One of the Columbia Center for Oral History Archives’ specializations is business history. Notably, in 1965, the oral history research office conducted a number of interviews related to the history, business practices and the evolution of consumer tastes of the Federated Department Stores from its founding in 1929.

With the rise of the department stores, a leisure class with disposable income and conspicuous consumption in the later 19th and early 20th centuries, the Federated Department Stores oral history collection details the thoughts of many members of the company’s founders, The Lazarus Family.

Visit the RBML to read Federated Department Store transcripts and insights into one of the foremost American purveyors of consumer merchandise.