Carnegie Mellon University Libraries

Background

Sometimes you may need some information to get more familiar with your topic. Below are some materials that can provide background on topics in business and industrial history. Additional resources are listed at History: Background.

• Basics of Business History: 100 Events That Shaped a Century (TheStreet.com)
  Timeline of events.

• Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Search and display the full text of encyclopedia articles, many dealing with the history of management issues.

• Bryant, Keith L. Jr., ed. Railroads in the Age of Regulation, 1900-1980. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography. New York: Facts On File, c1988.
  HUNT REF-1 HE2751 .R143 1988
  Articles on topics, companies, and individuals.

• Chandler, Alfred D., Jr. "Industrial Production." In Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century, edited by Stanley I. Kutler, vol III., pp. 1127-1154. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, c1996.
  HUNT REF-1 E740.7 .E53 1996

• Cross, Mary. A Century of American Icons: 100 Products and Slogans from the 20th Century Consumer Culture. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, c2002.
  HUNT REF-1 HF6161 .B4 C46 2002

• Downard, William L. Dictionary of the History of the American Brewing and Distilling Industries. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980.
  HUNT REF-1 HD9397 .U52 D68

• Francis, Raymond L. This Day in Business History: Great Corporate Takes, Commercial Milestones, Colorful Titans, Captivating Quotes, and Clamitous Blunders for Every Day of the Year. New York: McGraw-Hill, c2006.
  OFFSITE By Request HC51 .F667 2006

• Geisst, Charles R. Encyclopedia of American Business History. 2 vols. New York: Facts On File, c2006.
  HUNT REF-1 HF3021 .G44 2006

• Georgano, G. N. The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. 2 vols. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, c2000.
  HUNT REF-1 TL9 .B43 2000

• Hounshell, David A. "Industrial Research and Manufacturing Technology." In Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century, edited by Stanley I. Kutler, vol II., pp. 831-857. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, c1996.
  HUNT REF-1 E740.7 .E53 1996

• The Industrial Revolution in America [interactive multimedia]. Fairfield, CT: Queue, c1996. HUNT MUS-OFC-4 338.0973 I42
  Presents a multimedia view of the United States as a center of industry through three main video-based presentations which are enhanced by a gallery of black-and-white stills, index, glossary, quiz, and interactive timeline. The gallery includes sketches of various inventions, innovations, and scenes from the 19th century.

• Leary, William M., ed. The Airline Industry. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography. New York: Facts on File, c1992.
  HUNT REF-1 TL509 .E54 1992
  Articles on topics, companies, and individuals.

• May, George S., ed. The Automobile Industry, 1930-1980. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography. New York: Facts on File, 1989.
  HUNT REF-1 HD9710 .U52 A816 1989
  Articles on topics, companies, and individuals.

• Mulligan, William H., Jr. A Historical Dictionary of American Industrial Language. New York: Greenwood Press, c1988.
  HUNT REF-1 HC102 .H57 1988

• The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie (The American Experience, PBS)
  Timeline, photographs, biographies, descriptions of events, steel production, etc.

• The Richest Man in the World. A production of WGBH Boston; WGBH Educational Foundation; written, produced and directed by Austin Hoyt. 120 min. [Alexander, VA]: PBS Video, 1997. Videocassette.
  HUNT VIDEO-BSMT 338.767 C289

• Robinson, Richard, comp. Business History of the World: A Chronology. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993.
  HUNT REF-1 HC51 .R615 1993

• Schweikart, Larry, ed. Banking and Finance, 1913-1989. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography. New York: Facts on File, c1990.
  HUNT REF-1 HG2481 .B325 1990
  Articles on topics, companies, and individuals.

• Seely, Bruce E., ed. Iron and Steel in the Twentieth Century. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography. New York: Facts on File, c1994.
  HUNT REF-1 HD9515 .I77 1994
  Articles on topics, companies, and individuals.

• Sheimo, Michael D., ed. International Encyclopedia of the Stock Market. 2 vols. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, c1999.
  HUNT REF-1 HG4551 .I528 1999

• Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys. [New York] Standard & Poor's Corp.
  Print: ca. 1973-2008.
  OFFSITE By Request
  Online: ca. 1998-present.
  Available: NetAdvantage (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Statistical and narrative analyses of different industries.

