A corporate history is a historical account of a business or other co-operative organization. Usually it is produced in written format but it can also be published as audio or audiovisually. Thousands of companies across the industrialized world have recorded their histories, albeit in their own unique ways – from relatively benign, albeit colorful chronicles, usually written for the private archives of founding families, to titles with well-defined corporate applications. Corporate histories in the United States have been particularly prolific, those in the UK less so.