California Business History
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Long before Google, Yahoo, Apple and eBay became world-famous California corporations, there was a string of profitable, well-known companies from San Diego and Los Angeles to the Central Valley and the Bay Area.
Business historian Kip Altman knows just about everything about each company's history --- it is his obsession.
Altman is the owner of California Business History.com, a large and organized historical collection on California business. His comprehensive website is "a labor of love and passion", and it features a massive multimedia collection along with links to many great California industry museums.
I asked Mr. Altman if there were any California business history museums. He replied, "Not any which represent the entire history of business in California." I was honestly surprised, considering that the California economy is consistently in the top-10 among world economies.
Altman added, "In the realm of 'history' --- in all of its themes, topics and subjects --- the history of business, in California, the U.S. and the world, seems very under-served." He also noted that it is rarely included in history-related websites, and that public access to books on the history of business is limited.
"This is a great disservice, in my opinion, to the public and a real void in efforts to build 'heritage tourism' in California, anywhere in the U.S. or anywhere in the world", Altman emphatically stated.
When I asked if any college or university in California offers an undergraduate or graduate course on California business history, Altman lamented that he has not yet heard of any.
Kip Altman, an author of business books, is the founder of the Business Journalism program at Boston University's School of Communication. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, an MLS from St. John's University of New York, and a Liberal Arts degree from Georgetown University.
Subsequent years of working on Wall Street aroused Altman's curiosity about the history of business. That curiosity has turned into a mission.
"Business history fascinates me because it is the 'history' of customers, from whom everything else in business follows --- entrepreneurship, management themes, business and economic growth", says Altman.
"Organizing public access to information --- about business history, or history in general --- is my passion because it rarely exists outside of a library, and because it can be, and should be, a real time-saving resource for anyone who wants to know".
Kip Altman researches and categorizes business history from his base in San Francisco. His website, California Business History.com, is a tremendous source of information and media on the entire history of business in California.
