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United States Business History Resources
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Directories and Company Histories
In addition to the sources listed below, check FRANKLIN, Penn Libraries' Online Catalog. Search authors such as Alfred Dupont Chandler or Thomas Childs Cochran. Try keyword searches such as business history.
Corporate Affiliations. International directory of corporate structure of public and private companies, with subsidiary listings and corporate linkage information on parent companies and their affiliates. Includes historical information going back to the mid-1990s. See also in print:
- LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations. 2002-present. HG 4052 A2193 (Peck Collection), Latest (Reference Desk)
- Directory of Corporate Affiliations.1980-2001. HG 4057 .A219, HG 4057 .A2192 (Peck Collection)
- Who Owns Whom? North America. 1973, 1977/78, 1979/80, 1983, 1986-1989. HG4538 .W423 (Peck Collection)
Hoover's Online. Includes company histories for 40,000 leading companies by revenue, market share, technology and industry.
International Directory of Company Histories. Covering more than 11,000 companies worldwide, this resourceprovides concise company profiles compiled from academic periodicals, books, magazines, annual reports and archives of the companies themselves. Also available in print in the Reference Stacks, HD 2721 I58 1988.
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 Data Directory: Alphabetical and Chronological Sections. Includes Supplement.
HD 2785 K4 (Reference Stacks)
NOTABLE CORPORATE CHRONOLOGIES. Lists important company dates. 3rd ed. (c. 2001).
HG 4009 N68 1995 (RD)
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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)
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).
STOCK PRICE DATA
See our Stock Prices, Indices and Exchanges Research Guide.
Electronic News Sources
American Periodicals Series Online 1740-1900.
American Periodicals from the Center for Research Libraries. Coverage up to the 1970s.
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.
Newsbank. Searchable fulltext of international and U.S. national, regional, and local newspapers. Coverage for current issues (i.e., yesterday in most cases) with extensive backfiles. Includes the Financial Times..
Periodicals Index Online1770-1993. Covers a range of journals.
Proquest Digital Microfilm Collection. Includes Wall Street Journal,New York Times and The Washington Post. 2008 -.
Proquest Historical Newspapers. Multi-database search interface that allows for simultaneous searching of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Defender and the 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.
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)
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)
Journals
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-.
Websites
BUSINESS HISTORY. Thomas J. Long Business and Economics Library at U.C. Berkeley.
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.
Location Codes
| CD = CD-ROM database. Located in Snyder Electronic Reference Center. | ||
| ON = Commercial online service. Access only in Lippincott Library. Ask at Reference Desk. | ||
| RD = Reference Desk | ST = Lippincott Stacks on the 3rd Floor | VP =Van Pelt Stacks |
| RS = Reference Stacks | PER = Periodicals | MT = Microtext |
| SS = Service Shelves | PC = Peck Collection | |
| *Library keeps latest edition only; **Library keeps latest two only. | ||
