The History of Savings Banks in 19th Century America

In this episode, Nicholas Osborne discusses the history of savings banks that served the emerging middle class in the nineteenth century. He traces the difference between how these banks were supposed to encourage their customers to handle their money and how they actually did.

Banner image: A long bank line, see the full image in the Hagley Digital Archives.


Nicholas Osborne is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Ohio.