United States Business History Resources

HOOVER'S ONLINE. International. Good company histories.

MERGENT WEB-REPORTS. (Formerly Moody's; various titles.) 1910-   Includes detailed corporate histories.
Also available in print.
Lippincott HG 4961 M7 (Peck Collection Lippincott Library)

THE BUSINESS FOUNDING DATE DIRECTORY: ALPHABETICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL SECTIONS. Includes Supplement.
HD 2785 K4 (RS)

INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORY OF COMPANY HISTORIES. Includes details and updated company histories. Continually updated; currently 58 volumes.
HD 2721 I58 1988 (RS)

NOTABLE CORPORATE CHRONOLOGIES. Lists important company dates. 3rd ed. (c. 2001).
HG 4009 N68 1995 (RD)

POLK'S DIRECTORY OF BANKS. (Various titles.) 1952-
Lippincott HG 2431 P6 (Peck Collection) Latest (Reference Stacks)

STANDARD & POOR'S REGISTER. (Various titles.) 1930-
HG 4057 A4 (PC) Latest (RD)

Obsolete Companies

Intelliconnect (formerly CCH Internet Research Network). Click Browse. Now, expand the menu for Explanations, Treatises, & Guidebooks, then Capital Changes, and Capital Changes Reports. Here, you'll be able to select Worthless Securities.
You could also search through All Content by keyword, for example, corporate capital histories AND xerox to find a specific instance of interest.

Directory of obsolete securities: annual guide to stocks. -- Jersey City, N.J.: Financial Information, Inc. [1970 - ] annual.
Lippincott Library. Call Number: HG4961 .D56
Library Has: 1999-2003. Notes: Not currently received

Obsolete American securities and corporations. -- New York : R.M. Smythe, 1904-11. -- 2 v.

These volumes primarily list companies that failed or were merged in the nineteenth century with a few from the early years of the twentieth century. In some instances a reason for the failure is offered. Superseded by The Robert D. Fisher manual of valuable and worthless securities.
Storage. Call Number: 332.6 Sm95
Library Has: v.1-2

Robert D. Fisher manual of valuable and worthless securities. -- New York, N.Y. : R.D. Fisher [etc.]. [c. 1926 - ] v. -
Lippincott Library Peck Collection. Call Number: HG4055 .R6
Library Has: v.6-14

Valuable extinct securities. / compiled and published by Roland Mulville Smythe. -- New York : R. M. Smythe, 1929.
Describes companies that failed but still may have had some residual value as late as the 1920's.
Storage: From RECORD page, use Place Request tab. Call Number: 334 Sm8

Guide to Business History Resources compiled by Richard F. Sharp lists additional resources available at the Library of Congress.

Resources for old Stock and Bond Certificates was prepared by the SEC.
Use these resources listed here to determine if an old stock or bond certificate has any value.

ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES

CORPORATE AMERICA: A HISTORICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY.
HD 2785.C66 1984 (RS)

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN BUSINESS HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.
Monograph series. Histories of various industries including autombile, airline and others. In Franklin, search under Series Title to to retrieve a list of holdings.
Various Call Numbers. (RS)

UNITED STATES CORPORATION HISTORIES: A BIBLIOGRAPHY. 1965-1985. Nasrallah, Wahib
HD 2785. N37 1987 (RS)

COMPANY ACCOUNTS AND FINANCIALS

ICARUS. 14 million companies from the U.S. and Canada. 10 years of financial data.
ORBIS. International coverage.

ICARUS." Target= "New">COMPUSTAT North America includes U.S. and Canada (WRDS).
Also available: Compustate Global (non U.S. and Canada) amd Compustat Emerging Markets.
Request multiple companies and years. Download to spreadsheet or statistics package.

