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Lippincott Library collection of corporate annual reports
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Lippincott Library supports business related research and study at the Wharton School, the business school of the University of Pennsylvania. From the 1920s to the 1950s, the Lippincott Library collected corporate annual reports as a resource for Wharton students.
Filing annual reports has been a requirement for publicly held companies since the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Legislation has changed since the initial Act, and businesses are still required to file financial information with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but many companies choose to produce larger annual reports that not only meet the legal requirements, but can simultaneously be deployed as marketing tools. Annual reports frequently include a "Letter to Shareholders" in which the company president, chairman of the board of directors, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), or Chief Operating Officer (COO) reflects on company's operations through the past year. Beyond providing financial information and growth statements, many annual reports include sections highlighting new initiatives or significant achievements and events. Some companies include sections on departmental operations or spotlight the work of specific departments or divisions within the company. With upbeat language and purposeful design, annual reports intend to project a corporate message – generally one of profitability and growth.
The Lippincott Library collection of corporate annual reports consists of annual reports collected by the Lippincott Library as a resource for business students. The collection includes the reports of companies from a variety of industries including agriculture, energy, food, and transportation. These reports provide the financial information for represented years, but in many cases they also offer a view of the corporate values and mission during that time period.
The annual reports in this collection typically include a letter from the president or Chief Executive Officer (CEO); a list of directors, board members, and officers; a report from auditors/accountants; a summary of operations; and a consolidated balance sheet. Other financial information, manager reports, and highlights, as well as reports from subsidiary companies are also frequently included.
Reports in this collection date from 1847 to 1981, but the companies vary greatly in how many years are represented and in the completion of the run. For some companies, large date ranges with few or no gaps are available, while for others only specific years, but over a larger range are available. Dates for each company reflect holdings in the collection and researchers should consider one year to represent one report except in cases where dates are separated by a slash (ex: the NBC report for 1947/1948).
When companies have changed names, the name of the company at the time of the last report in the collection is what appears first in the folder title, with other names listed in a "previously" note in parenthesis.
This finding aid describes currently available corporate annual reports. In future, additional reports from the Lippincott Library collection will be made available via this finding aid.
Organization
- Gulf States Utilities Company
- Halle Bros. Co.
- Hershey Foods Corporation
- Hess Oil & Chemical Corporation
- Magma Copper Company
- National Food Products Corporation
Subject
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
- Finding Aid Author
- Rayna Andrews
- Finding Aid Date
- 2017 June 5
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.