Mega-studies undertaken cooperatively by government departments, corporate philanthropic foundations and social science research agencies not only produced whole universes of data but solidified the standing of the social science disciplines during the 1920s. (INTRO NOTE Social Sciences) Included in the Coolidge-Consumerism collection are selections from that final survey in the Department of Commerce's "Elimination of Waste Series," Recent Economic Changes in the United States (1929).
Under the direction of Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and with funding from the Carnegie Corporation and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation, and investigations undertaken by the social science research agency, the National Bureau of Economic Research, work on the survey began in January 1928 and reached completion in February 1929, just before the expiration of Coolidge's term. (INTRO NOTE Herbert Hoover) Though published in 1929, it primarily reflects back on the prosperity of the years when Calvin Coolidge was president (1923-1929).
The excerpts offered here, in word-searchable format, include all of the prefatory material, which functions something like an Executive Summary. This consists of the Foreword, the Report of the Committee, the Addenda, the Acknowledgments, and the statement, "Investigation Made Under the Auspices of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc." The latter is a statement by the Bureau about its own organization and the staff involved in the research.
In addition, the following four survey chapters from Recent Economic Changes are included in Coolidge-Consumerism in their entirety, in word-searchable format: Consumption and the Standard of Living by Leo Wolman, Changes in New and Old Industries by Dexter S. Kimball, Labor by Leo Wolman, and Management by Henry S. Dennison.
The table of contents for the two volumes of Recent Economic Changes appears in the same record as the "Foreword, Report of Committee, etc.," so that readers can review the total context from which chapters have been selected and determine what else they might find useful or relevant to look at in consulting the entire study in their state or university library.
Due to the timing of its publication at the onset of the Great Depression, Recent Economic Changes disappeared from view without much residual attention, even though the volumes went through several printings at the time of their release. This monument to the evolving social science disciplines makes it possible to appreciate the events of the Coolidge era through the eyes of leading experts of the period, and thus constitutes a primary source in its own right. Taken in their totality, the two volumes, in conjunction with the sister study Recent Social Trends in the United States (1933), very likely constitute the age's richest self-portrait. (DETAIL NOTE Recent Social Trends)
Recent Economic Changes can be found at most major research libraries. It was felt that selecting chapters with the greatest bearing on mass consumerism would then point the way to the full set of studies for those interested in the broader overview of the period which these volumes in their entirety richly provide.