Research Guides & Indexes: Company History Research in Virginia: Archival Records

Business Records

The Library has extensive records of Virginia businesses in its Business Records Collection, including business correspondence, accounts, journals, ledgers, and legal transactions.

Research Guides

Edwards, Conley L., Gwendolyn D. Clark, and Jennifer D. McDaid. A Guide to Business Records in the Virginia State Library and Archives. Richmond: Virginia State Library and Archives, 1994.
This publication describes records related to Virginia businesses at the Library of Virginia.

Mutual Assurance Society Records
The Mutual Assurance Society issued fire insurance policies for buildings from 1796 to 1966. Policies cover many commercial enterprises and name the insured and the occupant of the property, along with its location and value.

Digital Collections

Mutual Assurance Society Policies for Richmond City and Henrico County, 1796–1867
Policies (declarations) and revaluations issued by the Mutual Assurance Society between 1796 and 1867 for buildings in Richmond City and Henrico County, Virginia

Databases

ProQuest History Vault. Slavery in Antebellum Southern Industries (1700–1896)
Includes company records; business and personal correspondence; documents pertaining to the purchase, hire, medical care, and provisioning of enslaved laborers; descriptions of production processes; and journals recounting costs and income.
ProQuest History Vault. Southern Life and African American History, 1775–1915, Plantation Records (Parts 1 and 2)
Business records include ledger books, payroll books, cotton ginning books, work rules, account books, and receipts. Personal papers include family correspondence, diaries, and wills. Coverage: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida plantations.

Federal Records

Census Records
Census records can be used to research historical businesses in Virginia, in particular, manufacturing schedules for 1820 and 1850–1880.

State and Local Records

Archival Collections

Charter Books
The Virginia State Corporation Commission maintained charter books that list requests to incorporate in Virginia and include any mention of mergers or amendments of existing corporations. An index to the charter books is available on microfilm.

Richmond City Circuit Court Business Records, Corporations, Partnerships, 1870–88
Housed in the State Records Center, this document lists more than 300 companies chartered between 1870 and 1888. Indexed by company name, it shows the date that the circuit court granted a charter to a company in the city of Richmond. These records may also provide the names of directors and principal officers, why a company was formed, its function, whether any capital stock was issued, and, if so, the value per share.

Digital Collections & Research Guides

Internal Improvement Movement in Virginia
Board of Public Works records and other documentation of early canals, river navigations, roads, turnpikes, bridges, and railroads.
Virginia Historical Inventory
The Virginia Historical Inventory (VHI) is a collection of more than 25,000 survey reports, photographs, and annotated maps documenting Virginia's cultural resources. Strengths of this collection include architectural history, genealogy, African American history, and Civil War history.