MoAF Launches "Where Are They Now?" Blog

March 15, 2019

MoAF Launches

The Museum of American Finance (MoAF) has launched a companion blog for its "Where Are They Now?" Series, which traces the histories and origins of 207 of the underwriters of the 1956 Ford Motor Company IPO. "Where Are They Now?" is a collaboration between historian Susie J. Pak and the Museum of American Finance, and the research for this series has been generously funded by Charles Royce of The Royce Funds.

About "Where Are They Now?"
In the mid-20th century, there were hundreds of investment banks and brokerage houses across the United States. Starting in the 1960s, these firms began to disappear. This change has not gone unnoticed, particularly by members of the financial community, who experienced this change in their lifetimes.

In 2012, when Barron's published an article titled "Where Have You Gone, Blyth Eastman, Dillon Paine Webber Peabody?," its sentiments echoed those of many, who felt as though they had lived through a "Darwinian evolution" of sorts. Barron's point of reference for this change was the fate of the syndicate that underwrote Ford Motor Company's historic initial public offering (IPO) in 1956 - a group of 205 top banks from the United States and Canada.

In 2016, MoAF began a research project to investigate what happened to the firms of this historic syndicate. Starting with the 205 firms listed on the Ford Motor Company IPO tombstone, the project reconstructs a genealogy of each bank focusing on its origin and demise. The project studies the social origins of the founders, when the family of founders ceased to be members of the firm, when the firm became a corporation and/or went public, as well as when and why it disappeared. The narratives reveal overarching patterns regarding the consolidation and change in the American banking community in the 20th century.

About Susie Pak
Susie J. Pak is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at St. John's University (New York). A graduate of Dartmouth College and Cornell University, she is the author of Gentlemen Bankers: The World of J.P. Morgan (Harvard University Press). She is a Trustee of the Business History Conference and co-chair of the Columbia University Economic History Seminar. She also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board, Business History Review.

About Chuck Royce
Charles M. Royce, Chairman of the Royce Funds, is known as one of the pioneers of small-cap investing. He has been the portfolio manager for Roye Pennsylvania Mutual Fund since 1972. Prior to that, he served as the Director of Research at Scheinman, Hochstin, Trotta and as a security analyst at Blair & Co. Mr. Royce holds a bachelor's degree from Brown University and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University.
Mr. Royce has generously funded the research for the "Where Are They Now?" Series, as well as the 2015 Museum of American Finance research project and book, Genealogy of American Finance.

Materials

View "Where Are They Now?" Blog (External Link)