News
September 2008
Launch of the BRG weblog
We've launched the BRG blog to allow our members to keep up to date with all business archives news. Available at soa-brg.blogspot.com, the blog will highlight all news, events and updates in the world of business archives. As such, we need all members to feed in details of what's on for update to the blog. To publicise an event or feed in an exciting piece of news, please contact the BRG Communications Officer, Clare Paterson: c.paterson@archives.gla.ac.uk.
Don't worry about having to continually check the blog - you can subscribe to have the posts delivered to your inbox. Full details available at the blog: soa-brg.blogspot.com
June 2008
Business Archives National Strategy forum
On 10 June, LUCAS is holding a North West regional forum for the National Business Archives Strategy currently in preparation. You're invited to participate in the consultation process and share your views on how business records can be better protected, managed and promoted. Join Katey Logan - who is responsible for developing the strategy on behalf of TNA - for an informal consultation session. Please contact Margaret Procter on M.Procter@Liverpool.ac.uk if you would like to come.
April 2008
Notification of BRG AGM and Training Event
The BRG joint training session and AGBM will be held on Wednesday 11 June 2008 at 2pm at The Newsroom, Guardian And Observer Archive and Visitor Centre. Further information can be found on both the Training and Events page and the Committee pages.
"Meet the Archivists"
At the end of November, The Baring Archive hosted "Meet the Archivists"; an event intended to make post-graduate students more aware of the opportunities for research in business archives. A summary of the event is available to read in this month's issue of ARC.
ICA-ISDF, a new International Standard for Describing Functions
The Committee of Best Practices and Standards of the International Council of Archives have announced the release of the first edition of the International Standard for Describing Functions (ICA-ISDF), intended to provide guidance for preparing catalogue descriptions of the functions of corporate bodies. Further information is available at http://mlal.sparknow.net and your thoughts and opinions are welcomed.
January 2008
New Regional Business History Network for the NW
A new regional history business group is forming in the North West. It is proposed to be an informal and inclusive cooperative network of historians and archivists. Embracing business history in its widest sense, it is hoped to be of particular interest to archivists and records managers working with business records.
For further information, please contact Paul Sillitoe, Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies, at paul.sillitoe@liverpool.ac.uk.
BRG Special Interest Issue of ARC
May 2008 will be the next Business Records Group special edition of ARC. Do you have an article or case study that would be of interest to the wider profession? Articles can be on a professional issue or relate to a project or case study from your archives. Please contact Ellen Parton, Communications Officer, for further information.
Dutch Airline KLM records under scrutiny following BBC Radio 4 programme
Dutch MPs are calling on KLM to open their books, following an investigation by Radio 4 programme 'Document', who say they have found evidence to suggest the airline allowed Nazi criminals to escape from Germany, in the years following the Second World War. More information is available at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document.shtml
Articles on Business Records in ARC Magazine
Articles on a new initiative set up by the John Lewis Partnership and on the Society of Archivists North West Region Business Archives Seminar, held in Liverpool in October, appear in this month's issue of ARC. Judy Faraday, of the John Lewis Partnership writes on the success new community website, launched to bring archive material to the staff, customers and local residents. Meanwhile, David Govier from the Archives and Local Studies section of Manchester Central Library, comments on the success of the seminar, at which Maria Sienkiewicz of Barclays Group Archives and Claire Tunstall from Unilever Archives spoke, amongst others.
December 2007
Training event on business process analysis and business classification
On 13 FEBRUARY 2008, at GOODENOUGH COLLEGE , LONDON , the Records Management Group of the SoA are holding their annual AGM and training event, entitled Business Process Analysis and Business Classification.
Business process analysis and business classification schemes are the foundation of good records management systems and essential to the successful implementation of an Electronic Document and Records Management System. At this event experts Keith Batchelor, Philip Jones and Jeff Morelli will share their experience and expertise with delegates. For further details of the programme, see http://www.archives.org.uk/thesociety/specialinterestgroups/
recordsmanagementgroup/agm.html
November 2007
Vacancy for Business Records Development Officer
The National Archives is now advertising for a new Business Records Development Officer to take forward work on the national strategy for business archives. This is an exciting opportunity to make a change to the way business archives are perceived and cared for. Details of the post can be found at http://xenergy.civil-service.gov.uk/index.asp?txtNavID=113&txtOverRideDocID=34648.
September 2007
Innovation and Initiative- business archives today and tomorrow; Business Archives Council Conference 2007
To be held on Tuesday 13th November at Barclays PLC, Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London. The theme of this year's BAC Conference is the development of new ideas and strategies within the field of business archives. The Conference will identify the way business archives can use current business and government agendas to promote and enhance their collections. Price: BAC or ABG members £80 (non-members £100) £10 discount if you book by the end of September. To book a place contact Judy Faraday, Partnership Archivist, John Lewis PLC, Cavendish Road, Stevenage , Herts SG1 2EH. Tel 01483 312 388 ext 4202 or email archives_stevenage@johnlewis.co.uk.
