, cut, and sewn at the same time and pressed. The endpapers were all folded and tipped onto the text blocks and pressed. The casing boards and cloth were cut at the same time. Cover papers were cut last as needed. Each case was assembled individually in order.
Book 1 – Quarter Binding
Book 1 (quarter binding): The spine fabric was measured and marked with board edges and the spine allowance of 35mm. The boards were glued to the spine fabric, inside up, and trimmed to 20mm, and turned in. The assembly was flipped over, outside up. The papers were not cut until after they were glued to the board’s outsides with a 1mm overlap, once glued the assembly was flipped over, inside’s up. The papers were trimmed to 20mm from head, tail, and foredge. The corners were clipped to 3mm before turning in head, tail, and foredge in order. The assembled cover was then pressed.
Book 2 – Half Binding – Foredge
Book 2 (half binding – foredge): The spine fabric was prepared and glued the same as book 1, and the foredge was likewise prepared and glued to the boards with the inside up. The spine was trimmed to 20mm and turned in head and tail, then the foredges were trimmed to 20mm head, tail, and foredge, and the corners clipped to 3mm. The head, tail, and foredge were then turned in, in order. The assembly was flipped over, outside up. The fill papers were then cut to width before gluing to the board’s outsides. After gluing to the outside of the boards, overlapping the fabric 1mm, the assembly was flipped over, inside up, and the head and tail were trimmed to 20mm before turning in head and tail. The assembled cover was then pressed.
Book 3 – Half Binding – Corners
Book 3 (half binding – corner): The spine fabric was prepared and glued the same as book 1, and the corners were likewise prepared and glued to the boards with the inside up. The spine was trimmed to 20mm and turned in head and tail, then the corners were trimmed to 20mm head/tail, and foredge, and the corners clipped to 3mm. Each corner was then turned in, head/tail, and foredge. The assembly was flipped over, outside up. The fill papers were set down dry overlapping the spine fabric 1mm and weighted to prevent movement as the edges of the board were pressed into the paper creasing it. The corners were carefully turned up to crease the paper with a 1mm overlap of the corner fabric. The corners of the paper were then cut off and the papers fit checked before gluing. The paper was then glued and placed carefully at spine overlap, then smoothed down to the corners. The assemble was then flipped, inside up, and the head tail and foredge of the paper trimmed to 20mm and turned in. The assembled cover was then pressed.
The three text blocks were pared to their covers and cased in one at a time using the same process. The text block was set down, back of the block to the inside of the back cover, and placed with even squares, approximately 3mm. The front cover was laid over the front of the text block, and the squares checked again, also looking for alignment of the head, tail, and foredge of the front of the cover to the back. The spine was set up against the spine of the case. When everything is aligned, a waste sheet is placed in the fold of the endpaper to protect the text block side of the endpaper and text block, the endpaper facing the cover is then pasted, starting at the spine holding the cotton fabric away from the paper. Once the past extended beyond where the cotton lay, the cotton was smoothed down into the paste on the paper and additional paste put onto the cotton evenly. The rest of the endpaper is then pasted, the waste sheet removed, and the cover carefully closed. After checking the alignment and squares, the assembly is turned over, and the pasting process is repeated to paste the back endpaper to the back cover. This entire process is repeated for each book.
Analysis
Book 1: Quarter Binding
Due to the quality of the book cloth, and having only glued one side of the spine at a time, the book cloth deformed slightly which resulted in a slight curve in the alignment lines before the boards could be set down. this resulted in a slight deformation to the spine. Also due to the thinness of the book cloth, it creased easily which produced some visible crease lines in the spine. The cover papers, being thinner than optimal had a tendency to stretch if pulled on, or bunch if shifted. With care, the cover papers did go on smoothly. The end papers, also thin, easily bunched up. This is more evident in the front cover hinge than the back. With casing in, the text block did not seat as deeply as it should have into the spine. The text block also shifted slightly in position when the back cover was closed . The front cover has nice even squares. This text block was the only one that had a moisture barrier in the fold of the endpapers when pressing. This prevented cockling of the text block.
