An examination of the manuscript censuses of manufacturing in 1850 and 1860 indicates the forthcoming revision of many traditional interpretations of American industrial development. This study suggests that large-scale manufacturing in the South and West was quite similar in the decade before the Civil War and that antebellum manufacturing was sufficiently concentrated to imply that the model of perfect competition is as inappropriate a description of mid-nineteenth century industrial structure as it is of twentieth century industry.

Professor Arnould analyzes the reasons for concentration in the American meat packing industry from 1880 through 1920, then describes and evaluates the varied forces which have led to declining concentration since the end of World War I.

Professor Neal assesses the innovative role of a key financial institution — the trust company — during the period of American economic growth after the depression of the 1890's and prior to World War I.

Estimates of costs and revenues for steamboating in the Louisville-New Orleans trade indicate that after the 1820's the steamboat transport market experienced the long–run equilibrium characteristic of purely competitive industries.

In the decade prior to the Civil War, southern manufacturing was surprisingly similar to that of the non-South. In the latter portion of the nineteenth century, however, a wide divergence developed between that region and the rest of the nation.