This page provides information about Library resources beyond what you can find on the Internet through a Google search. The Library has acquired or subscribes to most of them, and their content is not indexed in Google.
DELCAT and WorldCat Local
Look under a specific company name by author, title, and subject. For types of businesses, use this kind of subject search: Automobiles—United States—History. More general subject headings include Corporations—United States—History and Business enterprises—History.
Interlibrary Loan is available to obtain material from other libraries.
Search for periodical articles to supplement your search for books on DELCAT. WorldCat Local provides access to some periodical articles, but also check these databases:
Check Databases for History for a more comprehensive list of licensed electronic resources for historians.
Handbook of American Business History. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990-
(Ref HC103 .H19 1990)
International Directory of Company Histories. 82 vols. to date. Chicago: St. James Press, 1988- .
(Ref HD 2721 .I57x 1988)
Use a variety of online and print resources.
Public companies are required by law to submit reports, so finding information about them is easier than for privately held companies. Use SEC reports (available on EDGAR), annual reports (consult Annual and 10-K Reports, Mergent Online, Standard & Poors Corporation Records (Ref HG4501 .S76635). Use Business and Company Resource Center, particularly the “Histories” tab.
For private companies: ReferenceUSA, America’s Corporate Families and International Affiliates (Ref HG4057 .A1532), Who Owns Whom (Ref HG4057 .A219), D&B Million Dollar Directory (Ref HC102 .D8).
Consult Corporate Information for more resources.
The University of Delaware Library is a partial “depository” library for U.S. government documents. Most U.S. government documents in print owned by the University of Delaware Library are shelved in the Government Documents collection on the Lower Level in the Morris Library and given a “SuDocs” (Superintendent of Documents) call number.
Records for government documents are incomplete in DELCAT. There is good coverage in DELCAT from 1994 to date. For the period beginning in 1976, you can use the MarciveWeb DOCS database to identify published government documents that may be in our collection; if so, they would be shelved at the SuDocs number indicated in the record on MarciveWeb DOCS. For older material, you will have to rely on other tools. One of these is LexisNexis Congressional, particularly the Congressional Indexes, 1789-1969 component. It provides information on published hearings as well as documents included in the Congressional Serial Set. There are also excellent print indexes for hearings and the Serial Set, as well as a research guide for locating Congressional hearings in the Library.The University of Delaware Library also has a complete federal patents collection.
“I buy when other people are selling.”—J. Paul Getty
“No company can afford not to move forward. It may be at the top of the heap today but at the bottom of the heap tomorrow, if it doesn’t.”—James Cash Penney
“I think one of the most misunderstood things about business in America is that people are either doing things for altruistic reasons or they are greedy and selfish, just after profit. That type of dichotomy portrays a false image of business. It certainly is a false image of Whole Foods. The whole idea is to do both: The animals have to flourish, but in such a way that it'll be cheap enough for the customers to buy it.”—John Mackey
“If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1000 MPG.”—Bill Gates
“Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs.”—Henry Ford
“Work eight hours and sleep eight hours and make sure that they are not the same hours.”—T. Boone Pickens
“Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming.”—Richard Branson
“If you think Abraham Lincoln became famous for inventing the town car, it is time to spend a few hours on history.”—Bo Bennett
“If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.”—Warren Buffett
