Are you a historian who loves uncovering the past? The History of Capitalism Summer Camp, led by Louis Hyman, is designed for historians eager to integrate economic analysis into their research. If that sounds dry, hear him out. Hyman, the Dorothy Ross Professor of History and SNF Agora Professor at Johns Hopkins University, is a historian of capitalism who knows that history lives in balance sheets, corporate archives, and union ledgers. These are the documents that record a lot of our society’s history. Yet most historians never learn how to interpret these records, leaving half the story untold. That’s where this summer camp comes in.
This is not a camp for singing songs around a fire (unless you count the slow-burning existential realization that you should have learned Excel years ago). The intensive two-week boot camp teaches historians the economic, quantitative, and technical skills they need to tell the whole story of the past. The numbers reveal what really happened, and this camp teaches historians how to use them.
Hyman founded the camp in 2012 to fill this crucial gap in historical training. “I wanted to teach people all the boring stuff they never got in grad school so that they could make sense of the archives,” Hyman explains. “In graduate school, you spend a lot of time reading history, but you spend less time developing particular methods and analytic approaches that are really necessary if you’re going to understand the archives of the economy, whether in government, business, or unions.”
Understanding capitalism’s role in shaping society requires more than studying political movements and governance structures. Power often operates through money. Those who want to uncover who holds it, who benefits from it, and how it has shifted over time must learn to read the archives of business and finance.
The camp aligns with SNF Agora’s mission of transforming scholarly insights into real-world knowledge by training participants to decode financial documents, corporate structures, and economic policy. Historians leave with new research skills and the ability to engage in broader conversations about power, inequality, and governance.
Experts from across Johns Hopkins University are part of the camp, including faculty from the Carey Business School, who demystify corporate finance and accounting, and scholars from the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Department of Political Science in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, who connect economic data to policy and governance. SNF Agora’s Bryce Corrigan uses his expertise in data analysis and quantitative methods to ensure financial and statistical concepts are accessible to historians without trapping them in a deluge of PowerPoint slides about GDP calculations. This program thrives on engagement, humor, and a steadfast refusal to be boring.
“If you can’t actually go into the businesses and see what they’re doing, the gap between what they say they’re doing and what their records show they’re doing can be quite massive,” Hyman says. “This is why it’s so important to understand what really happened, what really went on.”
Corrigan emphasizes the accessibility of data analysis for historians. “My goal is to make data analysis accessible to historians, even those with no prior coding experience. In my portion of the camp, we’ll be learning to code in Python or R, and using AI to assist this process. We will focus on developing nuanced statistical analyses that ensure we have a good understanding of the patterns and evidence concerning important historical questions.”
Historians may wonder why they should sign up for something that sounds suspiciously like a business school course. It turns out that roughly sixty percent of archival records are business or organizational documents. Without a working knowledge of these documents, historians must take institutions at their word rather than uncovering the complete picture themselves. Labor historians who understand payroll records can expose patterns of wage suppression and workplace inequality. Political historians who decode donor networks can track the hidden influence of money in elections. Social and cultural historians who study the economic structures of everyday life gain a clearer picture of the forces shaping the human experience.
The Summer Camp instructors know that most historians arrive with math anxiety, so every session is designed to be accessible. Historians do not emerge as accountants, but they do leave with the ability to interpret financial documents and economic data. The camp provides hands-on training in Python, ChatGPT, mapping data, and statistical analysis. Participants leave with practical skills that enhance research and make them more confident historians.
Baltimore provides the perfect setting for this year’s Summer Camp. Participants will visit Pimlico Racetrack to learn about odds ratios, helping historians understand the practical application of economic concepts. A trip to the American Visionary Art Museum will reinforce the idea that unconventional approaches lead to the best insights. The museum’s collection of outsider art, often created by individuals with no formal training, will inspire historians to think outside the box when interpreting economic data.
Past participants describe the camp as a transformative experience. Many have gone on to produce groundbreaking research, launch collaborations, and publish books that would not have been possible without the skills they gained. This camp has the power to transform history and open new avenues of research. Hyman has seen the impact firsthand.
Applications are open now through April 1, 2025. Historians who have ever looked at a balance sheet and thought, “Nope,” should apply. Those who have nodded along in a conversation about economic history while secretly wondering what “weighted-average cost of capital” means should apply. The application process is straightforward, requiring a brief statement of interest and a CV. Anyone determined to challenge dominant economic narratives with actual quantitative evidence rather than intuition should apply.
Unlike traditional summer camps, there are no canoe trips, ghost stories, or s’mores. Campers will find a community of historians committed to uncovering the financial forces that shape our world and, of course, a T-shirt.
Learn more and apply at snfagora.jhu.edu/history-of-capitalism-faq