Consumer debt shapes American lives so thoroughly that it seems eternal and immortal, but it’s actually relatively new to the financial world.

From debtors' prison to student loan debt, six stories from the archive.

Erasing student loans is a hot topic of conversation now. In the 1990s, debt forgiveness was an international movement.

In the 19th century, farm loans changed from a matter between associates into an impersonal, bureaucratic exchange.

Early credit reporting companies urged people to “Treat their credit as a sacred trust” and argued that keeping a good credit record was a moral concern.

What is debt and where did it come from?

In a paper for Eighteenth-Century Ireland, Martyn J. Powell discusses the politics that seem to have limited the use of debtors' prisons in Ireland.