The records of businesses, especially smaller ones, tend not to survive in great number. The history of a local company may have to be reconstructed by fitting together information from a variety of other sources in a record office, such as deeds, estate records or the files of a local solicitor. If a firm's archive has survived then the bulk will probably be made up of financial records, including accounts and ledgers. Apart from these, there might be partnership agreements and other formal documents establishing the firm, daybooks recording daily activities, wages books and correspondence, often in the form of letterbooks. Records and information about companies can give an insight into the impact of industry and trade on a community or the ways in which an area and particular industry shaped each other.

The survival rate of records for other local organisations can be much better and will add a richness to the picture of the local community drawn from parish and other formal records. The number and variety of societies and organisations which may have been active in an area could be very great indeed. The records of trade union branches, political organisations, friendly societies, charities, sports and social clubs, musical and artistic societies can all be used to build up a image of the locality and how it changed over the years. School log books can also provide much valuable information on the wider community as well as the school and its pupils. The head teacher's comments could refer to seasonal child employment, poverty and the weather.