Thursday, September 11, 2008

Getting down to business

It's pretty much 100% likely that your ancestors worked for someone else, or started a business that employed others. The records generated this way may still exist. But how many people get around to them?

If the idea of "most underrated" made any sense, I'd be tempted to say business records are the most underrated category of records among genealogists. The Newberry Library recently added a research guide, American Business History Research at the Newberry Library, that has helpful resources even for those who can't get to the actual library.

1 comment:

Jasia said...

Boy I sure would like to hear of this sort of resource at the Library of Michigan or the Burton Collection at the Detroit Public Library. I'd love to get my hands on business records from my grandfather's baking company. I've asked about this sort of thing before and gotten that look that says, "are you from Mars?"