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.