Business records
Business Archives - the journal of
the Business Archives Council - publishes annually an abstract of business
archives deposited in record offices. - Cockerell, H.A.L. and Green, E., The British Insurance Business
1547-1970: an introduction and guide to historical records in the United
Kingdom (1976).
- Cox, N., and Dannehl, K., Dictionary of
Traded Goods and Commodities, 1550-1820 (2007). A dictionary of
terms used in documents relating to trade and retail in early modern
Britain.
- Goodall, F., Bibliography of British Business Histories
(1987).
- Green, J., Ollerenshaw, P. and Wardley, P. (eds.), Business in Avon
and Somerset: a survey of archives (Bristol Polytechnic 1991).
- Hawkings, D.T., Fire Insurance Records for Family and Local
Historians 1696 to 1920 (2003). Fire insurance records can give
details of the building. Those of the Sun Fire Office's London branch
1811-1835, held at the Guildhall Library, are included in the online
catalogue A2A. See Fabric for firemarks.
- Hudson, P., The West Riding Wool Textile Industry: a catalogue of
business records from the sixteenth to the twentieth century (Pasold
Research Fund Ltd, Edington Occasional Papers no.3, 1975).
- National Archives leaflet: Sources
for Business History.
- Orbell, J., Tracing the History of a Business (2009).
- Orbell, J. and Turton, A., British Banking: a guide to historical
records (2001).
- Richmond, L., and Stockford, B., Company Archives: the survey of
the records of 1000 of the first registered companies in England and Wales
(1985).
- Richmond. L. and Turton, A., The Brewing Industry: a guide to
historical records (1990).
- West lists gazetteers of
commercial directories for towns 1763-1900, and provincial newspapers
1690-1981 in England and Wales.
Primary sources
- The official newpapers of record - the London, Edinburgh, and Belfast
Gazettes, now combined as The Gazette - carry notices
of corporate insolvency, companies and financial regulations, and business
partnerships. The archive is online.
- Advertisements in local directories or newspapers give information about
a business and may be illustrated. See Local Studies Libraries for where to
find them.
- The National Archives of
Ireland has a survey of Irish business records, which can be searched
online.
- Trade cards, letterheads, invoices and brochures of businesses may have
views of the building. They may be found among collections deposited by the
business itself, or may have been preserved by customers and found their
way into local libraries and archives as individual items.
Published collections of trade cards
- John Winstone, Bristol Trade Cards: Remnants of prolific
commerce (1993).
- Sir Ambrose Heal:
- London Tradesmen's Cards of the Eighteenth Century
(1925, reprinted 1971, 1985).
- London Goldsmiths, 1200-1800: A Record of the Names and
Addresses of the Craftsmen, Their Shop Signs and Trade Cards
(1972).
- Terry Friedman, Engrav'd cards of trades-men in the County of
Yorkshire (1976).
- Robert A. Green, Jewelers Trade Cards 1800-1900 (1989).