HET: Abbott P. Usher

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Abbott Payson Usher, 1883-1965

Massachusetts native and economic historian A.P. Usher received his, BA in 1904 and Ph.D.in 1910 from Harvard, with his thesis on the French grain markets. Usher then joined the faculty at Cornell until 1920, when he took up an appointment at Boston University. In 1922, Usher joined the Harvard economics department to replace the frequently-missing E.F. Gay and was the leading figure in its economic history program for the next thirty years. His relationship with Gay would get strained over time, as Gay "sat on the stopper" until his retirement, thereby preventing Usher's promotion.

Usher is primarily known for three celebrated monographs (1913, 1929, 1943) which deal with economic innovations in economic history. His 1913 tract outlined the development on wholesale grain markets and his 1943 tract on the development of bills of exchange. But of the three, Usher is doubtlessly best remembered for his general theory of invention (1929), which can be considered a contribution to economic theory in its own right.

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Major Works of Abbott P. Usher

The History of the Grain Trade in France, 1400-1710, 1913 [bk, av]
"The Technique of Mediaeval and Modern Produce Markets", 1915, JPE.
"The Influence of Speculative Marketing Upon Prices", 1916, AER.
Introduction to the Industrial History of England, 1920 [bk, av]
A History of Mechanical Inventions, 1929 [av]
The Early History of Deposit Banking in Mediterranean Europe, 1943
"The Industrialization of Modern Britain", 1960, Tech and Culture

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Resources on A.P. Usher

"A.P. Usher and the History of Mechanical Invention", by George Grantham, 2006 [pdf]
A.P. Usher Prize at Society of History and Technology [online]
A.P. Usher entry at IESS, 1968
Wikipedia

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