"Taking time seriously"

An empirical approach to an American merchant network at the end of the 18th century

Abstract

Network analysis tends to produce snapshots of structures that can seem permanent, not affected by time or change. Still, time matters in network history, and the observation of its effects is an issue. This paper explores way to assess the evolution of an American merchant network of the end of the eighteenth century. It builds on a database of transactions recorded in Levi Hollingsworth’s account books. Here, we develop a comparative analysis of five successive networks, through the use of some classical and some more innovative network metrics. We specifically question the stability of merchant networks in their composition and in their overall structure. We establish that, despite an intense turnover of members, they remained stable in their organization through time.