• Stearns, Peter N., and John H. Hinshaw. The ABC-CLIO World History Companion to the Industrial Revolution. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, c1996.
  HUNT REF-1 D359.7 .S74 1996

• Walker, Juliet E. K. Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999.
  HUNT REF-1 HD2344.5 .U6 E53 1999

• Witzel, Morgen. The Encyclopedia of the History of American Management. Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum, 2005.
  HUNT REF-1 HC102 .5.A2 E53 2005

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Biographical Resources

Below are some resources for finding information on people involved in business and industrial history. Relevant biographies may also be in some of the resources listed at History: Biographical Resources. If you need help finding biographical information, please ask at the Hunt Library reference desk.

• American Business Leaders. [interactive multimedia] Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, c1998.
  MUS-OFC-4 338.092 A512
  CD-ROM with searchable biographies of more than 400 men and women who have played significant roles in American business history.

• Bryant, Keith L. Jr., ed. Railroads in the Age of Regulation, 1900-1980. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography. New York: Facts On File, c1988.
  HUNT REF-1 HE2751 .R143 1988

• Ingham, John N. Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983.
  OFFSITE By Request HC102 .5.A2 I53 1983

• Ingham, John N. and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, c1994.
  HUNT REF-1 HC102.5 .A2 I52 1994

• Krismann, Carol. Encyclopedia of American Women in Business: from Colonial Times to the Present. 2 vols. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2005.
  HUNT REF-1 HD6054 .4.U6 K753 2004

• Leary, William M., ed. The Airline Industry. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography. New York: Facts on File, c1992.
  HUNT REF-1 TL509 .E54 1992

• May, George S., ed. The Automobile Industry, 1930-1980. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography. New York: Facts on File, 1989.
  HUNT REF-1 HD9710 .U52 A816 1989

• The Richest Man in the World: Andrew Carnegie (The American Experience, PBS)
  Timeline, photographs, biographies, descriptions of events, steel production, etc.

• The Richest Man in the World. A production of WGBH Boston; WGBH Educational Foundation; written, produced and directed by Austin Hoyt. 120 min. [Alexander, VA]: PBS Video, 1997. Videocassette.
  HUNT VIDEO-BSMT 338.767 C289

• Schweikart, Larry, ed. Banking and Finance, 1913-1989. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography. New York: Facts on File, c1990.
  HUNT REF-1 HG2481 .B325 1990

• Seely, Bruce E., ed. Iron and Steel in the Twentieth Century. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography. New York: Facts on File, c1994.
  HUNT REF-1 HD9515 .I77 1994

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Books and Journal Articles

Below are some resources for finding books and journal articles in business and industrial history topics. Additional resources are listed at History: Databases and Indexes. If you are interested in businesses and industries in Pittsburgh, the resources listed at Pittsburgh History may be useful, too. If you need help finding books and journal articles on your topic, please ask for assistance at the Hunt Library reference desk.

• America: History and Life (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  1954-present (updated monthly).
  Citations and some abstracts to journal articles, dissertations, and book and media reviews on United States and Canadian history from prehistory to the present. Covers all historical topics, including foreign policy, and a variety of disciplines including popular culture, gender studies, anthropology, literature and folklore, etc. Also has a non-US history counterpart Historical Abstracts. You can also search America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts simultaneously.

• Applied Science and Business Periodicals Retrospective (Carnegie Mellon Users only)
  1913-1983
  Search and display citations from the Industrial Arts Index (1913-1957), and its successors, the Applied Science and Technology Index (1957-1983), and the Business Periodicals Index (1957-1983).
  Continued by:
  Applied Science and Technology Index (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  1983-present (updated monthly).

• Business Periodicals Index.
  Use the database below to search for citations:
  Applied Science and Business Periodicals Retrospective (Carnegie Mellon Users only)
  1913-1983
  Search and display citations from the Industrial Arts Index (1913-1957), and its successors, the Applied Science and Technology Index (1957-1983), and the Business Periodicals Index (1957-1983).

• Carnegie Mellon's library catalog
  Use this to find books, titles of journals, and other materials in the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries.

• Historical Abstracts (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  1954-present (Updated monthly).
  Citations and some abstracts of journal articles, books, and dissertations on world history from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada). It covers all historical topics, including foreign policy, and a variety of disciplines including religion, gender studies, anthropology, political science, etc. Also has a U. S. and and Canadian history counterpart, America: History and Life. You can also search America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts simultaneously.

