Extraordinary working lives

To support The Working Archive campaign, we have recently launched a blog to complement the web pages we have on the Scottish Council on Archives website.

The blog will celebrate and share unique stories of Scot's working lives from archive collections held across Scotland in archives, museums or personal collections.

Do you have an extraordinary story? Please contact the SCA or Kiara if you would like to contribute to the blog.

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Case Study: Supporting Business in your Community

I'm very pleased to be able to blog about our first bi-lingual case study from Tasglann nan Eilean Siar (Hebridean Archives) and the Harris Tweed Authority.

The Tasglann has been working with business and industry in the Outer Hebrides to advise and assist them in managing their records. Their aim is to help businesses to make better use of a key asset: their records, be it for administrative purposes, marketing, or legal defence.

The case study discusses how the Tasglann worked with the Harris Tweed Authority to undertake a full survey of their archive records, uncovering and listing numerous case files relating to trademark defence. Following the survey, these files are now accessible and easy to locate allowing the Authority to utilise them more easily in supporting their ongoing work and marketing.

The full case study is available in English and Gaelic and the others can be found here.

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Conference: The Beating Heart of London’s Business

The Beating Heart of London’s Business: Exploring Company Archives Their Uses and Users

On the 12th and 13th April 2013 a two-day conference, organised by The Archives and Artefacts Study Network (A2SN) and supported by the Postal History Society, the Business Archives Council and the Historical Model Railway Society will take place in London.

This is the second such conference following last year's event in Derby and both seek to explore and expand co-operation between volunteer-led societies involved in business history fields and the academics, archivists and museum professionals working in the same areas. The events aim to prompt an awareness of what these various groups are doing, and to start a dialogue between the enthusiast and academic which may lead to co-operation in preserving and using collections, and furthering our understanding of the past and its relevance to the future.

London, as a venue for the second conference, has been facilitated by John Scott, Chairman of the Culture, Heritage & Libraries Committee of the City of London Corporation, who is one of our speakers. The event is hosted by London Metropolitan Archives and Museum of London Docklands and themes of trade and commerce are drawn from holdings in their care. London is a world-renowned centre for business, a place where the means of communication, written, electronic and physical, come together. It is not surprising therefore to find a vast array of business archives held in archival repositories in and around the City. Whatever your passion, we aim to give you new opportunities, avenues of exploration and fresh insights.

To find out more please download the flyer with a booking form.  Proceedings of last year’s event are also available to download.

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Businesses at Christmas

[from BPMA Flickr here]

Before finishing up for Christmas, I wanted to share some of the lovely bits and bobs that business archive collections have been sharing in the last couple of weeks.

The Christmas posters from British Postal Museum and Archive are as always great, including this example above. They also have a series of podcasts, that include one on the history of Christmas cards.

The Design Archives at the University of Brighton exists to promote the study of design and is an internationally significant scholarly resource focusing on British design and global design organisations in the 20th century. They have a set up on Flickr - Season's Greetings from the Design Archives.

The National Railway Museum has been sharing images on twitter, including this one of GNR Christmas Excursions. As has M&S Heritage, the Guardian Archive and Coca-Cola Archives. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Archives have been doing the same thing over on their facebook.

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Case Study: Dundee Whaling Project

We've squeezed in another new case study on the Scottish Business Archives website before the end of the year. This is a really interesting one about how archives, museums and libraries with collections relating to Dundee's whaling history have worked together to produce a resource that highlights the fantastic history of the industry.

The full case study is available here and there others can be found here.

We've a few more drafted and ready to go in the New Year, so keep an eye out for them.

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Instruments of Power

Instruments of Power is a follow-on project by Paul Sillitoe from his PhD research at the University of Liverpool. The aim of that research was to develop new ways to make technical drawings more accessible for researchers, by making them more understandable for archivists.

Download a pdf of this image

The text below has been submitted by Paul, his new project will work with archivists and researchers to transform theoretical findings into practical outcomes. So he will be looking for archivists and researchers to act as consultees for the project.

The Problem

Technical drawings graphically represent engineering and manufacturing designs better than any textual description. These potent instruments of power and innovative thought depict progress, process and product across British industry.

Yet they are under-valued, under-used and at-risk research resources - less likely than textual records to be selected as archives, or adequately described for researchers. Why?

As a second-career archivist, from an engineering background, I took reading technical drawings for granted. Yet as I began to manage archival cataloguing teams, I realised that many archivists could not understand them. Their predominantly arts-based backgrounds had not equipped them for this foreign technical language, whose graphical conventions differed across industries and time.

Consequently, many technical drawings, even if secured for archival preservation, remain uncatalogued and inaccessible to researchers. The archival record for Britain’s period of industrialisation is therefore unbalanced.

A Research Solution

My hypothesis is that archivists do not need to understand a technical drawing in its entirety. They only need to be able to extract the information required for appraisal and cataloguing.

