Mutual fund history

Timeline sketch:
 * 1774: Adriaan van Ketwich introduces the negotiatie Eendragt Maakt Magt, soon followed by Concordia Res Parvae Crescunt
 * 1863: Scottish Investment Trust
 * 1893: First American closed end fund, Boston Personal Property Trust
 * 1924: First American open end fund, Massachusetts Investors' Trust in Boston
 * 1928: First American no-load mutual fund, by the firm Scudder, Stevens and Clark
 * 1928: First American balanced fund, Wellington Fund
 * 1929: Market Crash
 * 1933: Securities Act of 1933
 * 1934: Securities Exchange Act of 1934
 * 1940: The Investment Company Act of 1940
 * 1971: Bruce R. Bent established the first money market fund in the U.S. The Reserve Fund
 * 1974: Creation of the Individual Retirement Account (IRA)
 * 1976: Municipal Bond Funds allowed by law
 * 1976: John Bogle oversees the creation of the first retail Index fund
 * 1981: Creation of the 401k plan
 * 1993: Creation of the Spider ETF
 * 2003: Mutual fund scandals
 * 2008: The Reserve Fund breaks the buck

Links

 * A Brief History Of The Mutual Fund, James E. McWhinney, Investopedia

Academic papers

 * Rouwenhorst, K. Geert, The Origins of Mutual Funds (December 12, 2004). Yale ICF Working Paper No. 04-48. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=636146