Crease in book clothText block seated in spineBack cover hingeFront cover squaresBack cover squaresFor text block reference
Book 2: Half Binding – Foredge
This is likely the best of the three bindings. The text block is seated to the back of the spine, the hinges are clean front and back, and the squares are even front and back. The book cloth did deform slightly and a curve in the fabric grain is visible in the foredges. A smaller pattern in the cover paper would probably look nicer, but the front and back match in positioning so it is uniform. There is a small bit of bunching on the back endpaper at the spine. Because of the thinness of the endpapers, the book cloth, cover paper, and hinge reinforcement fabric do stand out a little stronger than usual. The text block is slightly cockled because a moisture barrier was not placed in the endpaper fold when pressed.
Text block well seatedFront cover hinge & squaresBack cover hinge & squaresFront cover paper pattern & foredge grain divergence Back cover paper pattern & foredge grain divergence Front cover hinge bunchingBack cover hinge bunchingCover materials visible under endpaper paste downText block cockling
Book 3: Half Binding – Corners
The cover looks good. The book cloth grain is mostly straight and matches across the spine and corners, front and back. The cover paper is clean and tight on the spine front and back, and the front corners. The head end back corner paper is cut a hair off and doesn’t quite overlap the entire corner. The outer edges fall right at the edge of the book cloth. The text block did not stay in place when cased in. It shifted head to tail and spine to foredge on the front cover and the back cover is also head to tail and spine to foredge but skewed slightly in both. The skew appears to be due to some bunching at the hinge, more at the head than tail. Like book 2, the text block is cockled.
CoverCover papers are tightOne corner is a little shortText block not set back all the wayFront paste down slipback paste down slipBack paste down bunching Text block cockling
Conclusion
Over all, the three projects turned out fair. Each binding has its flaws and there were a few process lessons learned. The books are functional, and if not looked at too closely, most of the defects might be overlooked. The biggest issue with the materials is common across all of them, they are too thin. The book cloth easily shifted if pulled even slightly, as did the paper. The cover paper and endpapers were from the same 12″ x 12″ scrapbooking pad. These papers are not appropriate for this application. As for processes, trying to assembly-line covers is a bad idea, at least for me, and at this time. It is far too easy to make measuring mistakes, mixing grain directions, and getting careless. A slower, careful pace makes precision more likely. There was only one instance when not all of the materials was ready for use but this did cause some frustration and a need to redo something.
The biggest takeaways from this exercise are: use the best materials you can get your hands on, walk through the operation “dry” before committing to actually doing it, and take your time working through each process.
Sources
Abbott, Kathy. Bookbinding: A Step-By-Step Guide. The Crowood Press, 2010. 30-41.
This is the first project from Abbott’s Bookbinding: A Step-By-Step Guide. It is a simple single-section, or gathering, composed of three sheets of A4 (80-130gsm) text paper folded quarto with a cover made from a single sheet of A4 (150-180) cover paper. The cover if folded to the section size plus a 2mm square at the head, tail, and foredge. The cover and text block together are sewn with a three-hole pamphlet stitch.
Execution
My interpretation of this project’s intent was to practice the basic skills of folding a text block from a larger sheet to a smaller form, and to provide a protective outer cover of similar paper. When working on this project,
several paper orders were still pending, and as the interpreted intent was skill building rather than the object itself, I opted to use 20 lb. 8.5″ x 11″ printer paper for the text bock, and a piece of scrapbook printed marbled paper, also 20 lb.
Analysis
The execution was relatively smooth. The text block paper was thinner than that specified in the project documentation. A thicker and better quality paper would have produced a more useful and better quality end product. The cover paper was thinner than that specified as well. A thicker cover paper better resist damage and provide a less floppy feeling to the booklet. The sewing was well executed. The text block and cover are tight and uniform, but not too tight. The pages don’t show any resistance to movement parallel to the hinge-line and resist any perpendicular movement.
Conclusion
The form has many application possibilities. Certainly a higher quality paper, sized for a specific purpose or standard form would produce a useful form. Likewise, a quality cover paper of appropriate weight would provide protection for a pamphlet or booklet. A protective coating such as beeswax on the cover material could further protect the contents.
As a conservation or preservation, the form could be used to provide extra protection for a fragile pamphlet that already needed resewing or would be best served with sewing and covering, possibly one that required guarding to restore the hinge fold. In this form, an object so preserved could remain accessible for historical research.
Sources
Abbott, Kathy. Bookbinding: A Step-By-Step Guide. The Crowood Press, 2010. 24-29.
