John Orbell

A Guide to Tracing the History of a Business

Businesses affect every aspect of our lives – they build and modernise our homes, build the cars we drive and the trains, aircraft and ships we travel in. They lend us money and insure our homes, lives and places of work. They make the furniture we sit on, the plates we eat off, and the clocks we tell the time by. They process the food we eat and manage the restaurants and bars we visit. They manage our pensions, arrange our funerals, organise our holidays and cut our hair. Some of us have a stake in them, a few of us direct them at the top while most of us work for them at the bottom. And as with us, so with our ancestors.

Businesses and the records that shed light on them are therefore of great interest to historians and this book shows what these records are, what they contain and where they can be found. It has three sections: 1] Locating vital information about a business and research strategy; 2] Locating the archives of the business; 3] Information sources outside the archives of the business. The last ones include records of government; of associations such as chambers of commerce and employer bodies; printed sources such as newspapers, trade directories and house journals; personal records such as wills and census records; and visual sources.

Format

Hardback

Edition

2nd edition

Pages

178

Illustrations

46 black & white

Includes

Index, bibliography

Trim size

172 × 248 mm

ISBN

978-1860775758

Published

2009, Phillimore

Contents

• List of Illustrations
• Illustration Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction
• Section One – Locating Vital Information about a Business and Research Strategy
  • Formation, Dissolution, Addresses, Activities and Name-Changes
  • Approaching the Business
• Section Two – Locating Archives of the Business
  • Introduction
  • Guides to Record Offices
  • Registers of Business Archives
    • National Register of Archives (NRA)
    • National Register of Archives of Scotland (NRAS)
  • Online Access to Archives
    • Access to Archives (AtoA)
    • Scottish Archive Network
    • Archives Hub
  • Business Archives Deposited in Record Offices
    • Local Record Offices
    • Academic Record Offices
    • Museum Record Offices
    • Association Record Offices
    • National Record Offices
  • Business Archives Council and Business Archives Council of Scotland
  • Published Guides to Business Archives
    • Journals and Occasional Publications
    • Monographs: Business Sectors
    • Articles and Online Guides: Single Companies
    • Monographs: Geographical Areas
• Section Three – Information Sources outside the Archives of the Business
  • Archives of Suppliers of Goods and Services
    • Suppliers and Customers
    • Banking Services
    • Insurance Services
    • Legal Services
    • Accountancy Services
    • Property Services
    • Advertising Services
    • Stockbroker Services
  • Records of Government
    • Introduction
    • Company Registration
    • Business Names Registration
    • Registration of Patents
    • Registration of Designs
    • Registration of Trade Marks
    • Bankruptcy
    • Exhibits in Courts of Law
    • Railway and Canal Companies
    • Registration of Shipping and Seamen
    • Apprenticeship Records
    • Local Authorities
  • Records of Associations
    • Employers’ Organisations and Trade Associations
    • Stock Exchanges
    • Chambers of Commerce and Trade
    • Trade Unions
    • Market Organisations
    • Livery Companies and other Trade Guilds
  • Printed Sources
    • Published Histories of Businesses
      • Appendix One – Published Gazettes and Directories and some containing Histories of Businesses
      • Appendix Two – Illustrated Compendiums of Businesses
    • Published Biographies of Businessmen and Women
      • Appendix – Selected Bibliographical Directories of late 19th and early 20th centuries
    • Annual Reports and Accounts
    • Prospectuses and other Shareholder Documents
    • Newspapers
    • Trade Directories: Topographical
    • Trade Directories: Business Sector
    • House Journals
    • Trade Press
    • Trade Catalogues
    • Parliamentary Papers and other Official Publications
    • Maps and Plans
  • Personal Records
    • Private Papers
    • Wills and Related Documents
    • Interviews
    • Census Records
  • Visual Sources
    • Industrial Archaeology
    • Images: Photographs, Films, Prints, Drawings
    • Ephemera
• Bibliography
• Addresses
• Index