Global Commodities

Global Commodities

Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange

Editorial Board:  

David Bello,
Director of East Asian Studies, Washington & Lee University

Jerry Bentley,
Department of History, University of Hawaii

Maxine Berg,
Department of History and Director of the Global History & Culture Centre, University of Warwick

Gary Campbell,
School of Business & Economics, Michigan Technological Institute

Anne Carlos,
Department of History, Queens University

Miguel Centeno,
Department of Sociology & International Affairs, Princeton University

Piya Chatterjee,
Department of Women’s Studies, University of California at Riverside

Sing C Chew,
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, UFZ, Germany

Keith Fryer,
Managing Director, T Brewer & Co., Timber Merchants

Anne Gerritsen,
Department of History, University of Warwick

Frank D Lewis,
Department of History, Queens University

Dawn Littler,
Curator of Archives, Merseyside Maritime Museum

Ina McCabe,
Department of History, Tufts University

Francine Mckenzie,
Department of History, University of Western Ontario

Sarah Moss,
Department of English, University of Exeter

James Nicholls,
School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Bath Spa University

Robert Opie,
Founder, Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising

Edward Roger Owen,
Director, Harvard Center for Middle East Studies

Kenneth Pomeranz,
Department of History, University of California at Irvine

Giorgio Riello,
Department of History, University of Warwick

Steven C Topik,
Department of History, University of California at Irvine

Source Libraries and Organisations:

The images are sourced from leading libraries and archives, including:

• The American Antiquarian Society
• Bristol Record Office
• The British Library
• The Field Museum, Chicago
• The University of Florida
• Food and Agriculture Organisation
• The Goldsmith’s Library, University of London
• The Historical Society of Pennsylvania
• The Hudson’s Bay Company Archives at Archives Manitoba
• International Institute for Sustainable Development
• Liverpool John Moores University
• Massachusetts Historical Society
• Merseyside Maritime Museum
• The National Archives
• New York Public Library
• The Newberry Library
• The Robert Opie Collection
• Princeton Art Museum

Nature of the Material:

Global Commodities features a wide range of materials including:

Records of individual traders, showing patterns of consumption for a range of commodities over time.

Business Accounts and Records of both small and large companies from an early fur trapper to a major chocolate manufacturer.

Dock Accounts describing the development of a major port from 1755 to 1960.

Bills of Entry for major ports which show changing patterns of trade between 1820 and 1939.

17^th and 18^th century Trade Returns and Prices Current for key markets.

Material on the discovery and exploitation of commodities in Asia, Africa and the Americas from 1492 to  2000.

Government records concerning taxation, economic development and colonial business schemes.

Exhibition Catalogues.

Statistical sources documenting world trade; and a vast range of visual material including advertising and packaging, photographs, paintings and prints.

For each commodity there is a vast array of historical material documenting their origins, transportation, consumption and impact on society.

Details on the Key Features:

These include:

• contextual essays, written by specialists
• interactive data maps, illustrating major production areas, the movement of commodities and the commercial growth of nations
• museum objects, many in 360⁰ versions that can be rotated
• extensive image galleries, including advertising and packaging
• suggested research topics based on the collections
• online exhibitions highlighting key themes and documents
• carefully selected external links
• a detailed glossary and chronology  

Scope of the Collection:

This project looks at fifteen significant commodities whose stories are often intertwined:

• Chocolate
• Coffee
• Cotton
• Fur
• Oil
• Opium
• Porcelain
• Silver & Gold
• Spices
• Sugar
• Tea
• Timber
• Tobacco
• Wheat
• Wine & Spirits

Each commodity is documented through a wide range of manuscript materials, maps, posters, paintings, photographs, ephemera, objects and rare books so that the student can explore the origins of the commodity, their first uses, the trade that developed and the ways in which these items were marketed.

The project covers themes such as exploration and discovery; imperialism and attempts at monopoly; trade wars; translocation and economic geography; slavery; mass production; luxury; taste; and the evolution of global branding.  

The resource will complement and build upon the success of Empire Online and will be part of a cross searchable World History portal. 

