Baker Library Resources

Unique among business school libraries, Baker Library possesses extraordinarily comprehensive and diverse historical collections. Built over time with a consistent focus on the evolution of business and industry, the depth and scope of these collections are exceptional. There are particularly rich resources for studying company history across decades.

Corporate Reports Collection

Special Collections holds an extensive collection of corporate annual reports representing over 27,000 companies. The Corporate Reports collection is one of the largest collections in the world, and includes annual reports for Lehman Brothers for the period 1929-1979, with some gaps, and for 1994 through 1999. Corporate reports are among the most valuable documents in understanding the history of a company: its financial situation, its organizational structure, and perhaps most importantly, how the company chooses to present itself to a wider audience.

Full text company annual reports are available for Lehman Brothers from 1997-2004 in ProQuest Historical Annual Reports. Harvard users only: HarvardKey and Password required.

R. G. Dun & Co. Credit Reports

R.G. Dun & Co. was the first successful American credit reporting agency, established in New York in the 1840s. The Dun credit reports on Lehman Brothers are extensive, with the first entry recorded in 1847 in Montgomery, Alabama. Regular updates charted the company’s growth through 1884 in New York City. The Dun credit reports, which document large and small businesses across the U.S. from the 1840s to the 1890s, and are an invaluable resource for the study of commerce in nineteenth century America.

Lehman Brothers credit reports, 1868-1869

Lehman Brothers credit reports, 1868-1869. R.G. Dun & Co. Credit Report Ledgers, Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

Transcription of Lehman Brothers credit reports

Emanuel & Mayer
Lehman Bros.

Grocers & Com’n Merchts [Commission Merchants]
133 (221) Pearl (118 Chambers) St.

Aug 8/68 [August 8, 1868] Estimated wor [worth] from 300 to 400m$ [$300,000 - $400,000]. Doing large bus [business] and sold to freely. Cr [credit] and standing good. 500. 504. 597.

June 11 ’69 [June 11, 1869] Consid [Considered] very prudent sfe [safe] men, not speculative in high cr [credit] & standing believed safely worth from 400 to 500m$ [$400,000 - $500,000]. Consid [Considered] good 504.500.5046.

Have been many years in bus. [business] in Montgomery Ala. [Alabama] & here some years. The elder brother being of Lehman & Frest [sic]: Liberty St. They have house in New Orleans La. [Louisiana] and in Montgomery Ala. [Alabama]. Were wealthy before the war, and are believed to be well off still. In Sept. 65 [September 1865] they claimed a cap [capital] in thr [their] 3 houses of 500m$ [$500,000], the majority of which belonged to the elder bro. [brother] Emanuel. We find from their previous history and their general standing here, that they are regarded here as a good house. Are estimated from 300 to 400m$ [$300,000 - $400,000] & in last report 500m$ [$500,000]. Are financial agents for state of Georgia & are regarded safe strong & reliable, not speculative. 5 00. 1896. 3145.

R.G. Dun & Co. Credit Reports
New York v. 319, p. 500G

HBS Cases

The HBS Archives in Baker Library includes a comprehensive collection of more than 50,000 retired HBS cases, beginning with the first case written in 1921 through the 2010s. Over the years, HBS faculty have written many HBS cases about the finance industry, including cases specifically on Lehman Brothers. Most of the Lehman Brothers cases were written in the late 1980s to 2000s and provide insight into such issues as company mergers, investment in clean energy, diversity and inclusion, and the introduction of option pricing and hedge funds.

Please contact: specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu to access copies of retired cases for research.

Current HBS Cases are available to purchase through Harvard Business Press.

Retired HBS Cases

  • El-Hage, Nabil N., and Cedric A. Lucas. “Lehman Brothers and Peabody Coal.” HBS No. 209-009. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2008.

  • Hill, Linda A., and Katherine Seger Weber. “Power, Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of Lehman Brothers, Parts I and II (TN).” HBS No. 494-091. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1994 (Revised 1995).

