Columbia Historical Corporate Annual Reports: Home

Columbia University's Business and Economics Library owns a unique collection of historical annual reports.  The majority of the reports predate the 1934 Securities Exchange Act which regulated and standardized reporting.

The reports were written for and disseminated to stockholders and the public. While many reports were published, there was no requirement that they be produced or adhere to a particular format.

The 4,482 corporations whose reports comprise the collection represent most of the industries that were instrumental in the creation of early industrialized America including:

mining forest products industrial machinery electrical power agriculture food processing metals manufacturing oil & gas textiles chemicals

pharmaceuticals communications transportation retail & wholesale trades water utilities beverages insurance financial services publishing building or construction