List of specific Collections and some detail:

Our editors have helped us to select some fascinating sources from libraries around the world.  Examples include:

The American Antiquarian Society

Materials range from the papers of an itinerant tinker selling fancy goods, to the records of a general store, 1703-1806, and the papers of a timber merchant.  They also have a large cache of Prices Current from Mobile, Charleston, Savannah and other ports.

Bristol Record Office

The Records of J S Fry and Sons provide valuable insights into the history of chocolate; Papers of H J Packer & Co show the impact of industrialisation on production and packaging; Records of Harveys of Bristol are an interesting source for the wine and sherry trade; and the Papers of W D & H O Wills and Imperial Tobacco document the tobacco trade.

The British Library

In addition to much rare printed material, we also include drawings of Chinese manufactories of tea, porcelain, rice, silk, and cotton, and of Chinese boats; first-hand accounts of the Opium wars; materials on the discovery of silver and gold in South America; manuscript accounts of the early spice trade; records of the East India Company; papers on the growing of tea in Assam and of the Boston Tea Party; and papers on timber and ship-building.

The University of Florida

The Braga Brothers Archive is a crucial source for the sugar trade and there are also materials relating to grain and petroleum.

The Goldsmith’s Library, University of London

The Goldsmith’s Library is one of the pre-eminent libraries of economic literature and we include a wide range of rare pamphlets, leaflets, books and manuscripts, which have not been published before.

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania

The records of two important 18^th century trading stores are included, as well as some material on the Russian Fur Trade.

Massachusetts Historical Society

The papers of Thomas Dolbeare describe the trade of a store in Boston, 1720-1771.  These were heavily used in David Hancock’s ‘Oceans of Wine’, but also have much on linen, porcelain and other goods.

Merseyside Maritime Museum

We include the records of the Mersey Docks themselves with plans showing how these have evolved over time and photographs showing how goods were loaded, unloaded and stored.  We also feature key records of the American Cotton Import Committee, the Sugar Associations of Lancashire and London, the Liverpool Corn Trade Association and of Sugar and Timber merchants.  Finally, we have Bills of Entry for Liverpool, London, Glasgow, Hull and Bristol.  These describe in minute details the cargoes of thousands of ships as well as providing a broad overview of the trade in commodities around the world.

The National Archives, UK

There are many amazing sources from TNA, such as: the records of a French Coffee trader in the 18^th century, which were captured on board a prize vessel; papers on the encouragement of cotton growing in the West Indies; records of international opium conferences;  maps of the West African gold mines; records of the modern trade in spices; a detailed examination of a sugar beet factory; material on tea plantations in Ceylon; material on timber plantations in Nicaragua; accounts of the tobacco trade in Rhodesia, Nyasaland and Nigeria; records of corn exports and imports; and much on Government intervention and the imposition of duty.

New York Public Library

We include a substantial number of items from the George Arents Collection on Tobacco, which is a comprehensive collection on the history, literature, and lore of tobacco.  This includes a fully searchable version of Jerome Brooks’ superb, extensively illustrated catalogue of the collection.

The Robert Opie Collection

Images of original packaging and advertising, including point of sale materials, brochures and posters.

Sample questions that can be explored with this resource:

How did major trade routes help to shape the commodity trade?

Identify 50 ships that arrived in Liverpool between 1820 and 1939 and describe their cargoes.

Using photographic sources and plans, explain how docks were organised in the 19th & 20th centuries.

What commodities were traded in general stores in America between 1703 and 1850?

Describe three commodities that have contributed to Globalisation.

When and where did drinking chocolate and bars of chocolate originate?

Were chocolate producers concerned about local employment conditions in Africa and did they encourage Fair Trade?

How and why did coffee plantations spread around the world?

Describe the appearance of Persian and Turkish coffee houses in the 17th century.

How was coffee developed as a commodity in Brazil, Ceylon and Java?

Analyse illustrations depicting the production of cotton and silk in China.

How successful was cotton planting in the Sudan?

What were the roles of the Hudsons’ Bay Company and the Northwest Company in the development of the fur trade?

Which animals were most prized for their fur and what was the environmental impact of the craze for felted hats?

What efforts did the international community make to control the global opium trade in 1911-1914?

What role has silver and gold played in the development of trade?

Examine the trading records of an 18th century American silversmith – where were profits made?

How has advertising and packaging helped to create world brands?

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