CMU LibGuides: Business and Industrial History: Company Histories

Company Histories

The resources listed in Financial Records may also contain brief histories of public companies.

International Directory of Company Histories
Collection of Historical Annual Reports
From the University of Pennsylvania, the Collection consists of annual reports in PDF format from U.S. companies, and covers the period 1800 through 1955. The entire collection is searchable by company or industry name, year, or words in the text. Each retrieved document is fully searchable as well.
Business Dynamics Statistics (US Census)
BDS provides annual measures (such as job creation and destruction, establishment births and deaths, and firm startups and shutdowns by establishment and firm characteristics. Data is 1976-2021, down to MSA, Now using NAICS data

Mergent Archives This link opens in a new window
Moody's (later Mergent) Corporate Manuals and Municipal & Government Manuals, 1909 to the present. Data for significant public companies worldwide: financial statements, histories, properties, mergers and acquisitions, operations, subsidiaries, officers and directors, stocks and bonds.
Mergent Historical Annual Reports This link opens in a new window
Historical and current annual reports in .pdf format for over 5,000 companies, some going back to 1925 (use "Annual Report Search" tab.)
Mergent Online This link opens in a new window
US and foreign companies, active and inactive. 15 years of financial data, mergers & acquisitions, SEC filings, institutional holdings, earnings estimates, joint ventures, long-term debt, bond ratings, capital stock, insider trading, historical stock prices. Also industry and equity reports, and annual reports from 1997.
ProQuest Historical Annual Reports This link opens in a new window
Printed annual reports for many US companies, from 1844 to now; financial data and narrative and pictorial snapshots of companies through time.