Business History Explorer (BHE) is a bibliography covering the history of
UK businesses and the industries to which they belong. At the end of 2016 it contained
c45,000 entries. Its prime purpose is to assist researchers in locating historical information about specific businesses. The bibliography includes monographs, periodical articles, theses, chapters in multi-author works, unpublished works, and selected product and employment literature. The database is being continuously updated in order to include new publications and to plug gaps in the existing constituency. According to the project website, "Many gaps remain in periodical article coverage and priority is being given in 2017 to addressing this."
One can search the database to get a sense of the contents without charge, but viewing the results returned requires payment of an annual fee, substantially discounted for BAC members and affiliates.
The BHE is the successor to Francis Goodall,
A Bibliography of British Business Histories, published in 1987. The work in gathering information for the present bibliography has been undertaken by John Orbell with Richard Storey. It is supported by the British Archives Council.
