Annual Reports - Tom & Verna Howard Canadian Business History Collection

ANNUAL REPORTS

THE HISTORICAL PAPER COLLECTION

In addition to annual reports on microform and in electronic format, the Business Library has a large collection of original, paper annual reports. The collection covers more than 33,000 annual reports from more than 6300 companies and in some cases the reports date back to the 1920s. The collection consists primarily of Canadian material although some reports are available for companies in the United States and other countries. The historical collection is housed in the oversized collection of the Business Library. Current reports are located on the main floor of the Business Library.

A complete list of the reports available is provided at the bottom of this document. The codes used in the list are explained below. In many cases Library staff have used sources such as the Financial Post's Survey of Predecessor and Defunct Companies, to trace the history of the company and to identify name changes. Two sample entries are provided here:

BOWES CO. LTD. 1949-50, 1953-55, 1957-59, 1962-71. All shares acquired by George Weston Ltd. in 1972.

GEORGE WESTON. 1949-1978, 1987-

The entries also have codes in some instances and these codes indicate if any material other than an annual report is available.

RR = RESEARCH REPORTS (miscellaneous items which may include IPOs and analysts' reports)

FS = FILING STATEMENT

LS = LISTING STATEMENT

M = MISCELLANEOUS

P = PROSPECTUS

Unfortunately, paper annual reports have not been kept consistently since the Library was established. Once commercial sources began providing the reports in space-saving microform format there was considerable pressure to conserve space by eliminating the paper copies. Nonetheless, this collection was saved and the annual reports of some Canadian corporations are still kept in paper as well as on fiche and in electronic form.

As noted, Canadian annual reports were also collected on microfiche. For a description of this very large collection, click here. In addition there are some Canadian corporate annual reports that have been catalogued and which are typically found in the D.B. WELDON Library. For example, there are fairly long runs of annual reports for the Bank of Montreal and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, among others. Additional reports will also be found in the massive microfiche collection produced by the Canadian Institute of Historical Microreproductions which is also housed in the Weldon Library. At this time an attempt is being made to identify all corporate annual reports so they can be brought together in one list.

We also have annual reports on fiche for American companies dating back to, in some cases, the late 1950s. For a description, click here.

A complete list of our paper annual reports is provided below. The companies are listed in alphabetical order.
Click on the appropriate link below to browse the list of reports. Please note that the tables are large and depending on your internet connection may take a moment to display.

Queries about obtaining reports or about our holdings can be directed to the Business Library.