  • Jick, Todd D. “Merging the Investment Banking Divisions of Shearson/American Express and Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb (A).” HBS No. 488-043. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1988.

  • Jick, Todd D. “Merging the Investment Banking Divisions of Shearson/American Express and Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb (B)” HBS No. 488-044. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1988.

  • Jick, Todd D. “Merging the Investment Banking Divisions of Shearson/American Express and Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb (A) and (B), TN.” HBS No. 491-098. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1991.

  • Meerschwam, David M. “Shearson Lehman Brothers and American Express—1987.” HBS No. 290-002. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1989.

  • Meerschwam, David M. “Shearson Lehman Brothers and American Express—1987 TN.” HBS No. 291-060. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1991.

  • Paine, Lynn Sharp, and Jane Palley Katz. “Hutton Branch Manager (D).” HBS No. 396-047. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1995.

  • Perold, AndrĂ© F. “Lehman Management Co., Inc.” HBS No. 284-027. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1985.

  • Perold, AndrĂ© F., and Wai Lee. “American Express TRS Charge-Card Receivables and Lehman Brothers and the Securitization of American Express Charge-Card Receivables (TN).” HBS No. 295-158. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1995 (Revised 1996).

  • Thomas, David A., and Stephanie J. Creary. “Creating the Partnership Solutions Group at Lehman Brothers.” HBS No. 409-042. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2009.

  • Tufano, Peter. “Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. (A): Entry into the Covered Warrant Business.” HBS No. 291-016. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1995

  • Tufano, Peter. “Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. (A) and (B), TN.” HBS No. 296-066. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1996.

  • Tufano, Peter. “Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. (B): Euromarket Covered Warrant Execution.” HBS No. 291-017. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1996

Current HBS Cases

  • Di Tella, Rafael, Alberto F. Cavallo and Aldo Sesia. “Hank and Nancy: The Subprime Crisis, the Run on Lehman and the Shadow Banks, and the Decision to Bailout Wall Street.” HBS No. 718-022. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2017.

  • Foley, C. Fritz, and Linnea Meyer. “Nomura's Global Growth: Picking Up Pieces of Lehman.” HBS No. 210-017. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2009.

  • Gilson, Stuart C., Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott. “The Rise and Fall of Lehman Brothers.” HBS No. 217-041. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2017.

  • Groysberg, Boris, and Ashish Nanda. “Lehman Brothers (C): Decline of the Equity Research Department.” HBS No. 902-003. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2001.

  • Groysberg, Boris, Ashish Nanda, and Lauren Prusiner. “Lehman Brothers (A): Rise of the Equity Research Department.” HBS No. 906-034. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2006.

  • Groysberg, Boris, and Ashish Nanda. “Lehman Brothers (D): Reemergence of the Equity Research Department.” HBS No. 406-090. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2006.

  • Healy, Paul M., and Boris Groysberg. “10 Uncommon Values (R): Optimizing the Stock-Selection Process.” HBS No. 405-022. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2004.

  • Mikes, Anette, Gwen Yu and Dominique Hamel. “Lehman Brothers and Repo 105.” HBS No. 112-050. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2011.

  • Mikes, Anette, Gwen Yu and Dominique Hamel. “Lehman Brothers and Repo 105 (TN).” HBS No. 114-080. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2014.

  • Nanda, Ashish, Boris Groysberg, and Lauren Prusiner. “Lehman Brothers (B): Exit Jack Rivkin.” HBS No. 906-035. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2006.

  • Nicholas, Tom, and David Chen. “Lehman Brothers.” HBS No. 810-106. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2010.

  • Perold, AndrĂ© F., and Kuljot Singh. “American Express TRS Charge-Card Receivables.” HBS No. 293-120. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1993.

  • Perold, AndrĂ© F., and Kuljot Singh. “Lehman Brothers and the Securitization of American Express Charge-Card Receivables.” HBS No. 293-121. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1993.

