Business History and Archives

The course aims to offer intellectual elements of buisness history, its theoretical orientations and discipline-specific terminology. The course also aims to provide the basic tools to know and operate within a corporate archive.

The course intends to introduce participants to the historical reflection of buisness from a global perspective, through a plurality of written, oral and visual sources and the beginning of the use and discourse of business and labour archives, as well as through digital tools available online. Through the analysis of historical cases, students will be able to apply the theoretical instrumentation necessary to undertake historical investigation and analysis of archival documentation. At the end of the course, the attending students will be able to critically read primary sources and scientific texts relating to the early-modern and modern historical periods, and to develop independent reflections and research on the main aspects of modern enterprise in its various forms. Students will also exercise their research abilities and individual assemssments skills to set up and carrying out work of document inventory, as well as its communication and usable availability on digital platforms, including talks with professional historians and archivists.
These skills will be acquired through a direct and continuous meeting with the instructor in the classroom. Educational tools will be made available on Ariel.
Students opting not to attend the lessons will be able to make use of the educational tools provided by the instructor on Ariel, deepen their knowledge of main topics through special readings indicated in the exam program for non-attending and if desired (after reading the exam program) contact the instructor both by email and during office hours.