University of Virginia Library

Management Schools

"As historian Julian Boyd
points out, the plantation was
an early school of
management," he noted. "The
planters were trying to
determine resource allocations,
and in this way they were
developing skills necessary to
lead the government."

"Management expertise
leads to government expertise,"
Mr. Shenkir explained.

In his research Mr. Shenkir
and his colleagues have found
other financial records from
the same period that belonged
to other plantation owners and
merchants in towns like
Williamsburg.