We want your stories!
Business history consists of millions of real, human stories. Most Americans have spent their working lives in business. Whether working on an assembly line, making sales calls, typing data, or waiting on customers, we, our parents, and our grandparents have contributed to the history of industry and commerce.
The American Business History Center wants to post your business history in the new “Share Your History” section of our website. Here are some tips on what we are looking for:
- Your story of working for an enterprise large or small. Bosses you had, people you worked with, innovations you participated in, stories of management and mergers. Did you sell Bill Gates his first computer? Help design the first minivan? Manage a Kmart in their glory days? Wait tables on Wall Streeters?
- We also want stories of others you are intimately familiar with….for example, the lives of your parents and grandparents.
We do not want:
- Diatribes or rants. We don’t want to be Pollyannas, so if you were there when Ford launched the disastrous Edsel, worked at Enron, or met Bernie Madoff, those stories would be great.
- Hearsay or “someone told me” stories.
- Badly-written stories. Read your story out loud before submitting it. Use spellcheck. Have a friend proofread it.
- Anonymous submissions. These are your stories…..you should be proud to be associated with them.
We will review each submission before it goes live on our site to ensure that it meets these rough guidelines. We will accept stories of any length, but it usually takes at least 200 words to tell a good story or anecdote.
Our Board members have seeded the new section with stories from their own experiences. Read these to get an idea of what a good story reads like.
We look forward to your contribution!
Please fill in the form below if you wish to write your story online or upload a Word document.
All fields are required.