Research, study, labs, and community are crucial areas that need to be a part of any book arts career path. After years in the academic environment, post-graduate study and practice can take some getting used to. In my practice, with my academic background in history and public history, I have some training in preservation and conservation, but little academic lab work, and it’s been decades since I spent any quality time bookbinding; filling the lab gap is a big concern. For me, the best path forward is to develop a graduate-level book history program with labs focused on a traditional bookbinder’s apprenticeship path with contemporary best practices. This should provide a portfolio of examples to demonstrate skill as well as a collection of essays on the history of bookbinding forms.
The lab work has already begun with a print and binding project centered on the book “The Art of Bookbinding” (1890) by Joseph W. Zaehnsdorf. The text was printed in quarto on quality matte 13 in. x 19 in. (A3+) and works out to a traditional octavo 6 in. x 9 in. book in size. The block has been printed and sewn. Endpapers were designed and printed, and the boards were glued to the fabric cover. The binding will be a cased flat back. A post about this project will be forthcoming. Progress photos have been taken for the project post.
It will take some time to develop and document the curriculum, as it is being put together on the fly and there is already a pile of rebinding and conservation projects to incorporate into the course workflow. I would prefer not to slow too much in the service of academic program development and kill the momentum. The initial reading list is as follows, in order:
Abbott, Kathy. Bookbinding: A Step By Step Guide. The Crowood Press, 2010.
Cockerell, Douglas. Bookbinding and the Care of Books. Lyons & Burford, 1991.
Hollander, Tom and Cindy. Introduction to Bookbinding and Custom Cases. Schiffer Publishing, 2019.
Johnson, Arthur W. The Thames and Hudson Manual of Bookbinding. Thames & Huson, 1981.
Towne, Laurence. Bookbinding By Hand For Students and Craftsmen. Faber and Faber, 1963.
Masson, John. The Art and Practice of Printing: Bookbinding and Ruling. Vol. 5. New Era Publishing, 1940.
Cockerell, Douglas. Bookbinding and the Care of Books. Lyons & Burford, 1991.
Middleton, Bernard C. The Restoration of Leather Bindings. American Library Association, 1972.
Szirmai, J.A. The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding. Routledge, 2017.
Keile, Headdy. The Art of the Fold: How to Make Innovative Books and Paper Structures. Laurence King Publishing, 2018.
Lindsay, Jen. Fine Binding: A Technical Guide. Oak Knoll Books, 2024.
Burdett, Eric. The Craft of Bookbinding: A Practical Handbook. David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1978.
As reading and lab work progress through the first few textbooks, a project list should develop. Along with the skill development projects, rebinding projects on the bench will also be incorporated into the lab work. Research paper topics should also present themselves and be incorporated into the program. Along with research and lab work, I will be engaging more with the book community through social media on BlueSky (@jwwanzer.bsky.social) and here. As article possibilities present, I will also submit to field journals. In all honesty, the community aspect is the most difficult for me. My graduate programs were in the online environment, and my academic/social circles are small. More to come as things progress.
From a historical perspective, books and woodwork are closely connected. Before the days of wood pulp paper, the tools of the book trades were made primarily of wood. From the vats used to pulp linen rag in the paper trade, the printing press with woodcut pictures and wood text blocks in the printing trade, to the stitching frame and presses used in the binding trade. To this day, many of the bookbinder’s tools are wooden. As a hand tool woodworker, this makes establishing a traditional hand bindery an exercise in experimental history.
I am embarking on a long-term and expansive set of projects in the book arts and bibliography as an experimental historian. The first phase is to get the workshop back to a hand tool wood shop. This involves scaling back in several areas, and building the infrastructure necessary for woodworking and book arts. The primary piece of infrastructure the rest of the shop is built around is the workbench.
This joiner’s bench has a Moxon-style face vise with 24 inches between the screws. It is a relatively small bench at just 5 feet long and 17 inches wide. A typical joiner’s bench is 7 to 8 feet long; some are as long as 12 feet or more, and the typical joiner’s bench is 24 to 30 inches wide. This bench is made from Douglas Fir except for the face board and vise, which is Maple; it still weighs in at over 300 pounds unloaded. The workshop space available is small, just over 150 square feet of usable space, this set the scale of the bench.
