Exhibit

The South Sea Bubble, 1720: Narratives of the First International Crash

an old sketch of a merry go round contraption
“Des Waerelds Doen en Doolen, is Maar een Mallemoolen (The Actions and Designs of the World Go Round as if in a Mill).” Het Groote Tafereel
Credit: Kress Collection, Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
an old sketch of a merry go round contraption

Feb 3, 2023 through Oct 15, 2023

Open to the public

Location

North Lobby, Baker Library | Bloomberg Center
Baker Library and Special Collections
Soldiers Field Road
Boston, MA 02163
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Campus Map

The South Sea Bubble, 1720: Narratives of the First International Crash explores the infamous 18th-century stock market crash, drawing on materials from Baker Library, which holds one of the world’s most extensive collections relating to the financial crisis. British citizens from all walks of life invested in the South Sea Company: a public private enterprise that was granted a trade monopoly with Spanish colonies in South America in return for converting British government debt into company shares. From parliamentary acts to satirical prints, the exhibition traces the rise and fall of the South Sea Company stock and the company’s role in the transatlantic slave trade.