SoA NW Business Archives Seminar and Drinks Reception
On 17 October, at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, the SoA NW Business Archives Seminar is being held. This seminar introduces current projects and recent successes in business archives in the North West . It is followed by news from repositories around the region and then the annual welcome party for newly-enrolled Liverpool University Centre for Archives Studies students. It will be of interest to archivists who work in a business archive or who work in an archives service whose collections include business archives and includes talks on capturing archives when a company or business is sold, Project Apollo: the challenge of records management for Unilever plc and Reputation: potential conflicts between access and corporate reputation. To book a place on the seminar contact David Gower on 0161 234 1980.
June 2007
Spring 2007 issue of Recordkeeping now out
The latest issue of Recordkeeping contains two articles of particular interest to BRG members. The first is an report on Managing Business Archives: a global perspective, a one day conference held in November, by Robert Brown, Business Archives Development Manager. The second is an article titled Opening up access to waterways archives, written by Justine Lee of The Waterways Trust, and giving an update on how they are increasing access to their collections. Copies of Recordkeeping are available to download for free from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/services/recordkeeping.htm/.
News from HSBC Archives
Members may be interested to read the account by Ed Vaizey MP, shadow culture secretary, of his visit to HSBC Archives. You can find this on his blog at http://edvaizey.mpblogs.com/.
May 2007
Appraising Business Records: AGBM Training Event
On Tuesday 12th June, the Business Records Group AGBM and training event is being held at The Phoenix Centre, Phoenix Place, London. The programme is outlined below. If you would like to attend, further information can be obtained by contacting the Secretary,Rachel Hosker.
2.00pm Rachel Hosker, Archive Manager, Scottish Borders Council, 'Bin or Box: A Practical Approach to the Appraisal of Business Records'
3.00pm AGBM
3.30pm Break
4.00pm Paul J Sillitoe, PhD research student, LUCAS, 'Developing Appraisal Tools for Technical Drawings- the Instruments of Power Project'
4.30pm Mike Anson, The Business Archives Council, 'A Business Historian's View of Financial Records'
5.00pm Close.
BRG issue of ARC out this month
May 2007 is the Business Records Group's special interest group issue of ARC. Access remains a popular subject this year, with Barclays, the British Postal Museum and Archive and Prudential all writing about projects they have undertaken to both widen and extend access to their collections. Funding issues are also at the fore, with case studies from both the Tyne and Wear Archives and Glasgow University Archives, and Robert Brown, Business Records Development Officer touches upon it in his article, Good For Business? Housing and preservation needs are written about candidly by Aviva, Unilever and HSBC. And Moira Lovegrove from The Baring Archive, ING, writes on her experience of undertaking the registration scheme in a business archive.
Association of Business Historians 2007 Conference, Business Links: Trade, Distribution and Networks
The Association of Business Historians conference is being held on 29th and 30th June at the History and Governance Research Institute at the University of Wolverhampton . For further information visit http://www.busman.qmul.ac.uk/abh.
January 2007
Business Records Group issue of ARC
May 2007 will be the next Business Records Group special edition of ARC. Do you have an article or case study that would be of interest to the wider profession? Articles can be on a professional issue or relate to a project or case study from your archives. Articles in 2006 included: Putting the Customer First: the Barclays Experience 40th Anniversary of the BT Tower: a BT Heritage project Case Study: Involvement of the Guinness Archive in new brewing and tasting exhibit in Guiness Storehouse The Sainsbury Study Centre at the Museum in Docklands Gordon Bennett! The Royal Automobile Club Archives Catalogue Goes Online When Paul met Sheila – Thomas Cook Archives on TV The Designation Scheme- a perspective from Unilever Archives Cornwall’s Designated Mining Collections Thinking Differently: a business archivist in a medical archive. Articles should be 600-700 words in length, accompanied by an image if possible. Copy needs to be submitted to the Communications Officer by the end of February. If you have an idea for an article please contact Ellen Parton, Communications Officer, who will provide more information.
Bradford Textile Archive
Bradford Textile Archive is to be relocated to one of the most iconic textile mills in Yorkshire- Salts Mill, Saltaire. The centre of the facility will be the Textile Archive, with a studio, education facilities, gallery, workspace, and office accommodation. The archive will incorporate fabric and samples from various collections and a range of collections have already been sourced to create the archive, including Bradford Textile Archive. For further information, contact the Project Director Garry Hiley on gary@cbwt.co.uk.
Last modified 01/10/2008