WESTLAW BUSINESS (formerly LIVEDGAR). SEC Online filings 1993 -. Also includes SEDAR filings (Canada)

LEXIS/NEXIS. NAARS 1972-1995. Financials from Annual Reports. Compiled by AICPA.
Go to Lexis/Nexis. Click on Business. Click on Sources. Enter AICPA. Choose the annual reports your want and click OK Continue. In the Enter Search Terms box, enter the company name.

THOMSON RESEARCH. United States and International Company Filings. Full content of doucments generally available from 1993 on. For large companies, full content may extend back to 1970's.

LASER DISCLOSURE. (U.S. and International) 1991-1995.
(CD). Annual Reports, Proxies, 10-Ks

COMPACT DSEC DISCLOSURE. U.S. Companies. (CD-Rom Collection) 1987-2006. Selected company filings including financials. Ability to select multiple companies and download in spreadsheet format.
(CD-Library Use Only)

WORLDSCOPE. International. (CD-Rom Collection) 1991-2006-
Selected company filings including financials. Ability to select multiple companies and download in spreadsheet format.
(CD-Library Use Only)

Microform Collections:(U.S. and International)
Annual Reports, 10-Ks. 1950-1991 (MT).

VALUE LINE. Investment Resource. Financials (10 years), Betas, Industry Overviews.
Print version (SS)

THE VALUE LINE INVESTMENT SURVEY: SUMMARY AND INDEX. 1967-79.
HG 4501 V26 (PC)

THE VALUE LINE INVESTMENT SURVEY. Microfilm Collection. 1969-1979; 1980- on fiche.
(MT; Also available in CD-Rom format)

Securities and Exchange Commission. It may be possible to obtain older filings from the SEC. You can submit a request to PublicInfo. If it's available, it will be sent out by regular mail. If it's not available, you will be notified.

STOCK PRICE DATA

Daily Stock Price .

Resources for Stock Price and/or Financials.
Varied frequency of data (monthly quarterly, annual).

CRSP Available through WRDS. Wharton only. Historical data spanning from December 1925.

DATASTREAM. Historical data. Stocks and Bonds. Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual. Available at Lippincott Library only; ask for assistance at the Lippincott Reference Desk.

YAHOO FINANCE: Historical Prices. Daily, weekly or monthly prices back to 1970.

DAILY STOCK PRICE RECORD. NASDAQ. 1993:Apr/Jun-
HG 4915 I 6 Latest 4 years (RS); Older editions (PC)

DAILY STOCK PRICE RECORD. American Stock Exchange. 1962-2002.
HG 4915 I 22 Latest 5 years (RS); Older editions (PC)

DAILY STOCK PRICE RECORD. New York Stock Exchange. 1962-2003.
HG 4915 I 2 Latest 5 years (RS); Older editions (PC)

DAILY STOCK PRICE RECORD. Over-the-counter. 1968-1992.
HG 4915 I 6 (PC)

Indexes

WRDS GLOBAL INSIGHTS

NATIONAL STOCK SUMMARY. Semi-Annual Prices. 1923-1996.
HG 4905 N34 (PC) Latest issue (RD)

STANDARD & POOR'S SECURITY PRICE INDEX RECORD. Daily, weekly, monthly prices.
1917-1918; 1923-40 (High Density Storage) HG4921. S736.
1940-42;1952-76;1978-88;1994. 1996. (PC)
HG4921. S4b.
1998 to current (RD)

NEWS SOURCES

Print Indexes

INDUSTRIAL ARTS INDEX. 1913-1957.
Z 7913 I 7 (ST)

BUSINESS PERIODICALS INDEX. 1958-1994.
Z 7164 C81 B983 (ST)

APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INDEX. 1958-1997.
Z 7913 I 7 (ST)

PREDICASTS F&S INDEX EUROPE. 1979-1992.
HG 4132 F86 (RS)

F&S INDEX EUROPE. 1993-1994.
HG 4132 F86 (RS)

F&S INDEX OF CORPORATIONS AND INDUSTRIES. 1964-1978.
HG 4961 F8 (RS)

