<P> The company traces its history back to 1860, with the publication by Henry Varnum Poor of History of Railroads and Canals in the United States . This book compiled comprehensive information about the financial and operational state of U.S. railroad companies . In 1868, Henry Varnum Poor established H.V. and H.W. Poor Co. with his son, Henry William Poor, and published two annually updated hardback guidebooks, Poor's Manual of the Railroads of the United States and Poor's Directory of Railway Officials . </P> <P> In 1906, Luther Lee Blake founded the Standard Statistics Bureau, with the view to providing financial information on non-railroad companies . Instead of an annually published book, Standard Statistics would use 5 - by - 7 - inch cards, allowing for more frequent updates . </P> <P> In 1941, Paul Talbot Babson purchased Poor's Publishing and merged it with Standard Statistics to become Standard & Poor's Corp . In 1966, the company was acquired by The McGraw - Hill Companies, extending McGraw - Hill into the field of financial information services . </P> <P> As a credit - rating agency (CRA), the company issues credit ratings for the debt of public and private companies, and other public borrowers such as governments and governmental entities . It is one of several CRAs that have been designated a nationally recognized statistical rating organization by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . </P>

Where does the name standard and poor's come from
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