The second step is to remove all of the existing factory-made shop furniture and replace it with options that save floor space and are custom-designed for the space and the work at hand. The first project is a Dutch tool chest.1 The chest being built is a little different from the ones in the book in that this chest has two smaller detached chests under the double shelf version of the main tool chest. The one pictured below is the bottom chest with heavy-duty casters. This chest is 27 inches wide, 14 inches tall, and 12 inches deep. The middle chest is the pile of cut lumber sitting on the workbench and is 27 x 13 x 12. That build starts tomorrow. The top chest build should start within the next two weeks; its final dimensions have not yet been determined, but should come in around 27 x 31 x 12. The total height of the three should be between 60 and 65 inches.
Once all three sections of the tool chest are completed, the factory-made furnishings can be emptied, either into the Dutch chest(s), or into temporary storage containers. The factory tool chest and rolling cabinet/bench will be sold, and the workshop’s cabinetry projects can begin.
The keen observer might have noticed the two wood tap and die sets on the workbench to the right of the lumber. These will be for a set of parallel projects. The 1-inch tap and die is for making the wooden screws for a stitching frame, and the 1 1/2 inch set is for the screws of a finishing vise and trimming frame. A small nipping press will also use a 1 1/2 inch screw. The factory-made wood tap and die sets were purchased for expediency. Down the project path, there will be a need for 2-inch, 4-inch, and 6-inch tap and die sets that will be shop-made. These large shop-made tap and die sets will be substantial projects in and of themselves. As one might expect, the projects requiring such large wood screws will be epic adventures.
Between the cabinetry and bookbinding workshop infrastructure projects, research will continue with an emphasis on bookbinding and bibliographically adjacent subjects as the workshop and bindery come into their own. The workspace and bindery are just the beginning. The journey will be filled with research and experimentation with materials, processes, and equipment. Along the way, conservation and preservation projects will be popping in from time to time, expanding opportunities. I have several 18th, 19th, and 20th century books and documents that need some love and should start making appearances this summer.
Things are beginning to take shape. It will be a very interesting and informative long and windy road. ‘Tis an adventure to my liking.
Fitzpatrick, Megan. Dutch Tool Chests. Lost Art Press, 2004. ↩︎
My earliest memories contain books; if not central to the memories, they are adjacent to or on the periphery of them. My grandmother was an avid and studious reader, a librarian, and a teacher by trade. There were always piles of books on her desk at home, most from one library or another. On rare occasions, she would bring a special book home from work that needed extra care in its repair and return to service. She was not, to speak, a collector of books, nor did she keep many at home. Her preservation techniques were distinctly focused on returning books to library service, not the fastidious preservation of a curator or collector. Books did not become a key element of my memories of my mother until later in her life, when she began to accumulate books of interest. At this time in her life, she was wheelchair-bound, and library trips could be difficult. This was likely a factor in her choice to buy rather than borrow. Though she was not as curious in a broad sense as my grandmother, she did find herself going down rabbit holes on occasion. One could say, I come by my afflictions honestly.
Books can bring many things to those who appreciate them. For most, they provide a sense of escapism in one form or another. For many, it is to inform or educate. For others, it is to reinforce their worldview. Others seek wisdom and inspiration in the writings of great thinkers. It is likely, dear reader, that you find some comfort in each of these from time to time. A rather small and obsessed group finds the medium itself to be the most fascinating collection of trades and practices. It is in this small group that I find my people. Though I am at the earliest stages of my serious, dare I say professional, bibliographic journey, I find myself counting gatherings and looking for chains, formulating how the text block was constructed, and how it was cased. Who published this volume? Who printed it? What edition and pressing? What are its points?
The making of books has always been of great interest. From the laying of paper and sizing, pressing it to wood and metal, transferring pigment, folding and stitching the gatherings into a text block. Treatment of the text block, cut or not, opened or not, gilded or painted edges, how will it be cased, and with what materials? All decisions that will affect the owner’s relationship with the volume, on their shelf, in their hand, and in their hearts. That I would collect and deal in these jewels of humanity was a foregone conclusion, as is the need to have a closer, more intimate relationship with the form; to bring new volumes to life, yes, but also to preserve and protect those already formed.
