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The Business Use of Business History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

James H. Soltow
James H. Soltow
Affiliation:
Research Associate, Colonial Williamsburg
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Abstract

The appeal by scholars for businessmen to incorporate historical consideration in their records management programs is likely to be more widely heeded if businessmen (and scholars) are aware of contemporary experience with business history. Until recently no systematic effort had been made to determine what that experience had been. The present article surveys the factors which have led to authorization of company histories; experiences in selecting authors; uses to which company histories have actually been put; impacts on employee, customer, and public relations programs; and comparative costs incurred in specific instances.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , September 1955 , pp. 227 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1955

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References

1 A list of Business Histories and Biographies in the Business Library, Dun and Bradstreet, Inc., 1 September 1952 (New York, Dun and Bradstreet, Inc., 1952)Google Scholar.

2 Thomas C. Cochran, “Business and Railroad History: An Appraisal of Ten Years' Work,” delivered at the Tenth Anniversary Dinner of the Lexington Group … 16 April 1952.

3 Curti, Merle, Shryock, Richard H., Cochran, Thomas C., and Harrington, Fred H., An American History (New York, Harper & Brothers), 1950Google Scholar.

4 Rae, John B. & Mahoney, Thomas H. D., The United States in World History (New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co.), 1949Google Scholar.

5 In the case of Sears, Roebuck and Company, the total cost of the study, supported in large part by a Rockefeller Foundation grant, is included in the summary. The usual arrangement for a study arranged through a university is for the company to make a grant to the university covering the costs of research and writing and to agree to purchase a stipulated number of copies of the book; cost figures referred to above include the grant plus cost of books.