Financial Records Training

On Friday 25 November, the Business Archives Council of Scotland (BACS) and Archives and Records Association Scottish Region are holding a joint financial records conference sponsored by CAIS Dundee to introduce members of both organisations to the records of financial institutions.

It will provide a ‘hands-on’ opportunity to use the records of the Alliance Trust, one of Dundee’s prominent Investment Trusts and learn more about using financial records.

 The Annual Joan Auld lecture founded in memory of Dundee’s first University Archivist will follow lunch and the day will conclude with the Regional Meeting of the Association and the AGM of BACS.

Find out more in the programme.

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The business of running an estate

The Dorset History Centre (which is the archives service and local studies library for Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole) has created an online educational pack using its manorial records.

The pack has been designed for school pupils and is pitched at key stage 3 students and contains assorted resources for teachers.

Manorial records are the records of manors which were "areas of land and property belonging to a single landowner - the lord of the manor. They were estates which included land for growing crops and grazing animals, and a manor house. Manors had their own courts which dealt with local disputes and property transactions."

So its a great example of early business records being used to teach children.

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Family businesses

The Institute for Family Business has published research which reveals the 10 oldest family businesses in the UK.  Nine of these had been trading for over 200 years and the Financial Times highlights the oldest which is a butchers called R.J. Balson & Son that started trading in in 1535. Another article about it is available here.

The ten companies are:

• RJ Balson and Son (butchers)
• R Durtnell & Sons (construction)
• C Hoare & Co (private bank)
• Morning Foods (cereals)
• Aspall Cyder (juice & vinegar)
• Lock & Co (hat maker)
• Toye, Kenning & Spencer (military manufacturer)
• Folkes Group (real estate)
• Berry Bros & Rudd (wine merchant)
• Salts Healthcare (surgeons’ instrument manufacturer)

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Catalogue of Dreams

The University of Worcester Research Collections is holding a conference relating to its Kays Archive collection on Tuesday 15 November.

The Catalogue of Dreams: 

Kays’ mail order catalogues & the development of 20th century aspirational living

Date: Tuesday 15 November 2011
Time: 9.30am-4.30pm
Venue: Charles Hastings building, City Campus, University of Worcester
Attendance is FREE. Lunch will be provided.

Established in 1890, Kay & Co Ltd of Worcester became one of the largest mail-order companies of the 20th century. Offering interest-free cash credit, Kay & Co Ltd made both fashionable and functional living available to consumers outside the metropolis, selling everything from clothes to carpets, cheerful homewares to live chickens.

This day-long conference explores how the imagery and text of the Kays catalogues, 1920-2000, offer a prism through which to view the development of aspirational living and body image presented to consumers during the 20th century. Further details and booking forms are available here.

You can see over 1500 images that have been digitised at world of kays as part of their JISC funded project.

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Changes for McEwan's & Younger's

The Scotsman reports on the sale of McEwan's and Younger's to the Bedfordshire-based brewing company Wells and Young's.

You can read about the acquisition on the Wells and Young's website as well, where their Managing Director Nigel McNally says:

“This is a significant and major acquisition, and secures the future for the much loved McEwan’s and Younger’s brands. We are hugely excited about these fantastic Scottish ales joining our stable, they bring a wealth of opportunities to our business which we will realise through brand investment, innovation and exploiting export potential. We are committed to maintaining the rich Scottish heritage of the brands. We will continue brewing McEwan’s draught ales at the historic Caledonian Brewery and we will set up a small Scottish office to support the brands and our range of beers.”

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Business Archives in the FT

Another great article from the Financial Times about menswear fashion brands who are using their heritage and archives to inform their collections and brand identity.  It includes examples from Burberry, Wolsley, Belstaff and Denham.  Belstaff's chief executive Harry Slatkin is quoted as saying that:

Belstaff is an iconic English brand. When you find a brand that has such a rich history, you pay homage to it and you don’t change it. The challenge is adding modernity and making it current to today’s modern world.

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