As explained in her post of 26 October, Joan Rosen is seeking information about a
business in Provincetown, Mass., in the 1930s, Cape Cod Fisheries. One often useful
resource for genealogists researching businesses are corporation records maintained
by the relevant state authorities. Not all businesses formally incorporated;
however, when researching a business, it is worthwhile checking corporate filings
in the event that the business had incorporated.

In Massachusetts, corporate filings are made with Office of the Secretary of State,
Corporations Division. That Division maintains several online databases; see
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cor/corsearch.htm. I checked two of them, the
"Corporate Database" and the "Corporation Card File Database," and came up with a
possible lead for Joan. Searching for "Cape Cod Fisheries" in the Corporate Card
File led to an index card for "Cape Cod Fisheries, Inc." of Provincetown, organized
on 29 November 1933. The database does not indicate the officers or other
principals of the corporation, but Joan might wish to contact the Corporations
Division to ask if records of the corporation are still available and how she might
be able to receive copies.

The Corporation Card File Database and the Corporate Database produced information
about another company, "Cape Cod Fisheries Co.", located at 33 Fish Pier, Boston.
The data for this company indicate that it was originally incorporated in 1943 as
"Nagco Fisheries, Inc." and changed its name to "Cape Cod Fisheries Co." in 1944.
It thus might not be the business that Joan is looking for.

Stephen KATZ
New York City

Researching:KATZ (Novograd-Volynsk, Ukraine and Boston, Mass.); TEPPER
(Novograd-Volynsk and Rovno (Rivne), Ukraine, and New York City); KAPLAN
(Stakliskes, Lithuania, and central Mass.);
KABACHNIK (Butrymonis, Lithuania); VITKIN (Kaunas, Lithuania, and Boston,Mass.);
GREENBERG/BLOCH, Vilna, Lithuania, and Boston, Mass.); BLUM, LEVINE (Boston, Mass.)