Thomas C. Cochran (April 29, 1902–May 2, 1999) was a pioneer in the field of American economic history. Cochran received a BS and MA from New York University, before earning his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1930. He taught at NYU for almost 25 years, rising to the rank of full professor in 1944, before joining the University of Pennsylvania in 1950 as professor of the history of the American people. Cochran opened new areas of research in the history of business and industrial production. He also opened up new methodological approaches to the field, drawing on the social sciences and focusing new attention on the importance of social and cultural factors in the history of business. During his long and distinguished career, he wrote numerous books that remain standards in the field, including Railroad Leaders: The Business Mind in Action (1953) The American Business System (1957), A Basic History of American Business (1959), Business in American Life (1972), and Frontiers of Change: Early Industrialism in America (1981).

Bibliography

New York in the confederation; an economic study, by Thomas C. Cochran. Philadelphia, 1932.

The age of enterprise, a social history of industrial America, by Thomas C. Cochran and William Miller. New York: Macmillan, 1942.

The Pabst Brewing Company; the history of an American business. New York: New York University Press, 1948.

Railroad leaders, 1845-1890: the business mind in action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.

The American business system; a historical perspective, 1900-1955. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957.

Basic history of American business. Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand, 1959.

The Puerto Rican businessman; a study in cultural change. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1959.

The age of enterprise; a social history of industrial America, by Thomas C. Cochran and William Miller. Rev. ed. New York: Harper, 1961.

Concise dictionary of American history. Advisory editor: Thomas C. Cochran. Editor: Wayne Andrews. New York: Scribner, 1962.

Entrepreneurship in Argentine culture; Torcuato Di Tella and S. I. A. M., by Thomas C. Cochran and Ruben E. Reina. Research assistant: Sue Nuttall. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962.

The rise of American economic life, by Arthur Cecil Bining and Thomas C. Cochran. 4th ed. New York: Scribner, 1964.

The inner revolution; essays on the social sciences in history, by Thomas C. Cochran. 1st Harper torchbook ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.

The Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945, by Thomas C. Cochran. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman, 1968.

New York in the Confederation; an economic study, by Thomas C. Cochran. Clifton, N.J.: A. M. Kelley, 1972.

American business in the twentieth century, by Thomas C. Cochran. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972.

200 years of American business, by Thomas C. Cochran. New York: Basic Books, 1977.

Frontiers of change: early industrialism in America, by Thomas C. Cochran. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.

Business and its environment: essays for Thomas C. Cochran, edited by Harold Issadore Sharlin. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983.

Challenges to American values: society, business, and religion, by Thomas C. Cochran. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.