The Newberry Library has a variety of materials that can be used to study the history of American businesses and corporations, ranging from electronic reference sources to corporate archives of local businesses. The Library has particularly strong resources for railroad and printing business history. This guide describes some sources that may assist you in finding information on local business history at the Newberry Library. Librarians at the 3rd floor Reference Desk or the 2nd floor Local and Family History Reference Desk are also available to help.
Searching the Online Catalog - Chicago & Illinois Business Resources
Business Archives - Periodicals - Other Reference Sources
The Newberry Library online catalog (i-share.carli.illinois.edu/nby/) is the best place to start your search for business history resources. If you are seeking information on a particular business, search under the company's name as author, title, and subject. For example:
The following subject headings are useful for finding information on specific types of businesses:
To find industry-specific periodicals or membership directories, use subject headings such as:
Local directories also contain information on industries or individual companies:
* Please note: Many of the Newberry Library’s directories are not listed in the online catalog. For a list of additional directories in the Library’s collections visit www.newberry.org/genealogy/dirholdings.html.
Printed catalogs can be a rich source of information about business history. Here are some subject headings that will help you find catalogs in the Newberry:
The following subject headings will help you retrieve more general business history sources:
Chicago and Cook County Biography and Industry File (CBIF). This card file indexes biographical and industrial sketches of people and industries that appeared in collective biographies and industrial guides such as Chicago & Its Distinguished Citizens and Manufacturing and Wholesale Industries of Chicago. Individuals are filed before corporations so, for example, “Pullman, George M.” precedes “Pullman Company.” Located on the 3rd floor of the Newberry Library and available in PDF.
Chicago Neighborhood Research Guide. Newberry librarians compiled this list of books, maps, and demographic information about Chicago neighborhoods. www.newberry.org/genealogy/neighborhoods.html
Sanborn Maps for Illinois. The Newberry Library subscribes to this database of historical insurance maps of Illinois, which is available on Newberry Library computers. The maps often include detailed drawings of the businesses, and occasionally details about operational hours or numbers of employees. For additional information about Sanborn maps, visit www.newberry.org/collections/fireinsurancemaps.html.
The Newberry Library holds the corporate archives for several railroad and printing companies, as well as the Newberry Library’s own archives. A list of Newberry Library modern manuscript collections related to business is available here: www.newberry.org/collections/businessabstracts.html.
ArchiveGrid. Includes selected Newberry Library archival finding aids, plus bibliographic records and digital finding aids for archival and manuscript collections at other research libraries worldwide. Available on computers within the Newberry Library's network. www.archivegrid.org.
Directory of Business Archives in the United States and Canada. Chicago: Society of Amerian Archivists, Business Section: [1993], c1990. Call Number: Ref HD 2770.5 D57 1993. Most recent edition now maintained online (see below).
Directory of Corporate Archives in the United States and Canada. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, Business Section. Includes geographical index. www.archivists.org/saagroups/bas/directory/corporat.asp.
America: History & Life. This resource indexes and abstracts articles from over 2,000 journals on Canadian and U.S. History. It is available on any computer within the Newberry Library's network.
Business History Review. This periodical, published by the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, is available at the Newberry Library both in print (Call Number H 71008 .137 [1926-1987]) and online through JSTOR (1954-2001).
JSTOR. Full text of dozens of business and history journals is available through JSTOR on Newberry Library computers. None of JSTOR's content is current; all issues are at least three to five years old. See list of journals available in JSTOR is at www.jstor.org/browse.
Poole’s Index to Periodical Literature. Call Number Ref AI 3 .P7 1938. This resource indexes over 400 American and English nineteenth-century periodicals, many of which are available in the Newberry Library’s collections.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers Database. You can search for articles about your company in the Chicago Tribune (for the years 1849-1986) and the New York Times (for the years 1851-2004) on Newberry Library computers.
Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature. Call Number Ref AI 3 .R48.
Guide to Business History Resources. Library of Congress. www.loc.gov/rr/business/guide/guide1/sharp13.html.
Kelley, Etna M. The Business Founding Date Directory. Scarsdale, NY: Morgan & Morgan, c1954. Call Number: Ref HD2785 K4.
Kerr, K. Austin. Local Businesses: Exploring their History. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History:, c1990. Call Number: HD 2785 .K43 1990.
Larson, Henrietta M. Guide to Business History. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1948. Call Number: H 71 .484.