Welcome to the website for the Centre for Financial History at Newnham College.

Despite the resurgence of interest in the history of financial capitalism sparked by the current global economic crisis, there are no other dedicated research centres for financial history in British Isles. With distinguished Faculties of History and of Economics and with a business school that boasts an impressive endowment to fund research in modern finance, Cambridge offers the ideal location for such a venture.

The Centre’s core mission is to facilitate cutting-edge research in financial history, to encourage its application to economic theory and to public policy, and to explore rigorous and lasting platforms for the dissemination of the fruits of research in financial history. The Centre not only serves the Cambridge community, but also hopes to bring together financial historians at British and Irish institutions to work on collaborative ventures.

The re-development of the European State Finance Database and our upcoming conference on ‘Questioning “Credible Commitment”’ offer examples of our approach to interdisciplinary work in financial history. We are also currently compiling a global register of financial historians. If you would like to join our register or the mailing list, please contact the director.