F&S INDEX INTERNATIONAL: INDUSTRIES, COUNTRIES, COMPANIES. 1969-1978.
HG 4961 F82 (RS)

PREDICASTS F&S INDEX INTERNATIONAL. 1979-1992.
HG 4961 F82 (RS)

PREDICASTS F&S INDEX UNITED STATES. 1979-1993.
HG 4961 F8 (RS)

F&S INDEX UNITED STATES. 1993-1994.
HG 4961 F8 (RS)

PROMT: Predicasts overview of markets and technology. 1985-1991.
HD 2709 P16 (ST)

PROMT.
Electronic version of Predicasts overview of markets and technology.

Readers Guide to Periodic Literature v.1 (1900)-v.59 (1999),v.62 (2002),v.64 (2004) -.
AI3 .R48 (Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks )
Readers' Guide Retrospective. Also electronic.

Newspaper Indexes

HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS ONLINE. Access to Palmer's Index to the Times (London), 1790-1905; Official Index to the Times (London), 1906-1980; and Historical Index to the New York Times, 1851-1923.

INDEX TO THE FINANCIAL TIMES. (Various titles.) 1981-
HG 11 F548a (RS)

FINANCIAL TIMES. Microfilm. 1974-
(MT; Current issues in Lippincott Periodicals)

NEW YORK TIMES INDEX. 1851-
A I21 N44 (1851-1912, Storage; 1905- , VP RS)

NEW YORK TIMES. Microfilm. 1851-
VP Microfilm News 52. Current issue (PER).

WALL STREET JOURNAL. INDEX. 1955- (Includes Barron's from 1981-
HG 1 W26 (RS)

WALL STREET JOURNAL. Microform. 1920-
(MT)

Electronic News Sources

19th Century Masterfile. Indexing to American and English 19th century periodicals.

ABI INFORM: PROQUEST. Abstracts to journal articles back to 1960s.

America: History and Life History of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes articles on business topics and industries.

BUSINESS SOURCE PREMIER. Full-text of Harvard Business Review. 1922-

FACTIVA. Full-text of The Wall Street Journal. 1984-

ISI CITATION INDEXES. SOCIAL SCIENCE CITATION INDEX.. Abstracts to articles. 1956-

JSTOR. Search across many journals at once. JSTOR specializes in making available the back issues of journals in a wide variety of humanities and social science disciplines.

Periodicals Index Online1770-1993. Covers a range of journals.

Proquest Historical Newspapers. Multi-database search interface that allows for simultaneous searching of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Defender and Wall Street Journal. Coverage begins in the 1800's.

Readers' Guide Retrospective. Provides comprehensive indexing of the popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States, such as Time, Newsweek, New Republic, National Review, and many others. Covers 1900-1982. Contents reflect the history of 20th century America.

BUSINESS STATISTICS (United States)

DATAPEDIA OF THE UNITED STATES, 1790-2000: AMERICA YEAR BY YEAR. United States Statistics.
HA 202 K87 1994 (RD)

HISTORICAL STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES: COLONIAL TIMES TO 1970. U.S. Department of Commerce. 2 Vols.
HA 202 H57 1989 (RD; Also available as CD-Rom in Van Pelt Library Reference--Moelis CD Area)

STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATES. 1901-.
HA 202   Latest year (RD); Previous 20 Years, 1983-2002 (RS); Earlier years in (ST)

STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATES.

PREDICASTS BASEBOOK. Manufacturing Statistics. 1986-1995.
HC 101 P733 (ST)

STANDARD & POOR'S INDUSTRY SURVEYS. 1941-2003.
HG 4921 S672 (PC)

STANDARD & POOR'S INDUSTRY SURVEYS. 52 Industries. 1998- . The best single source for major industry overviews. Accessed through Market Insight. Click on Industry. Select an industry from the drop-down menu and click on Go. Scroll to S&P Industry Survey.

