News From 1930

We've mentioned this blog before, but News From 1930 is such a cool way to gain investment perspective that I'll plug it again. Warren Buffet has recalled how fascinated he was to come across a trove of papers from 1929. This daily dose of items from the Wall Street Journals of 1930 has the same attraction.

See also Why this blog, which includes a reminder that the Great Crash of '29 was a piece of cake compared with what followed:

What's not as commonly known about 1929 is that the Great Crash was followed by a nice rally with the Dow almost hitting 300 again in April 1930, and, at the point where we begin this blog in June 1930, still hovering in the 270's - not that far off where it was at the start of 1929. The real damage was done in the following two years when, following a spectacular series of further declines and rallies, the Dow bottomed out at 42 - almost 90% off its peak.

For a broader look at The Crash and what led up to it, see Frederick Lewis Allen's Only Yesterday. UVa has kindly put this most readable book online. To go directly to the chapter on The Crash, click here.

And don't worry about reliving the 1930's. Allen tells us that we can be sure of one thing – decades do not repeat themselves. "The stream of time often doubles on its course, but always it makes for itself a new channel."