  • Rose, Clayton, and Anand Ahuja. “Before the Fall: Lehman Brothers 2008.” HBS No. 309-093. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2009.

  • Rose, Clayton, and Sally Canter Ganzfried. “Before the Fall: Lehman Brothers 2008 (TN).” HBS No. 312-044. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2011.

Bibliography

  • Acharya, Viral V., and Matthew W. Richardson. “How Securitization Concentrated Risk.” In What Caused the Financial Crisis, ed. Jeffrey Friedman. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.

  • A Centennial: Lehman Brothers, 1850–1950. New York: Lehman Brothers, 1950.

  • Archibald, Robert. “Mayer Lehman (1830–1897).” Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present, vol. 2. Ed. William J. Hausman. German Historical Institute. Last modified May 7, 2015. http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=20.

  • Auletta, Ken. Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman. 1st ed. New York: Random House, 1986.

  • Birmingham, Stephen. Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York. New York: Harper and Row, 1967.

  • Birmingham, Stephen. The Grandees: America’s Sephardic Elite. 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.

  • Chapman, Peter. The Last of the Imperious Rich: Lehman Brothers, 1844–2008. New York: Portfolio, 2010.

  • “Department Store of Investment.” Time Magazine 87, no. 8, February 25, 1966.

  • Ehrich, Louis R. “In Memory of Mayer Lehman.” In Memoriam, Mayer Lehman. 1897.

  • Eichengreen, Barry. Hall of Mirrors: The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Uses—and Misuses—of History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.

  • Evans, E. N. The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South. New York: Free Press Paperbacks, 1997.

  • Evans, E. N., and J. L. Loeb Jr. An American Experience: Adeline Moses Loeb (1876–1953) and Her Early American Jewish Ancestors. New York: Syracuse University Press, 2009.

  • Flade, Roland. The Lehmans: From Rimpar to the New World: A Family History. WĂĽrzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1999.

  • Kohler, Max J. Judah Touro, Merchant and Philanthropist. Baltimore, 1905.

  • Lehman, Robert. “Investment Management and the Lehman Corporation,” undated. Lehman Brothers Records, Harvard Business School, b. 674.

  • Lewis, Edmund Harris. “The Contribution of Judge Irving Lehman to the Development of the Law.” The Tenth Annual Benjamin N. Cardozo Lecture, delivered before the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, April 24, 1951.

  • Libo, Kenneth. “Lehman, From Cotton to Crash.” Jewish Daily Forward, September 26, 2008.

  • Libo, Kenneth. Lots of Lehmans: The Family of Mayer Lehman of Lehman Brothers. Remembered by His Descendants. New York: Syracuse University Press, 2007.

  • Loeb, John L., and Frances L. Loeb. All in a Lifetime: A Personal Memoir. 1st ed. New York: J. L. Loeb, 1996.

  • Loeb Jr., John L. John L. Loeb Jr.: Reflections, Memories and Confessions. New York: J. L. Loeb, 2017.

  • McDonald, Lawrence G. with Patrick Robinson. A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers. New York: Crown Publishing Company, 2009.

  • McDonald, Oonagh. Lehman Brothers: A Crisis of Value. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016.

  • Montella, Erin Callan. Full Circle: A Memoir of Leaning in Too Far and the Journey Back. Sanibel, FL: Temple Press, 2016.

  • Nevins, Allan. Herbert H. Lehman and His Era. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1963.

  • Silverman, Joseph. “Spoken at the Funeral in Temple Emanu-El.” In Memoriam, Emanuel Lehman. 1907.

  • Tooze, Adam. Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World. New York: Viking, 2018.

  • Williams, Mark T. Uncontrolled Risk: The Lessons of Lehman Brothers and How Systemic Risk Can Still Bring Down the Financial System. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.

  • Wise, T. A. “The Bustling House of Lehman.” Fortune, December 1957, 156–160.