Author: Herbert Ershkowitz
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 9781580970044
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
John Wanamaker played a major role in the development of American retailing and consumerism. Opening a small men's store in Philadelphia in 1861, by the turn of the century he had major department stores in his home town as well as New York, and was one of the country's largest merchants.Wanamaker's world-view had as much of an impact on American culture as his business enterprises. In the early twentieth century the downtown department store was an important attraction for a city, similar in function to a symphony orchestra or major league sports team of today. Wanamaker's department store in Philadelphia acted as an anchor for the city center. Like a magnet, the store held the urban population together by providing entertainment and a setting for civic ceremonies and pageants.Wanamaker's influence extended beyond the stores themselves. He provided employment for 8,000 people in Philadelphia and 7,000 in New York, offering jobs to blacks and women when they were still excluded from many businesses. He supported a 3,000 member church which ran a school, savings bank, library and employment service.John Wanamaker was a sharp businessman, and some of his methods have been criticized, but the state of America's inner cities of his era compared to today speaks for itself. Professor Herbert Ershkowitz of Temple University has drawn upon local archives to chronicle a unique chapter in the history of American culture.

Author: Nicole C. Kirk
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479807311
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description
How a pioneering merchant blended religion and business to create a unique American shopping experience On Christmas Eve, 1911, John Wanamaker stood in the middle of his elaborately decorated department store building in Philadelphia as shoppers milled around him picking up last minute Christmas presents. On that night, as for years to come, the store was filled with the sound of Christmas carols sung by thousands of shoppers, accompanied by the store’s Great Organ. Wanamaker recalled that moment in his diary, “I said to myself that I was in a temple,” a sentiment quite possibly shared by the thousands who thronged the store that night. Remembered for his store’s extravagant holiday decorations and displays, Wanamaker built one of the largest retailing businesses in the world and helped to define the American retail shopping experience. From the freedom to browse without purchase and the institution of one price for all customers to generous return policies, he helped to implement retailing conventions that continue to define American retail to this day. Wanamaker was also a leading Christian leader, participating in the major Protestant moral reform movements from his youth until his death in 1922. But most notably, he found ways to bring his religious commitments into the life of his store. He focused on the religious and moral development of his employees, developing training programs and summer camps to build their character, while among his clientele he sought to cultivate a Christian morality through decorum and taste. Wanamaker’s Temple examines how and why Wanamaker blended business and religion in his Philadelphia store, offering a historical exploration of the relationships between religion, commerce, and urban life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and illuminating how they merged in unexpected and public ways. Wanamaker's marriage of religion and retail had a pivotal role in the way American Protestantism was expressed and shaped in American life, and opened a new door for the intertwining of personal values with public commerce.

Author: William Allen Zulker
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780963628404
Category : Businessmen
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: Herbert Adams Gibbons
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 488

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: Joseph Herbert APPEL
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 471

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: Joseph Herbert Appel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 120

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: John Wanamaker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: Herbert Adams Gibbons
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Businesspeople
Languages : en
Pages : 568

Get Book Here

Book Description

Author: Thom Nickels
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1625859511
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book Here

Book Description
Author Thom Nickels presents the city's most iconic homes and the stories behind them. Philadelphia's grand mansions and architectural treasures reflect its iconic status in American history, for each Greek Revival home and Corinthian column tells a compelling story of the people behind it. Historic Strawberry Mansion in North Philadelphia was home to Judge William Lewis, a Patriot who defended colonists accused of treason and was Aaron Burr's defense lawyer. Socialite, millionaire and world-renowned art collector Henry McIlhenny made his home at Rittenhouse Square and left his art collection to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Famed architect Addison Mizner's Spanish Colonial Revival house La Ronda brought the stark contrast of South Florida to Philadelphia.

Author: John Wanamaker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business ethics
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Get Book Here

Book Description