Abbott Payson Usher

Abbott Payson Usher (January 13, 1883 – June 18, 1965)^[1][2] was an American economic historian. The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) has awarded the Abbot Payson Usher Prize, named in his honor, annually since 1961.^[3]

In the late 1920s Usher, the American historian Lewis Mumford and the Swiss art historian Sigfried Giedion began to systematically investigate the social consequences of technology.^[4] In A History of Mechanical Inventions Usher argued that technological innovation was a slow, collective process with many contributors, not relying on the genius of great inventors.^[5]

In 1963 Usher was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Medal by the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT). His daughter Miriam Usher Chrisman was a noted historian of the German Reformation.^[6]

He earned his BA and PhD at Harvard University.^[7]

• The History of the Grain Trade in France, 1400–1710. Harvard University Press. 1913. ISBN 0-374-98063-2.
• An introduction to the industrial history of England. Houghton Mifflin. 1920.
• A History of Mechanical Invention. McGraw-Hill. 1929. (Harvard University Press, 1954; Dover Publications, 1988 ISBN 0-486-25593-X)
• The early history of deposit banking in Mediterranean Europe. Harvard Economic Studies. Vol. 75. Harvard University Press. 1943.