The aim of the PhD research was therefore to discover whether sufficient information could always be found within a technical drawing that was unrelated to its subject content. Such generic information, if identified and described, could form the basis for practical guidance to the understanding of technical drawings.

The PhD research statistically surveyed a sample of complex twentieth-century technical drawings. Individual concepts and characteristics were identified, and their frequencies of occurrence quantified. Thirty four concepts and characteristics were identified as almost always occurring within technical drawings, and having potential to be useful to understanding.

Forty further concepts and characteristics were identified as occurring less frequently within the sample. They have potential to be useful to understanding if they are found to occur more frequently in other samples of technical drawings. Archivist and researcher consultees are now required. Consultees are now sought to help assess the practical utility of these concepts and characteristics in understanding technical drawings. The consultation will be held principally online. Your views will contribute to published practical guidance to the understanding of technical drawings for archivists and researchers.

If you are interested in the project, then please contact Paul on paul@sillitoe-uk.net

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Scotland's Industrial Souvenir

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland have digitised volume 2 of their copy of Scotland's Industrial Souvenir. This is a trade catalogue from 1905 which highlights Scotland's industrial achievements. RCAHMS head of collections Lesley Ferguson, said:

“From Edinburgh’s breweries, brush makers, glue factories and ironmongers, to fish merchants in Aberdeen and confectioners and jute merchants in Dundee, these beautifully detailed advertisements conjure up the sights, sounds and smells of Scotland’s industrial heyday."

The BBC produced a lovely gallery of the images on their site yesterday, which is the second time they've include business archives on the site following the gallery of Bartholomew Archive last week.

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The Bartholomew Archive at NLS

Today, the National Library of Scotland opens its exhibition of Bartholomew Archive material in their George IV Bridge building. Putting Scotland on the Map: The World of John Bartholomew and Son will explore the techniques and processes by which Bartholomew brought their maps to life.

The Bartholomew Archive is the remarkable record of the Edinburgh-based firm of map engravers, printers and publishers, John Bartholomew & Son Ltd. It is one of the most extensive cartographic archives available for research in a public institution.

There are some amazing images in the exhibition, some particularly lovely ones that illustrate the role of women in work.

Find out more about the collection on their blog and website and the BBC had some preview images up online yesterday here.

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Exhibition to celebrate The Dandy's 75th anniversary

The University of Dundee Museum Services have created an exhibition in their Lamb Gallery to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Dandy, the world’s third-longest running comic created by Dundee publishers DC Thomson.

On Saturday 8 December at 2pm there will be a special event to tie into this exhibiton. The event takes the form of an informative and engaging series of talks about The Dandy’s history and its future. The event takes place on Saturday at 2pm in the Baxter suite, room 1.36 (on the first floor of the Tower Building). The exhibition will be on show until 12 January (except when the University is closed for Christmas 23 December – 2 January).

As well as looking at the past and the great archive, the event will also look to the comic's future, giving an exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpse at the creation of the new Digital Dandy, with a discussion led by Dr Chris Murray of the School of Humanities, with contributions from former Dandy editor Morris Heggie, new Digital Dandy editor Craig Ferguson, Digital Production manager Mark Hunter, writer Dan McGachey, long-time DCT artist David Sutherland, and one of the artists who is very closely involved in the direction of the Digital Dandy, Stephen White.

The exhibition and launch have been created as part of an on-going partnership between DC Thomson & Co Ltd, the University of Dundee Museum Services and the newly established Scottish Centre for Comics Studies based at the University.

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Scottish Canals Heritage Strategy

Scottish Canals have recently launched their draft heritage strategy

They have a great collection of business archives that are a key part of the heritage strategy and one of the aims is to: "improve understanding, condition of and access to Scottish Canals' artefacts and archive." But interestingly their strategy covers a huge range of types of heritage:

This strategy will cover all types of cultural heritage associated with Scottish Canals. As well as engineering structures, buildings and natural heritage, our estate includes archaeological sites, historical documents and artefacts. We also wish to safeguard and promote cultural heritage that is not physical, including traditions, craft skills, language, literature, knowledge and associations with past events and people.

The consultation will close on 14 January 2013, to submit your feedback click here.

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Meet the Archivists

In 10 days time, on Friday 9th November the first Scottish 'Meet the Archivists' event will take place at the University of Glasgow.

 

This FREE workshop aims to encourage students and academic researchers to make the most of Business Archives by bringing together academics and archivists to discuss and explore with students how business archive collections can be used for their research.  You can find out more and register for the event via eventbrite.

 

This event has been organised by the Business Archives Council of Scotland, the Scottish Council on Archives and the Centre of Business History.  It follows the pattern of successful events organised by the Business Archives Council in London for the last four years and an event held at Swansea University this year.

