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In the second half of the 19th century, the Irish immigrant community in the United States was far more complex than just The Gangs of New York. Many Irish were also located in the South, starting their own businesses and supporting each other in pursuit of the American Dream.
History major Adam Pie ’09 has been tracking down census reports, city business directories, and tax records for a research project to piece together the entrepreneurial history of Irish immigrants in cities including Charleston and New Orleans.
He has been assisting Howard Bodenhorn, professor of economics and business, through Lafayette’s distinctive EXCEL Scholars program, where students conduct research with faculty while earning a stipend. The program has helped to make Lafayette a national leader in undergraduate research. Many of the more than 160 students who participate each year share their work through articles in academic journals and/or conference presentations.
The records, “allow us to map out the locations of these Irish men and women to find out whether or not these businessmen operated in the same locations as other Irishmen or whether their businesses are sporadic throughout the city,” Pie says.
“What prior research has somewhat argued, and what our research is beginning to support,” he continues, “is the notion that these Irish businessmen operated in predominantly Irish wards, supporting each others’ business endeavors.”
Pie plans to continue his education through law school after completing his undergraduate studies.
“What I enjoy about this project is the experience that I am getting,” Pie says. “It requires quite a bit of time management. It has also improved my researching skills, something that will be of great importance for my major, in law school and beyond.”
Bodenhorn says that having Pie on the project has been a “pleasure.” He adds, “Lafayette provides an excellent environment for all types of research.”
The research, once completed, will be organized for a paper in the fall, according to Bodenhorn. Pie will present the paper at conferences, including the Business History Conference. Once the paper is revised, Bodenhorn plans to send it out to journals for publication.
In addition to Pie’s help, Bodenhorn credits Nancy Ball, director of sponsored programs, for her assistance in getting a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation grant that helped fund the project. With the grant, Bodenhorn was able to spend three weeks using the Baker Library at the Harvard Business School.
Pie is the president of the Mock Trial team and is involved with College Theater, the Marquis Players, and Lafayette Christian Fellowship.
A member of the Lafayette faculty since 1993, Bodenhorn has mentored numerous students in EXCEL and honors thesis research. He is the author of State Banking in Early America: A New Economic History, which was nominated by Oxford University Press for the prestigious Alice Hanson Jones Prize, and A History of Banking in Antebellum America: Financial Markets and Economic Development in an Age of Nation Building. He is a reviewer for National Science Foundation, many academic journals, and major publishers, including Cambridge University Press, Yale University Press, W.W. Norton & Co., Pearson Education/Prentice-Hall, and Routledge. He holds doctoral and master’s degrees in economics from Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech.