Check out the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s Research and Publications page to find data on Boston’s economy, population, and commercial markets.  Here you’ll find publications regarding Economy and Jobs, Census, Economic Development and Planning, Foreign Born in Boston, Boston by the Numbers, Labor Market Assessment, and American Community Survey.

For example, here is a nice 12 page analysis of the largest private sector companies with 500 or more employees in Boston.  

Central Library in Copley Square
Orientation Room
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116

“The newest addition to Arcadia’s popular Images of America series is Filene’s: Boston’s Great Specialty Store. William Filene’s Sons Company, founded in 1870, brought fashion and entertainment to generations of Bostonians. The Filene family championed employee relations and innovative merchandising techniques. Michael Lisicky focuses on the history of the company’s flagship ‘upstairs’ business, in addition to several of the store’s historic competitors on Boston’s Washington Street.

Michael J. Lisicky is a leading expert on department store history and has written three bestselling books on various American department stores. Lisicky’s books have been featured on National Public Radio and have received acclaim from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Investors Business Daily and Fortune Magazine.”

Additional BPL Resources regarding Filene’s:

Did you know that Filene’s donated their marketing archives to the Boston Public Library? Access to the archival material is made available by appointment through the Special Collections Department. For appointments call 617-859-2225. An index to the material is  available at the Kirstein Business Library.

The Filenes
Berkley, George E.
(Book – 1998)

Facts about Filene’s
William Filene’s Sons Co
(Book – 1936)

Filene’s Complex
Study Report : as Amended May 9, 2006
Boston Landmarks Commission (Boston, Mass.)
(Book – 2006)

By the way, if you are wondering how the development of the Filene’s site is going,
check out this nice before and theoretical after photo,

and these recent news stories:
Filene’s Tower a Rising Star
Developer Pitches New Design for Filene’s Site
Stalled Filene’s Project Poised for Rebirth

Looking for a job? Thinking of switching careers?  Maybe you’re just starting out and don’t know what you want to be?  Try filling out the career assessment questionnaire from Career Transitions.  It will ask you a series of questions to determine what types of occupations are best suited for your personality type.  It’s quick, fun, and maybe you’ll learn something about yourself.

See below for a quick tutorial, and to see my results:

Instructions:

Once you’ve clicked on Career Transitions, select “Assess your Career Interests“  

Here, you’ll be asked a series of questions, try to answer them quickly. Do not to think too hard about each question.

After answering all the questions, the Career Assessment tool thinks I’d be most interested in an Artistic career.  My results:

The results also list my interest (out of 10) on five occupational “types”;  Social, Conventional, Enterprising, Investigative, and Realistic.

Lastly, you’ll see what type of occupations are best suited to you. Fashion designer? Interesting, well a friend did tell me I was creative, but I’m not ready to quit my day job just yet!

Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories
Demographic information on business ownership, employment, industry composition, and small business income. Links for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

National Federation of Independents Business 

Looking for small business jobs growth trend data?  Try the National Federation of Independent Business website:

Small Business Optimism July 2012 Survey

To learn more about the back-breaking, but rewarding work that goes into bringing fresh oysters to your table, read:

Shucked

Considering making a career change?  Try our Career Transitions database to search for jobs in the oyster industry:

 

 

Power Searching with Google is a free online, community-based course showcasing search techniques and how to use them to solve real, everyday problems. It features:

• Six 50-minute classes.
• Interactive activities to practice new skills.
• Opportunities to connect with others using Google Groups, Google+, and Hangouts on Air.
• Upon passing the post-course assessment, a printable Certificate of Completion will be emailed to you.

Registration

• Registration is open from June 26, 2012 to July 16, 2012. We recommend that you register before the first class is released on July 10, 2012!
• New classes will become available Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday starting on July 10, 2012 and ending on July 19, 2012.
• Course-related activities will end on July 23, 2012

If you’d like to learn more about the Boston Tea Party or the East India Company, check out some of the documents from the BPL at the Internet Archive:

• When Boston braved the king; a story of tea-party times ()
• Tea leaves; being a collection of letters and documents relating to the shipment of tea to the American colonies in the year 1773, by the East India Tea Company (1884)

Want to read up on today’s tea industry?  Try searching for articles using our RDS Business Suite:

Or try our in-house only ISI Emerging Markets database for some insight on China’s export of tea.

Suffolk Registry of Deeds

Use this database to check all documents relative to real estate, including deed, mortgages, releases and liens.  Find recorded land documents dated back to 1893. Indexed documents go back to 1976. 

Building Permit Search 

The building permit search database is courtsey of the Inspectional Services Department.  Check this database to see what building permits have been issued for your propery.

Assessing Online 

Property parcel data including assessed value, location, ownership and tax information for each piece of property in Boston can be found here.