The R.G. Dun & Company credit reports volumes are an invaluable resource for understanding the business, social, and cultural world of nineteenth century America — and the history and evolution of the credit reporting industry that supported the proliferation of American business during a period of growth, turbulence, and industrialization.
Founded as the Mercantile Agency in 1841, R.G. Dun & Company — the predecessor firm to Dun & Bradstreet — was the first successful commercial reporting agency in the United States and a pioneer in the industry of credit reporting, an important tool in the development of American commerce.
The collection consists of 2,522 volumes of handwritten credit reports on individuals and firms from the United States, its western territories, Canada, and a small number of foreign countries. Entries include information on the duration of the business, net worth, sources of wealth, and, at times, commentary on the reputation of the owners, their partners, and successors. The reports date from the 1840s to the 1890s, and are most complete from the 1850s to the early 1880s.
- The reports cover businesses large and small across the United States, ranging from local hardware stores and dry goods merchants, to major firms that we recognize today, such as Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers.
- The Dun collection adds value to the study of groups under-represented in traditional sources on business, in particular women and African American entrepreneurs.
- The volumes reveal important insights on the history of the credit reporting industry, and the methods used by the R.G. Dun & Company to organize an immense amount of information.
The rapid development of the credit reporting industry during the period of the collection—as seen by the sheer number of volumes produced during this period—is a testament to the growing hunger for data to guide business decisions. Today, this collection serves researchers seeking to understand the workings of local and regional economies, the development of the national economy, and the pace and trends of economic development in the United States during the latter half of the nineteenth century.
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Accessing These Materials
All materials are available for use in Baker Library's de Gaspé Beaubien Reading Room. Contact us to learn more about using the collections.
The credit report volumes are arranged geographically by state or territory. Each state or territory is then subdivided alphabetically by county and/or city. Most include alphabetical name indices that direct the user to the volume and page where the credit report is recorded. The volumes for smaller states or territories sometimes contain multiple counties within a single volume.