• Industrial Arts Index.
  Use the database below to search for citations:
  Applied Science and Business Periodicals Retrospective (Carnegie Mellon Users only)
  1913-1983
  Search and display citations from the Industrial Arts Index (1913-1957), and its successors, the Applied Science and Technology Index (1957-1983), and the Business Periodicals Index (1957-1983).
  Continued by:
  Applied Science and Technology Index (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  1983-present (updated monthly).

• LexisNexis Academic (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Dates vary by publication.
  Provides access to several database components, one of which is Business.

• 19th Century Masterfile (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  ca. 1800-1900s.
  Search a variety of indices to find citations for nineteenth and early twentieth century periodicals and books.

• Proquest Direct (Carnegie Mellon users only).
  Provides access to several databases. Search all or one at a time. For example:
  • ABI/INFORM Global
    ca. 1970s-present
    Scholarly business journals, as well as the Wall Street Journal

• Worldcat (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  1200-present (Updated daily).
  Citations to books, titles of journals, manuscripts, and other materials in libraries throughout the United States, as well as some international libraries. You can limit your search to books by by selecting Book in the Type option. Each record will let you know which libraries have that item.
  
  If full text links for journal articles are not provided, click on to see retrieval options. This is only for journal article citations, and may not be available in all databases. Otherwise, use Cameo and the Find E-journal list to see if materials available to you. If they aren't, you can use Illiad, the interlibrary loan service, to obtain the books and journal articles (usually takes 7-10 days) For books only you can use EZ Borrow (books get here in about 3-5 days).

  
  If you need help finding books and or journal articles on your topic, ask the reference staff at the Hunt Library reference desk.

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Company Histories

The resources listed in Business and Industrial History: Corporate Financial Records may also contain brief histories of public companies.

• Corporate America: A Historical Bibliography. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio Information Services, c1984.
  HUNT BSMT Z7164 .T87 C66 1984

  International Directory of Company Histories (Carnegie Mellon users only)

• Nasrallah, Wahib. United States Corporation Histories: A Bibliography, 1965-1990. New York: Garland Pub., 1991.
  HUNT REF-1 Z7164 .T87 N37 1991

• Notable Corporate Chronologies. 2 vols. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, c1999.
  OFFSITE By Request HG4009 .N68 1999
  

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Corporate Financial Records

Below are resources for finding historic financial information on public companies. Many times these resources will include brief histories of the companies, too. If you are interested in finding records, papers, correspondence, and other materials from businesses and businessmen, see the resources listed at Pittsburgh History: Records of Businesses, Individuals, and Organizations, which include resources for the United States as well as Pittsburgh.

• Annual Reports at Academic Business Libraries (Purdue University)
  Annual reports from some academic business libraries as well as their lending policies.

• Business Department: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
  Has current and back issues of annual reports for local public companies. See: Annual Reports of Pittsburgh Area Companies for exact companies and dates available.

• Canadian Corporate Reports at McGill University (McGill University)
  Browse or search approximately 2,000 Canadian corporations in all business sectors, many from teh 19th century.

• Columbia Historical Corporate Reports Online Collection: Digitized Annual Reports from Watson Library's Collection (Columbia University)
  Browse by name or subject, or search by keyword.

• Corporate Reports Online (University of Pennsylvania Library)
  PDFs of corporate annual reports from the Lippincott Library collection. Companies are grouped by products, as well as listed alphabetically. There is also a search engine. Date coverage is ca. 1920s-1940s, but varies for each corporation. An ongoing project.

• Edgar
  Database of documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from ca. 1993 to the present. Important Information about Edgar provides detailed information on the material in the database.

• Historical Annual Reports (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Full text: 1844-current.
  Over 800 companies' annual reports available through searchable PDFs . Reports can be browsed or searched in a variety of ways.

• LexisNexis Academic (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Dates vary by publication.
  Provides access to several databases components, one of which is Business.

• Mergent Online (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Current and 15 years of financial information
  Online edition of the Moody's Manuals (see below). Search and display company information. Financials can be displayed for the past 15 years. The online edition has more financial information than the print.

• Mergent WebReports (Carngie Mellon users only)
  ca. 1909-present.
  The web version of the Moody’s (later Mergent) Corporate Manuals: a source for corporate information from 1909 to the present. Includes detailed descriptions of significant public companies worldwide (since 1981), past and present: financial statements, histories, properties, mergers and acquisitions, operations, subsidiaries, officers and directors, stocks and bonds for over 35,000 companies in over 100 countries. Below are the microfiche equivalents:
  • Moody's Bank and Finance Manual. New York: Moody's Investors Service.
    Microfiche 3rd floor : 1928-present.
    