Books and history, history and books. The path is broad and open. Where it leads is over the horizon, yet down the path I go, books in hand.
It is a few days into April, which was intentional, so there would be no confusion about this post and subsequent site changes as a prank. It is time to step away from doctoral studies, at least for now. Having many areas of interest has turned out to be a net negative in the doctoral process. With so many options, the necessary passion and focus to complete a dissertation has been too diluted. After spending several weeks attempting to clarify and distill a research question with little success, it has become clear that now is not the time to be attempting to produce a dissertation. The possibility of returning to a doctoral program is still on the table at some future date. Moving forward, research will continue in a broader form while seeking rabbit holes to dive into and write about. If one of these rabbit holes becomes an all consuming passion the doctorate may be reconsidered. Bibliography building in subject areas of interest will continue along with the research. The reading log will also continue with a broader material base of research material and general interest reading. Other activities may also find their way into this space as things progress. For now, it’s time to clean up the office and research stacks, take some time off, and get back to reading and woodworking.
Monday next is the first day of my first dissertation class. The object of the course is to prepare the candidate to complete Chapter One of their dissertation. This morning, I added Manipulating the Masses to my current reading list.1 Hamilton’s book is considered the state-of-the-field academic work on the origins of modern American propaganda. My current class is the first in the dissertation series (HIST901) and focuses on Chapter One. I have academic questions and a hypothesis, but I need to read and thoroughly digest Manipulating the Masses, along with its notes and citations, to develop a solid historiographical picture to begin my literature review. I had an email exchange with Hamilton, and he asked to see my working bibliography, which I posted (here). He thought I had a solid foundation for my research and offered a couple of additional suggestions, so I am confident I am headed in the right direction. The question now is, what will my dissertation adviser think?
I started a dissertation research journal yesterday. I also started re-reading Kate Turabian’s Writer’s Guide, which happens to be the course textbook.2 For now, I will focus on a slow read through Manipulating the Masses over 600 pages and keep a question log for Dr. Hamilton if the need arises. The next dissertation class isn’t for a few months yet, so there is plenty of time to develop a historiography and literature review.
Hamilton, John Maxwell. Manipulating the Masses: Woodrow Wilson and the Birth of American Propaganda. Louisiana State University Press, 2024. ↩︎
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. 9th edition. University of Chicago Press, 2018. ↩︎
By: Jonathan Wanzer ORCiD 0009-0004-9275-7410 Submitted on: February 19, 2026 Submitted to: Dr. Cervantez – Liberty University Course: HIUS 713 American Entrepreneurship Since 1900 Chicago Citation: Wanzer, Jonathan. “Causal Theories for the Great Depression.” Historical Interpretations (blog). February 19, 2026. http://wanzer.org/2026/02/causal-theories-for-the-great-depression/.
Abstract This article opens a discussion on the causes of the Great Depression. It opens with the two most recognizable precipitating events often thought of as causes. It places them rightly as the visible symptoms of the existing conditions. In a discussion of contributing factors, it looks at several causal theories and the ways they are connected. It ends with several factors present in the recovery period and a statement on the complexity of the economics involved.
Introduction
The prompt for this assignment is to “produce a cohesive narrative and analysis using primary and secondary sources applying one economic theory to the causes of the Great Depression and its ultimate demise.” (emphasis added) Applying one economic theory as the cause of of the Great Depression is like asking “what was the cause of World War II?” The only single answer that makes any sense is World War I was the cause of World War II. There are to many factors, and it depends on the perspective of the observer. With that in mind, the only rational answer to the question posed would be the economics of the Gilded Age. This takes a lot factors into consideration, many of those factors are tangled in the events that unfolded, both in the precipitating events and the contributing factors. For the sake of presentation in this article, the primary factors involved will fall into one of three categories, Precipitating Events, Contributing Factors, and Recovery.
Precipitating Events
The Stock Market Crash of October 24-29, 1929 is most frequently considered one of the two precipitating events that pushed the United States into the Great Depression, the second being the runs on the banks from 1929 to 1933. While these may have been the outward symptoms, brought on by the massive loss of wealth of the rich and the middle class. They were just symptoms of a fragile economy that developed through the Gilded Age. The middle class was relatively new to market investing and more easily spooked by fluctuations. The panic of these new participants destabilized the typical oscillations of the market creating wider swings up and down inducing further panic. Not helping matters, the general population was aware of how the typical bank operates internally, or how the money stock is utilized locally or nationally.