STANDARD & POOR'S. THE OUTLOOK. "Analyzes and projects business and market trends." 1937- .
HG 4501 O97 (PC)

STANDARD & POOR'S STATISTICAL SERVICE. Security price index record. 1978- .
HG 4921 S74b (RS); Latest Year (RD)

STOCKS, BONDS, BILLS AND INFLATION. Yearbook. Ibbotson Associates. Historical market returns. 1985-
HG 4915 I 362. (PC); Latest year (RD)

SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS. (Includes BUSINESS STATISTICS. 1951-) v.1 (1921) - v.83:no.4 (2003:Apr)
HC 101 A13 (Last 10 years-RS)

BUSINESS STATISTICS (International)

EUROPEAN YEARBOOK OF BUSINESS HISTORY. 1998-
HF 3491 E976 (RS)

INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BUSINESS HISTORY.
HF1008 G66 1997 (RS)

BUSINESS HISTORY OF THE WORLD: A CHRONOLOGY.
HC 51 R615 1993 (VP)

ECONOMIC STATISTICS: Selected Sources

ECONOMIC STATISTICS, 1900-1983: UNITED KINGDOM, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY, JAPAN. Compiled and written by Thelma Liesner.
HC106 L68 1985 (VP)

EUROMONITOR'S GLOBAL MARKET INFORMATION DATABASE.

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL STATISTICS. Annual. International Monetary Fund. 1948- .
HG 3881 I 626 (RS)

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL STATISTICS ONLINE. 1945- .

OECD. GENERAL STATISTICS. OECD European Economic Conditions. 1950-1962.
HC 10 O67 (ST)

OECD. MAIN ECONOMIC INDICATORS. HISTORICAL STATISTICS. 1955/71, 1960/75, 1960/79, 1964/83.
HC 10 O6814 (RS)

SOURCEOECD.

MONITORING THE WORLD ECONOMY: 1820-1992.
HC 54 M33 1995 (RS)

STATISTICAL YEARBOOK. United Nations.
HA 12.5 U63 Latest 10 years (RS); Others (ST); CD-Rom in Van Pelt Reference--Moelis CD-Rom Area.

U.N. COMTRADE. Historical Trade Statistics. International. By Country and Commodity.

UNSTATS. Statististical database of the United Nations.

WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS. CD-Rom. World Bank Economic Statistics--40 years.
(CD)

PERIODICALS

BULLETIN OF BUSINESS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Microfilm. 1926-1953.
(MT)

BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC HISTORY. 1984- .
HC 103 B87 (VP)

BUSINESS HISTORY. 1958-current. Quarterly.
HF 11 B9 (ST); Unbound Issues (PER)

THE BUSINESS HISTORY REVIEW. (Continues: Bulletin of Business Historical Society). 1960- .
HF 5001 B8262 (ST); Unbound issues (PER)

ENTERPRISE AND SOCIETY. Volume 1: 2000-2002.
HF 5343 E584 (ST); Unbound issues (PER)

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS HISTORY: PROCEEDINGS OF THE FUJI CONFERENCE. Various titles. 1st Conference, 1975-.

RELATED WEBSITES

BUSINESS HISTORY. Thomas J. Long Business and Economics Library at U.C. Berkeley.

Business History Books. Created by KIPnotes.com.

BUSINESSHISTORY.NET.

DIRECTORY OF CORPORATE ARCHIVES IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.

H-Business The discussion network for the Business History Conference, an international organization devoted to the study of business enterprise and organization and of all aspects of the interactions of business with society, government, and culture in a historical context.

LOCAL RESOURCES

HAGLEY MUSEUM AND LIBRARY. Resources for the study of industrial development in the United States.
Route 141, Wilmington, DE. Phone: 302-658-2400.

NEWCOMEN SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES. Mission is "the study and recognition of achievement in American business and the society it serves."
211 Welsh Pool Road, Suite 240, Exton, Pennsylvania 19341.
Phone: 610-363-6600; Toll Free: 800-466-7604.

Location Codes