  • Moody's Industrial Manual. New York: Moody's Investors Service.
    Microfiche 3rd floor : 1920-present (1914-1919 in Moody's Public Utility Manual see below).
    Sample page: National Biscuit Company, 1920
    Sample page: Falstaff Brewing, 1972
  • Moody's International Manual. New York: Moody's Investors Service.
    Microfiche 3rd floor : 1981-present.
    
  Moody's OTC Industrial Manual. New York: Moody's Investors Service.
  Microfiche 3rd floor : 1970-present.
  
  Moody's Public Utility Manual. New York: Moody's Investors Service.
  Microfiche 3rd floor : 1914-present.
  
  • Moody's Transportation Manual. New York: Moody's Investors Service.
    Microfiche 3rd floor : 1909-present.
    

• Northwest Historical Annual Reports Collection (University Libraries, University of Washington)
  

• Poor's Governments, Municipals, Investments, Trusts, Real Estate, Mortgage, Finance, and Insurance Companies. New York: Poor's.
  Print: 1930-1941.
  HUNT BND-JOUR-3

• Poor's Manual of Industrials. New York: Poor's
  Print: 1914-1941 (incomplete).
  HUNT BND-JOUR-3
  Continues Poor's Manual of Industrials and Public Utilities. (see below).

• Poor's Manual of Industrials and Public Utilities. New York: Poor's.
  Print: 1912
  HUNT BND-JOUR-3
  Continued by Poor's Manual of Industrials (see above) and Poor's Manual of Public Utilities (see below).

• Poor's Manual of Public Utilities. New York: Poor's.
  Print: 1913-1940 (incomplete).
  HUNT BND-JOUR-3
  Continues Poor's Manual of Industrials and Public Utilities. (see above).

• Poor's Manual of Railroads. New York: Poor's.
  Print: 1896-1940.
  HUNT BND-JOUR-3

• Poor's Register of Directors and Executives. New York: Poor's.
  Print: 1937, 1955, 1962-1969.
  HUNT BND-JOUR-3

• SEC Annual Reports
  Microfiche 3rd floor: 1978-ca. 1996.
  

• Value Line Investment Survey
  Full text: 1997-present.
  Stock reports, offering financial performance data, rankings and projections, analyst consensus, beta, key ratios, and commentary on 3,500 American stocks; also short industry surveys, from a famed independent investment analyst service. Stock screening capability and historical reports going back to 1997 are included.

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Directories

For Pittsburgh city directories, see Pittsburgh History: Directories

• Book of Business Lists (Pittsburgh, Pa.). Pittsburgh, Pa.: Pittsburgh Business Weekly Corp. 1984-1994.
  Print: 1985, 1987-1994.
  HUNT REF-1 HC107 .P42 P4932
  Continued by:
  Book of Lists (Pittsburgh, Pa.). Pittsburgh, Pa.: Pittsburgh Business Times, 1995-.
  Print: 1995-present.
  HUNT REF-1 HC107 .P42 P4932
  

• Corporations Review. [Pittsburgh, Pa.]: Publisher varies by date.
  Print: 1977, 1983-1986, 1993-2000.
  HUNT REF-1 HG4058 .P6 C67
  Print: 2002
  ENGR&SCI Reference HG4058 .P6 C67 2002

• Directory of American Research and Technology. New York: R.R. Bowker Co., c1986-.
  Print: 1991-1998
  HUNT REF-1 T176 .I65

• Directory of Corporate Affiliations of Major Corporations. Skokie, Ill.: National Register Pub. Co., c1969-c1972.
  Print: 1969-1970, 1972
  BY-REQUEST
  Continued by:
  Directory of Corporate Affiliations. National Register Pub. Co., c1973-c2001; LexisNexis Group, 2001-.
  Print: 1999-2002
  HUNT BND-JOUR-3
  Print: 1973-74, 1977, 1980-83, 1988, 1991-2001
  BY-REQUEST
  Continued by:
  Lexis-Nexis Corporate Affiliations. New Providence, N.J. : LexisNexis Group, c2002-
  Print: Latest in Hunt Reference
  HUNT REF-1 HG4057 .A217
  Print: next latest 4 editions
  HUNT BND-JOUR-3
  Print: earlier offsite

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