Pamela W. Laird

Boston University: 1992,  Ph. D., American History; Science & Technology.
Tufts University : 1974, M.A., American and Modern European History.
Radcliffe College, Harvard University: 1969, B.S., Psychology

Pamela Walker Laird is Professor Emerita of History at the University of Colorado Denver.

Laird’s publications include her newest book, Self-Made: The Stories that Forged an American Myth (Cambridge University Press, 2025); Pull: Networking and Success Since Benjamin Franklin (Harvard University Press, 2006), which won the 2006 Hagley Prize for the best book in business history and is available in Chinese; and Advertising Progress: American Business and the Rise of Consumer Marketing (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998), a Choice Outstanding Academic Book.

Her other awards include the Harold F. Williamson Prize for contributions to business history, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award, and the University of Colorado Faculty Council Distinguished Service Award—twice. She also received the CU Denver Faculty Mentor of the Year Award.

Laird has served as president of the Business History Conference, the oldest and largest international organization devoted to the scholarly study of business history and the history of capitalism.

Her work explores the history of American business cultures and how they affect and reflect broader cultural values and expectations. Her latest book, Self-Made, explores the roots and abuses of the cultural power of the myth of self-made success to foster inequality.

Laird holds a BS from Harvard University, an MA from Tufts University, and a PhD from Boston University.

Books

Self-Made: The Stories that Forged an American Myth (Cambridge University Press, 2025)

Pull: Networking and Success Since Benjamin Franklin (Harvard University Press, 2006). - Hagley Prize Best Book in Business History, 2006

Advertising Progress: American Business and the Rise of Consumer Marketing (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998). - Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries Outstanding Academic Book, 1999 

Selected Articles

2017 “How Business Historians Can Save the World—From the Fallacy of Self-made Success,” Business History — Special Issue on Narratives in Business History, 59: 1201-1217.

2017 "Parallel Ladders to the Glass Ceiling: Presidential and Corporate Executive Appointments," in Mark H. Rose and Roger Biles, eds., The President and American Capitalism since 1945 (Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida), pp. 151-168.

2016 "Entangled: Civil Rights in Corporate America since 1964," in Richard R. John and Kim Phillips-Fein, eds., Capital Gains: Business and Politics in Twentieth-Century America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press), pp. 217-234.

2011 "The Business of Consumer Culture History: Systems, Interactions, and Modernization," in Hartmut Berghoff and Uwe Spiekermann, eds., Decoding Modern Consumer Societies (New York: Palgrave/Macmillan), pp. 89-109.

2010 "Bringing in Business History Front and Center," Magazine of History 24, no.1 (January): 7-8.

2010 "Advertising and the Rise of Big Business," with Catherine Canavan, Magazine of History 24, no.1 (January): 41-45.

2008 "Putting Social Capital to Work," Business History 50, no. 6 (November): 685-694.

2008 "Looking Toward the Future: Expanding Connections for Business Historians," Presidential Address, Business History Conference, Enterprise and Society 9 no. 4 (December): 575-590.

2000 "Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., and the Landscape of Marketing History,” Journal of Macromarketing 20: 167-173.

1998 "The Public’s Historians," Technology and Culture 39: 474-482.

1996 "Progress in Separate Spheres: Selling Nineteenth-Century Technologies," Knowledge and Society 10: 19-49.

Chapters in Refereed Books

2017 "Parallel Ladders to the Glass Ceiling: Presidential and Corporate Executive Appointments," in Mark H. Rose and Roger Biles, eds., The President and American Capitalism since 1945 (Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida), pp. 151-168.

2016 "Entangled: Civil Rights in Corporate America since 1964," in Richard R. John and Kim Phillips-Fein, eds., Capital Gains: Business and Politics in Twentieth-Century America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press), pp. 217-234.

2011 "The Business of Consumer Culture History: Systems, Interactions, and Modernization," in Hartmut Berghoff and Uwe Spiekermann, eds., Decoding Modern Consumer Societies (New York: Palgrave/Macmillan), pp. 89-109.