The Bass Business History Collection at the University of Oklahoma

Part of the Bizzell Memorial Library at the University of Oklahoma, the Harry W. Bass Business History Collection contains a number of important resources, some of them now available in digital form. Daniel A. Wren, the long-time curator of the collection, has created a video that describes the collection's origins and scope. As the Bass Collection website explains,

The collection's purpose is stated broadly to include not only histories of business leaders and firms but also the economic, social, and political forces that influenced the role of business in society. . . . In addition to a number of general reference items, the Collection houses close to 2000 rare books as well as manuscripts including the archives of J. and W. Seligman Company. The Bass Collection also holds the publications from the Retail Intelligence System (formerly known as Management Horizons). Our most recent acquisition is the Robert Kahn Collection on Retailing History. 

Digital materials include the Bulletin of the Taylor Society, Kahn's Retailing Today, papers from the Western Electric Hawthorne Project, a number of audio files of interviews with business leaders, and finding aids for the library's collection of Northern Pacific and Great Northern railroads materials.

  The Bass Collection currently contains about 23,000 books, in addition to manuscript, video, and audio materials. Items in the collection do not circulate, but researchers are always welcome.