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    Cultivating Capital: Country Bankers and the Transformation of the Central Great Plains, 1870-1940

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    Issue Date
    2016-05-31
    Author
    Miller, Jaclyn J.S.
    Publisher
    University of Kansas
    Format
    318 pages
    Type
    Dissertation
    Degree Level
    Ph.D.
    Discipline
    History
    Rights
    Copyright held by the author.
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    Abstract
    Bankers in the Central Great Plains region of western Kansas played a significant part in transforming their communities from frontier outposts into components of a modern region. Between 1870 and 1940, country bankers came to see themselves as reformers and advisors in the process of transforming their towns into viable parts of a regional economy, and their influence was considerable. This dissertation contextualizes bankers’ multiple functions within rural communities and adds nuance to popular portrayals of predatory moneylenders. Bankers representing towns typically less than 5,000 in population served as economic, social, and political leaders instrumental in their development. The decisions they made shaped the fortunes of a specific set of rural communities as they navigated severe economic, social, and political challenges, but this story of country bankers driving development efforts while balancing the cultural and social traditions of rural America replicates trends from around the U.S. West and the nation. Contrary to the reputation of businessmen as heartless usurers, these bankers operated instead as cultivators of economic, political, and social power within their communities and the region. They shared the interests of farmers and other rural businesspeople in facing the changes of a modernizing nation.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1808/21877
    Collections
    • Dissertations [4475]
    • History Dissertations and Theses [250]

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    KU Libraries
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    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
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    Lawrence, KS 66045
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    Contact KU ScholarWorks
    785-864-8983
    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    Image Credits
     

     

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