Company histories have many purposes. They’re used to celebrate mileposts, serve as moral compasses and are even used to unite, inspire and attract talent. In a broader sense, company histories are a lens with which to view social and cultural change.  American companies have changed the way we eat (think Kelloggs), work (think Ford) and communicate (think Alphabet and Facebook), to name a few.

Corporate annual reports are essential tools for constructing company histories. The library has a trial through December 20, to Historical Annual Reports (Proquest). This databases has the full text of North American annual reports going as far back as the mid-19^th century. Annual reports include financials and management discussion of operations, competition and trends. Annual reports are distinguished from Securities and Exchange Commission 10K filings, by glossy images and engagingly readable text. This database offers searching by industry, company name, personal name and location. Foreign companies are not included and the database stops with 2008. Mergent offers a similar archive of annual reports that is global in scope and offers current reports, but lacks the indexing that allows for targeted searching.

Contact Linda.Hauck@villanova.edu for more information or do let us know if you think Historical Annual Reports would be a valuable addition to the Falvey collection.

Kellogg company annual report — 2005. (2005). ANN ARBOR: ProQuest Annual Reports. Retrieved from ProQuest Historical Annual Reports Retrieved from http://ezproxy.villanova.edu.ezp1.villanova.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezp1.villanova.edu/docview/88230199?accountid=14853

Kellogg company annual report — 1936. (1936). ANN ARBOR: ProQuest Annual Reports. Retrieved from ProQuest Historical Annual Reports Retrieved from http://ezproxy.villanova.edu.ezp1.villanova.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezp1.villanova.edu/docview/88186060?accountid=14853