Ongoing Initiatives

Appointment of new Business Archives Strategy consultant

Following preliminary work undertaken by Robert Brown, Katey Logan has now been engaged as a consultant, to deliver a business archives strategy for England and Wales. The strategy is due to be launched in late 2008 or early 2009.

Katey Logan has had a successful career at a senior level in the management of business records and is a former board member of the Business Archives Council. She can be contacted on 0115 9226722 or at katey@loganmccabe.com.

Report on the activities of the Business Records Development Officer, TNA, to May 2007

Since taking up the post in May 2006, the Business Records Development Officer (BRDO) has made good progress towards the achievement of the major objectives of his post: the development of a national strategy for business records, and the provision of advice and support for archivists working with business collections, both in the corporate world and also in the public sector.

Much of the past year has been taken up with research into the state of business archives, and also in discussions with business archivists. At the joint BAC/BRG/BACS/ICA conference at Edinburgh in November 2006 the BRDO gave a paper about the UK’s ‘pluralistic’ system for preserving business records, and the need for a more formalised national strategy for the sector. The small number of corporate archive units, coupled with outsourcing and cost-cutting pressures and the increased rate of mergers and acquisitions are clearly having a negative impact on archival provision.

A questionnaire for corporate archivists, prepared by senior members of BAC and BRG, issued at the end of March 2007, is producing some useful data. It is being supplemented by focussed qualitative research into a whole range of other issues. This includes the need for more effective regional structures to monitor what is happening to business archives, increased liaison with industry and professional bodies, and ways of persuading more companies to recognise the business value of investing in archives (through adherence to social responsibility, or heritage and community programmes).

The major issues that the strategy must address – and also a recognition of what is achievable given the nature of the sector - are now clear. It is proposed that a draft strategy document will be available for discussion at a series of focus groups in the autumn.

In addition to strategy development, the BRDO has also been responsible for liaison with businesses over their records. During the past year he has dealt with a steady stream of major and minor cases. As a result of corporate relocations he has organised the safe transfer to public sector repositories of a number of collections of historically important business archives. These include, for example, ledgers containing recipes for the manufacture of flavourings for food and drink produced by Duckworth & Co (now in the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester); and also the archives of the Confederation of Paper Industries (now in the St Bride Printing Library).

In addition he has been involved in on-going discussions about the future development of archives in an interesting range of companies. This list includes a major regional utility company, a multi-national pharmaceutical company, an important retailing concern, and a high-profile organisation whose mission is to persuade businesses to be more socially responsible.

Development of a range of online resources for those working with business records, was timetabled for the second year of the project. It has been agreed that these will include toolkits offering help with the appraisal of business records, carrying out surveys and also advice on dealing with liquidators and receivers.

Business Records Development Officer

At the end of May 2006 Robert Brown took up his two-year post as Business Records Development Officer within TNA’s National Advisory Service at Kew.

Robert is responsible for developing a strategy for the stewardship of business archives in England and Wales; promoting the professional management of records and archives to the business community; working with partners to develop and support projects relating to business archives; taking the lead in protecting business archives at risk; and promoting the use of business archives in historical research. The post is being funded jointly by TNA, the Business Archives Council, the Society of Archivists (Research Fund), the Association of Business Historians, the Economic History Society, MLA and Cymal.

Robert has worked in business history for most of his career, especially with BP, and recently completed a diploma in archives and records management at UCL. He is keen to consult as widely as possible and would like to hear from anyone with views on how this initiative can best be developed. Robert can be contacted at Robert.Brown@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

BRG is represented on the project steering committee and further news will be posted here as soon as it becomes available. Indeed we hope Robert will actively use this site in the course of the project to solicit views and feedback from BRG members.

Background to the post: The Round Table on Business Records was convened by TNA following discussions held at the Business Archives Council’s annual conference in November 2003. It comprised representatives from the Business Archives Council, Society of Archivists, Business Records Group of the Society of Archivists, Confederation of British Industry, Museums Libraries and Archives Council, Association of Business Historians and Association of Chief Archivists in Local Government. In early 2004 the Round Table drew up a discussion document identifying a number of key issues and how they might be resolved as a means to move toward a national strategy for business archives (as recommended in the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council’s Archives Task Force Report, Listening to the Past, Speaking to the Future, 2004, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, Recommendation 5, Action 1). The discussion document was distributed for comment in June 2004 and there was subsequently broad agreement that the successful development and implementation of the ideas it contained would require a dedicated person to pursue them. Funding arrangements were completed and the post of Business Records Development Officer advertised in the national and professional press in late 2005.

Goodison Review

Governmental support for corporate archives was for the first time suggested in Sir Nicholas Goodison's 2004 Treasury-sponsored review of museum and archive funding Securing the Best for our Museums: Private Funding and Government Support. Among other proposals Goodison's review recommended that companies should be able to includethe care and conservation of business archives and the costs of providing acces to them, and of any related educational service, in their costs before the calculation of corporate tax (Recommendation 39).

Treasury response is currently awaited and BRG has been supporting the Society of Archivists in lobbying government to consider and respond to the Goodison recommendations. The SoA letter to the Treasury on this issue is available to download from this page and the BRG encourages its members to support this issue.

Last modified 27/09/2008