Contributing Factors
Over investment theories place responsibility on capital over investment by business created a bubble that was unsustainable. Business needed fewer workers as it improved production mechanically by taking on more debt. Fewer jobs and a surplus of workers lowered wages. The country was new to the mass consumer economy, as the job market shrank and incomes dropped, consumers had to reduce personal spending. This let to lower than expected sales for businesses which let to businesses having to contract further to keep up with their debt. This also led to a rapid decline in consumer confidence which contracted consumer spending. So the downward spiral went. Keynesian Theory puts the responsibility on consumer confidence and contracted spending for the contraction of production and the resultant unemployment. Some theorists place responsibility on income disparity, with wealth pooling at the upper class, claiming their contraction as they saw considerable losses in the markets as the cause of further losses. The Product Surplus theory places responsibility on the advancements in technology and capital investments that led to over production, citing the glut as cause for declining prices and profits, leading to lay-offs and contraction. These theories all tie together creating a business-consumer view of what was occurring, but even this was only part of the picture. Much of the remaining picture has to do with the economic controls, or the lack their of.
Monetarist theory places responsibility with poor federal monetary policies and the Federal Reserves failures to act or acting inappropriately by not maintaining the money supply and raising interest rates respectively. Protectionism also played a role, the federal government’s institution of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930. At the depressions peek, the U.S. economy had shrunk 30%, the global economy had shrunk 60% due to Smoot-Hawley. Some theories include the labor pool that had grown through various mechanisms. The labor pool was fare to large with unemployment growing to over 25% at its peek in 1933 and diminishing wages.
Unemployment Rate for the United States National Bureau of Economic Research
The 1920s saw increases in the cost of goods during the boom before the bust, also with little government engagement. Prices would not drop significantly until 1930.
Index of the General Price Level of the United States National Bureau of Economic Research
Recovery
Several things brought about the recovery period, one was the influx of foreign money being transferred to the United States, specifically, foreign gold. As the global economy sank lower than the U.S. economy, assets of overseas wealthy people was transferred to reduce the overall loss. This had a positive effect on the U.S. economy. Prices were beginning to recover, clinched purses were opening, banks still in business began to make loans again. It is important to remember that over 7,000 banks went under from 1929 to 1933. As spending and lending rose, so did employment. A significant portion of this is due to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), part of the New Deal. Many cities still have monuments to the success of the WPA in the form of buildings funded by the WPA. Many of these buildings are in the Art Deco/WPA style. World War II closed out the era with mass employment and government war contracts.
Conclusion
This article is a gross simplification of the complex nature of the Great Depression. Its causes are rooted in the boom of the Gilded Age and poor government over site, planning, and a slow response to the economic crises as they occurred. There are also many other smaller contributing factors not mentioned here.
Sources
McElvaine, Robert S. The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941. Times Books, 1993.
National Bureau of Economic Research, Unemployment Rate for United States [M0892AUSM156SNBR], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M0892AUSM156SNBR, February 17, 2026.
National Bureau of Economic Research, Index of the General Price Level for United States [M04051USM324NNBR], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M04051USM324NNBR, February 17, 2026.
By: Jonathan Wanzer ORCiD 0009-0004-9275-7410 Submitted on: February 11, 2026 Submitted to: Dr. Cervantez – Liberty University Course: HIUS 713 American Entrepreneurship Since 1900 Chicago Citation: Wanzer, Jonathan. “Robert McCormick and the Chicago Tribune.” Historical Interpretations (blog). February 11, 2026. http://wanzer.org/2026/02/robert-mccormick-and-the-chicago-tribune/.
Abstract This post discusses the life of Robert Rutherford McCormick and his ascendance to President of the Chicago Tribune. It includes his youth and major life events. It provides some insight into his military service. It outlines his newspaper industry experience. The article concludes with his legacy in the newspaper and media industry.