 

There will be representatives from the following archives available to discuss their collections as well as information about many other business archive collections in Scotland and the UK:

• University of Aberdeen
• Diageo Archive
• Edinburgh City Archives
• Glasgow City Archives
• University of Glasgow Archives Services
• Lloyds Banking Group Archives (Edinburgh)
• Marks and Spencer Company Archive
• National Records of Scotland/National Register of Archives for Scotland
• Royal Bank of Scotland Group Archives
• Tasglann nan Eilean Siar (Hebridean Archives)

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New SCA website

The Scottish Council on Archives have launched their new website today.  As they are kind enough to host all the information and resources for the National Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland this means the links for information about Business Archives in Scotland have changed.

• National Strategy
• Implementation
• Benefits of Business Archives
• Case Studies
• Collections
• Resources
• Data Mapping Project

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Jaguar's 90th anniversary

Jaguar Heritage organised an event in cooperation with BAE Systems this month to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the Swallow Sidecar Company - Sir William Lyons' first business and the forerunner of today's Jaguar Cars Limited.

image from here

The event was a gathering of a rare collection of Jaguar cars at BAE's Warton site, for a ‘birthday surprise’ in the form of a flypast by a Eurofighter Typhoon.

 see more images in the slideshow

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Data Mapping Project Report

The report and methodology for the Data Mapping Project has been published on the SCA website. We are still experiementing with the best way to make the dataset of 6120 collections available online.

At the moment we have a draft Google fusion table which allows us to display parts of the data in different ways. For example, there is a map view of the collections by business location and also repository location.


Or this view which shows the connections between industry sectors and companies.
Many thanks to the Archives and Records Association for funding the first stage of this project.

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Meet the Archivists Poster

We now have a poster for the Meet the Archivists event in November.

The Meet the Archivists event will take place on November 9th 2012. It is a FREE workshop to encourage students and academic researchers to make the most of Business Archives will be held at the University of Glasgow. It will bring together academics and archivists to discuss and explore with students how business archive collections can be used for their research. You can find out more and register for the event via eventbrite.

Please download it and share it with people.

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Case Study: RBS and NLS UNESCO’s UK Memory of the World Register - business archives of national importance

Sometimes business archives can tell a story of huge national importance. The records of the Company of Scotland are such a collection and were one of the first ten archival collections placed on UNESCO’s UK Memory of the World Register in 2010.

(click to enlarge)

The case study describes why these business records are of national importance and the benefits gained by UNESCO recognition of the Company of Scotland collections belonging to the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc and the National Library of Scotland.

The full case study is available here and there others can be found here.

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Case study: John Murray Archive - celebrating the history of the book

The John Murray archive is a treasure trove of over 200 years of the firm's publishing history as well as containing information about 7 generations of the Murray family. It contains stories of travel, adventure, passion and much more.

(click image to enlarge)

The case study describes how the business archive collection is used by a wide variety of researchers through the NLS' events, talks, online activities and education/outreach programs and demonstrates that business papers are essential and integral to understanding authors.

The full case study is available here and there others can be found here.

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New case studies

I'm pleased to say that we have some new case studies on the Business Archives in Scotland website. 

The two new ones feature the John Murray Archive and the importance of celebrating the history of the book and business archives of national importance from the The Royal Bank of Scotland and National Library of Scotland entry into the UNESCO’s UK Memory of the World Register.

I'll blog about each of them separately but in the meantime you can read them here. 

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Scottish Brewing Archive Association Conference

The Scottish Brewing Archive Association are holding their 2nd conference this September in Glasgow.

The conference is titled "A half and a hauf" - a celebration of the links between brewing and distilling in Scotland.  The programme can be viewed online along with a booking form and methods of payment here.

Three experts from the industry will be giving presentations:

• Douglas Murray, Diageo plc - Brewing and distilling: a common heritage 
• Gordon Motion, The Edrington Group - Timber to tumbler: cask use in Scotch whisky 
• Stuart Cail, Harvieston Brewery - Some thoughts on producing wood aged beers 

After the presentations delegates will have an opportunity to participate in a tutored whisky and beer tasting and to chat with the speakers and SBAA committee members over lunch.

The event will be held in the Teachers Building, St Enoch Square, Glasgow on 7th September 2012 and is open to anyone interested in the Scottish brewing and distilling scene: beer and whisky enthusiasts, collectors, members of the industry, historians, students studying brewing and marketing, etc.

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Italian Business Archive ENI on youtube

Thanks to an article in this month's ARC magazine I've discovered the YouTube channel for Eni, an Italian energy company.  They say that:

The history of eni has not only been told in print, but has also been captured on film, hundreds of thousands of feet shot by filmmakers and intellectuals such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Alessandro Blasetti, Folco Quilici, Gilbert Bovay and Leonardo Sciascia, to name but a few.

Eni’s film department operated from the 50s until the mid-80s, and produced authentic works of cinematic art, but mostly documented the history of the twentieth century Italy, and giving us today a complete picture of the years that radically changed the country, both within and beyond its borders.

 Have a look at their films here, including this Italy on Wheels film.

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