by Annie Murphy, Executive Director
February 12, 2014
As we continue to peruse the newly arrived Dennison manufacturing archives, Pat Lavin and I came across the following letter from John Kenneth Galbraith to a former Director of the Framingham History Center as she was preparing for a Dennison exhibition in 2002. It helps us understand the impact Mr. Dennison had not only on his company and Framingham, but on the nation as well with his progressive economic thinking. Note the “Framingham is an agreeable center…” comment at the end. These archives are amazing! Galbraith writes:
“He [Dennison] was an early follower of Keynes. Alas, I took a more orthodox view: monopoly, imperfect competition was the program of the Great Depression. Only later, the year 1936, did I become persuaded of what amounted to modern New Deal fiscal policy by John Maynard Keyes. Dennison had already been there — the newly accepted liberal view.
Framingham is an agreeable center and makes an intelligent contribution to the economic and social life of the country. But nothing quite equals the contribution of Henry Dennison and Dennison Manufacturing. It gives me great pleasure to approve and applaud this exercise, [our exhibition], not only in community but in larger national history.”