Robert Rutherford McCormick, also known as The Colonel or Colonel McCormick, a rank he earned in the U.S. Army, was born in Chicago, IL, on July 30, 1880, the second son of US Ambassador Robert Sanderson McCormick and Katherine Medill McCormick, daughter of Joseph Medill, who, with five partners, bought the Chicago Tribune in 1855. When he was 9, his father was serving in the diplomatic corps in London. It is in this period that he taught himself to sail and developed his strong sense of self and self-confidence. He had a strong will and exhibited an adventurous spirit. Back in the States, he attended the Groton prep school, where he was described as above average but lacking in motivation. Despite the apparent lack of motivation, he did well enough to get into Yale, where he found his motivation. He was also able to exercise his adventurous nature in hunting in the Hudson Bay area with Inuit guides. Back in Chicago after graduating from Yale in 1903, he decided to go to law school at Northwestern.
This was also a period of political exploration for Robert. Elected as an Alderman and president of the Chicago Sanitary District. He was known for his platform of honest government and willingness to dig in and do the difficult work and not tolerating political hacks on his staff. His conservative views would continue throughout his life, generally opposed to progressives, the New Deal, and the U.S. entry into WWII.
In 1906, his future was on shifting sands. His older brother, Medill, had a nervous breakdown. Medill had been groomed to take over the Tribune at some point. In 1910, Medill and Robert’s uncle, Robert Patterson, editor-in-chief and president of the Tribune, died. The uncertainty of the newspaper’s management put the future of the Tribune in jeopardy. The board was even considering selling the Tribune. In 1911, Robert Rutherford McCormick took the reins of the Tribune, calming the board and stabilizing the business.
Now in his thirties, Robert married Amy Irwin Adams in 1915. True to his adventurous spirit and patriotism, the young couple’s honeymoon would not be a typical one. The couple toured war-torn Europe with Robert writing about the experience along the way. Later that year, home from Europe, Robert felt he needed to do more for his country and enlisted in the Illinois National Guard. He was deployed to protect the southern border to protect the country from Pancho Villa’s raids. In 1917, he signed up for the American Expeditionary Forces and served in France. He earned his Colonel rank in 1918 and a Distinguished Service Medal in 1923, staying a reservist until 1929.
Robert R. McCormick became the sole editor-in-chief in 1925 and would lead the Tribune for five decades, building a media empire including three major papers, the Chicago Tribune, Washington Times-Herald, and New York Daily News, a radio station WGN (1924), and a TV station, also with the WGN callsign (1948). The callsigns stood for World’s Greatest Newspaper, showing his enthusiasm and dedication. The Tribune was a paragon of an institution. Its employees were among the highest paid. They respected the Colonel, and he, in return, respected them. McCormick went to great lengths to ensure the success of the Tribune Company, the parent company that ran the various media outlets, engaging in forestry, buying paper mills, investing in hydroelectric, and shipping companies to provide support services and distribution.
Robert R. McCormick was a leader in the field of journalism, and under his direction, the Tribune would have the largest circulation of all American standard-sized newspapers. It would also lead the world in newspaper advertising revenue. His editorials were known for expressing his conservative journalistic integrity. He was an adamant defender of the First Amendment and Freedom of the Press. One of his primary goals as a journalist was to lay the foundation for journalism to become a bona fide profession. To that end, he introduced the concept of higher education in journalism and helped establish Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and provided initial and ongoing funding for the school.
In 1939, the Colonel’s wife, Amy, died. He remarried in 1944 to a close friend of Amy’s, Maryland Mathison Hooper. The Colonel died on April 1, 1955, in Wheaton, Illinois, at the age of 74, survived by his second wife, Mary. Robert Rutherford McCormick was a publisher, editor, media pioneer, war hero, explorer, public servant, civic leader, attorney, and a true philanthropist. He established the Robert R. McCormick Charitable Trust, which turned his 500-acre estate, Cantigny, named after the village, where he served in France in WWI, into a funded public park. The trust also funds early childhood education programs in Chicago and community programs in the South and West sides of Chicago.
Robert R. McCormick was a privileged man. Born into a generationally wealthy family, well-traveled, and well-educated, he held conservative values and a strong work ethic, a sense of duty and responsibility to his family, his country, and his community.
Sources
Gies, Joseph. The Colonel of Chicago: A Biography of the Chicago Tribune’s Legendary Publisher, Colonel Robert McCormick. Dutton Adult. 1979
Olmsted, Kathryn S. The Newspaper Axis: Six Press Barons Who Enabled Hitler. Yale University Press. 2022.
