Research Seminar: Christy Chapin

Virtual Event
November 19 2025
Registration via Eventbrite

This chapter investigates the ground-level operations of American “country” banks—the smallest unit banks—between the 1870s and 1920s. Compared to larger banks, most country banks were poorly capitalized and poorly managed. Their survival largely rested on correspondent relations with city banks. City banks—in return for the right to hold their deposits—provided country banks an array of crucial services, ranging from fund transfers and trust functions to investment services and bridge loans. Moreover, many country banks were highly invested in New York money markets; had undiversified loan portfolios; and engaged in risky lending practices. Because these banks operated on such thin margins, they often marketed themselves through free or low-cost services. As an example, the paper explores how many country banks established Agricultural Departments, which operated far beyond the bounds of banking services by working with federal extension agents, organizing cattle vaccinations, overseeing livestock fairs, helping farmers move off one-crop systems, and much more.

Rebecca Kobrin of Columbia University will provide an introductory comment.