MAJOR WORKS

Hamilton published three major works chronicling the history of prices and wages in Spain from the late Middle Ages until the end of the colonial period and focusing on how the influx of American treasure affected the Spanish economy. These major works, which represent a pioneering effort in quantitative economic history, comprised the following series:

Money, Prices, and Wages in Valencia, Aragon, and Navarre, 1351-1500 Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press (1936) American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1501-1650 Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press (1934) War and Prices in Spain, 1651-1800 Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press (1947)

The working papers in the Hamilton collection include background notes, source citations, calculations of wage and price indexes, and drafts of text and graphs used in these books. Photostats of primary documents and transcriptions from documents provide information on treasure imports and on wages and salaries in various regions of Spain over time. Some material, such as Hamilton's draft of prices for Old Castile, 1651-1800, represent data that were never published. Other working papers relate to articles Hamilton wrote on Spain's colonial economic policies, the Bank of Spain, and 18th-century economic history (see next sections).

NOTE: This collection contains photostats of materials which belong to other archives. Please consult collections staff for regulations on making photocopies.

compiled by James Gregory Cusick
Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow
IAS, Perkins Library
Duke University
last updated August 16, 1996