Business History in the Contemporary Collection

This guide highlights resources, both print and electronic, that provide access to historical research material within the Baker Library Contemporary Collection.

In addition, unique historical material is available in Baker Library's Historical Collections. Contact Historical Collections for information and assistance.

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Companies

Dun & Bradstreet Million Dollar Directory
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Covering 1966-1996, provides directory information and financial data for public and private companies.

Hoovers
Excellent source for company histories. Enter a company name, select "Company History" from the "About this Company" drop-down menu..

International Directory of Company Histories
Information on the development of the world's 8,500 largest companies. Company entries are compiled from publicly accessible sources as well as from materials supplied by the companies themselves and typically cover: background and history; merger and acquisition history; impact of sales and marketing campaigns; effectiveness of executive leadership; expansions and strategies; labor/management actions; stock exchanges, ticker symbols and industries; and principal subsidiaries, divisions, operating units and competitors.

Moody's manuals
Baker Library holds an extensive collection (print and microform) of historical Moody's manuals, most series date back to the early 1900's. Moody's manuals provide financial histories of publicly traded companies.

ProQuest Historical Annual Reports
Companies' annual reports (1844-current) available through searchable PDF images.

Ward's directories
A collection of public and private company directories that often include financial data. Coverage begins in 1960 with Leading U.S. Corporations.

For additional corporate report collections, see our Corporate Reports webpage.

For additional resources for company histories, see Companies: history

Data- Macroeconomic

Congressional Budget Office- Historical Budget Data
Provides forty years (1970-present) of data on US government revenues, outlays, deficits, and surpluses.

Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
Over 3000 data series covering production, employment, money, prices and a variety of other macroeconomic indicators. Focus on US economy but there is some data for UK, Germany and France.

IMF eLibrary
Country-level data covering 1948-present; includes exchange rates, foreign exchange, SDRs, money supply, capital supply and commodities. Databases within the IMF eLibrary are: International Financial Statistics, Balance of Payments, Direction of Trade and Government Finance Statistics.

International Historical Statistics: Africa, Asia & Oceania, 1750-2000
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International Historical Statistics: The Americas, 1750-2000
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International Historical Statistics: Europe, 1750-2000
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Allows for comparative analysis of data across countries in each regional area. Covered in each volume: Population & Vital Statistics, Labour Force, Agriculture, Industry, External Trade, Transport & Communication, Prices, Education, and National Accounts.

OECD iLibrary
Provides access to Maddison's The World Economy Volume 2: Historical Statistics 1 AD - 2001. SourceOECD is also a great source for historical data from the International Energy Agency (IEA). Covers OECD countries as well as "non-OECD countries" so coverage is broader than the title portrays.

Data- Socioeconomic

Cross National Time Series (CNTS)
Raw data from 1815-present. Covers social, economic, education, election, military, transportation and many other country-level indicators. For a full list of variables and countries covered, see the CNTS website.

Historical Statistics of the United States
Data from Colonial times to present. Data and reports are organized within five sections: Population, Work and Welfare, Economic Structure and Performance, Economic Sectors, Governance and International Relations.

US Census Bureau- Statistical Abstract (Historical)
US data, most data from 1900-present, at the national and state level. Indicators include socio-demographic, industry, income, elections and federal government finances. Data are available in both PDF and MS Excel format.

World Development Indicators
Statistics from the World Bank for almost 600 development indicators and over 200 countries, dating as far back as 1960. Focus is on social, economic, and financial indicators.

Legislative Documents

Archive of Americana- Legislative resources
Covers the US political landscape from 1789-1980; primary documents including reports and journals from both the Executive and Congressional departments. Includes full-text access to the US Congressional Serial Set (1817-1994), interactive Serial Set Maps (1817-1980), House, Senate and Senate Executive Journals (1789-1980) and American State Papers (1789-1817).

ProQuest Congressional Publications
Provides access to US legislative histories, reports and committee prints back to the early 1800's. Also contains Congressional Research Services (CRS) reports back to 1916. CRS research reports focus on public policy issues and often provide great background for these issues.

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers
Covers 1688-present; includes full text of House of Commons and House of Lords bills, acts, debates and sessional papers.

The Government Documents collection (Lamont Library) is an incredibly rich and comprehensive source of current and historical legislative material from around the world, both in English and native language formats.

Literature

Business Periodicals Index
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Print index of leading business periodicals from 1958-present.

EconLit
With content dating back to 1969, EconLit is a comprehensive, indexed bibliography with selected abstracts of the world's economic literature. Select the "Find It @ Harvard" link to access the full-text article.

The Economist Historical Archive
The Economist Historical Archive covers 1843-2006. The Historical Archive includes keyword search and browse by date capabilities and full color images. The data within the "Economic and Financial Indicators" tables are exportable to spreadsheet format.

Hein Online
Predominately a resource for legal research, HeinOnline also has several research collections that will be of interest to business historians including Taxation & Economic Reform in America, 1781-2009 and History of Bankruptcy.

JSTOR
Full-text access to business/economics/finance journals, some dating back to late 1800's.

Making of the Modern World
Images from 61,000 works of literature on economics and business (from the Kress Collection of Business and Economics at Baker Library, and the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature at the University of London Library) published from 1450 through 1850. Only a portion of Baker Library's Kress Collection is available through this resource.

Markets & Exchanges

Global Financial Data
Includes data on stock markets from 1690, exchange rates from 1590, interest rates from 1700, commodities from 1500, and inflation from 1264. Selected stock price data is also available.

Ibbotson Classic Yearbook: Market Results for Stocks, Bonds, Bills and Inflation
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Ibbotson Valuation Yearbook: Market Results for Stocks, Bonds, Bills and Inflation
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Data from 1926-2009; total returns and index values for stocks, bonds (corporate and government), Treasury bills and inflation.

Datastream
Global coverage of equities, commodities, futures, currencies, options, bonds, and economic data dating as far back as 1973. See the Datastream Help Sheet to learn more.

Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS)
WRDS is a collection of financial, accounting, banking, economics, and management databases. CRSP provides monthly stock price data back to 1925 and Compustat provides company-level financial data back to 1950. See the WRDS Help Sheet to learn more.

For additional financial market resources, see our Financial Markets research guide.

News

Archive of Americana- America's Historical Newspapers
Comprehensive US newspaper database that covers 1690-1980. Collections include Early American Newspapers, African American Newspapers and Hispanic American Newspapers.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS)
FBIS is an ongoing digitization project that will provide access to selected international radio and television broadcasts, newspapers and periodicals, and government statements, all translated into English. The publications focus on military affairs, politics, the environment, societal issues, economics, and science and technology. Upon completion the database will cover over 200 countries in all regions of the world from 1941-1996.

ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Access to over 10 US newspapers including Boston Globe (1872-1979), Chicago Tribune (1849-1986), Los Angeles Time (1881-1986), New York Times (1851-2006), Wall Street Journal (1889-1992), and Washington Post (1877-1993).
Search Tip: To access the historical newspapers: Select the link above and choose "Select multiple databases". Click "Clear all databases", scroll to the bottom of the page and select the newspaper(s) you wish to search. Next, click the "Continue" button and enter search terms.

Times Digital Archive
Full-text access to The Times (London) newspaper from 1785-1985, including news, advertisements and illustrations. Does NOT include the Sunday edition.

World Newspaper Archive
Covers newspapers from the United States, Africa and Latin America. Each collection is searchable individually or as a world newspaper group.

See additional historical newsmedia resources.

Business History in the Contemporary Collection

HBS Resources

Baker Library Resources

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