Meet the Archivists 2013

On Friday 20th September, a FREE workshop to encourage students and academic researchers to make the most of Business Archives will be held at Evolution House, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh.


This is the 2nd Meet the Archivists event that the Business Archives Council of Scotland, the Scottish Council on Archives have organised and it aims to bring together artists and archivists to discuss and explore with students how business archive collections can be used for their research.

This year the focus is on creative and design use of business archives. So the event is aimed at college of art students, architectural and design students/academics but all are welcome.

We will have speakers that include artists and archivists discussing interesting and creative projects based on business archives like the Bartholomew Archive at NLS, the Stoddard-Templeton Archive at GUAS plus discussions by archivists from both Edinburgh College of Art and Glasgow School of Art and the Textile Archive at Heriot-Watt University on how their collections act as a source of creative inspiration.

You can find out more and register for the event via eventbrite.

This is a Working Archive event and you can find out more about the campaign here.

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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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Meet the Archivists: a review

our goodie bag

We're very pleased with how our first Scottish ‘Meet the Archivists’ event went on the 9th November. This was a free event organised by the Business Archives Council of Scotland, the Scottish Council on Archives and the Centre of Business History to encourage students and academic researchers to make the most of business archive collections.  

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed information to the day. There's going to be a proper write up of the day in the SCA's Broadsheet next month. A particular thanks to those who attended and have been kind enough to fill out our mini survey and say lots of nice things about the day which seems to have been very successful with everyone rating it either ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’.

Comments included:
“was a really useful and inspiring day”
“Great atmosphere; great line up of interesting and knowledgeable speakers; sessions were at the right pace and information given at the right level; great to have the opportunity to discuss my research with archivists and to get some pointers; loved the goodie bag - and lunch.”
"A really worthwhile training event. Thanks to all involved."

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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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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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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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Meet the Archivists in Scotland

On November 9th, 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.

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.

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Frame on Frame: textiles films from the Scottish Screen Archive



Image from here

On Thursday 17 May from 6pm Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh presents a film night by Dr Jonathan Murray who is a Lecturer in Film and Visual Culture at Edinburgh College of Art entitled:

Frame on Frame: textiles films from the Scottish Screen Archive

This event uses textile films held by the Scottish Screen Archive to look at what they tell us about who we were as they do about what we wore:

Given the historic cultural, industrial, and economic importance of textile manufacturing for Scotland, it is no surprise that the Scottish Screen Archive contains a wealth of documentary films depicting the subject. As one might expect, such material often examines traditional and modern fabric-making processes at considerable length. Yet the works in question also speak to an audience far wider than professional textile-makers and scholars alone, and their interest is more than just factual and technical in nature. If the films surveyed below explain the weaving of Scottish fabrics, they also illuminate the diverse, and often surprising, ways in which Scotland wove ideas from or around its native cloth and carpet. We find gendered and imperial British identities within the post-WWII nation championed or challenged in some of these films, while others lay bare the constant push/pull between competing values of tradition and modernity that shaped so much of twentieth-century Scottish culture and identity.

Book your free tickets via Eventbrite

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ICA Event - The Business Archvist in the 21st Century

The ICA's Section on Business and Labour Archives International Business Archives Seminar is coming up in April.

The title is "With Constant Care… the Business Archivist in the 21st Century" and the programme for it can be viewed here. The event will run for 2 days over 16-17 April 2012 in the A.P. Moller - Maersk Headquarters in Copenhagen.

It will include presentations on:

• Trends in general management strategy 2012-2015
• Archives management in Mergers & Divestments
• Organisation – how to position yourself
• Sustainability in archives
• Electronic Records Management – cases from the real world

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The Value of Business Archives for Research

A reminder that there is a workshop on the Value of Business Archives for Research being held this week on Friday 27th January in Swansea at the University Archives on the subject of business archives and their use for researchers.

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Help Shape the Future of Scottish Archives and Records

The Scottish Council on Archives has been a great supporter of the National Strategy but they do more than support business archives, they are:

 The lead body for the advocacy and development of archive services in Scotland. We are committed to developing a national strategy to take the archival community in Scotland forward. We support historic archives in local authority record offices and elsewhere, modern records management and electronic document management services, community archives, and activities such as conservation and preservation, as well as digitisation and learning. We also aim to promote archive services to the wider public by publicising initiatives such as the annual Archives Awareness Campaign.

In January they are holding an event to help determineits Strategic Framework for 2012-2014. There will be a consultation event on Wednesday, 11 January 2012, in the Mitchell Library Glasgow (11.00am-4.00pm).

This is an opportunity for you  to help shape the future of Scottish archives and records through in-depth discussion of the guiding principles, vision, themes and objectives which will shape how the SCA moves forward over the next three years.  The SCA feels that it is essential that the strategy reflects the needs and aspirations of the entire sector and all its stakeholders.

If you would like to attend please RSVP to Ben.Bennett@scoarch.org.uk by the 5 January 2012.  More details are available here.

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The Business Archivist in the 21st Century

The ICA's Section on Business and Labour Archives has announced details of their International Business Archives Seminar to be held in Copenhagen next April.

The title is "With Constant Care… the Business Archivist in the 21st Century" and the flyer for it can be viewed here.  More details will be released in January 2012 but the event will run for 2 days over 16-17 April 2012 in the A.P. Moller - Maersk Headquarters in Copenhagen.

It will include presentations on:

• Trends in general management strategy 2012-2015
• Archives management in Mergers & Divestments
• Organisation – how to position yourself
• Sustainability in archives
• Electronic Records Management – cases from the real world

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BAC Archive Workshop

The Business Archives Council is holding an archive workshop for new researchers in London on Thursday 8th December.

The workshop aims to explore ways in which new research students can identify and use business records in a surprising variety of different research fields. Participants will be able to explore the vast and varied materials available at many of the UKs major and minor business archives. Now in its fourth year, this event will be hosted by The Rothschild Archive. Following a successful formula from previous years, the day will commence with an archives skills workshop run by eminent academic historians, followed by a buffet lunch, where participants will be able to meet the archivists.

Find out more here including the full timetable featuring archives and archivists from The Baring Archive, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, London Metropolitan Archives, The National Archives and the Rothschild Archive.

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BACS & ARA event

A reminder that tomorrow (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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100 years of Harris Tweed

There is an event tomorrow Friday 18th November at The Old School in Shawbost, Isle of Lewis to mark 100 years of the Harris Tweed Orb organised by Harris Tweed and The Islands Book Trust.

[Image from here]

See the flyer for more details.

This one-day event, arranged by the Islands Book Trust at the request of the Harris Tweed Authority, will mark the centenary of the Orb by reviewing the history of this vitally important and distinctive island industry, celebrating its successes and achievements, and reflecting on the current and future challenges it faces.

Thanks to the Hebridean Archive Service blog for the tip-off about this event.

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Guinness Was Good for Us

The Scottish Oral History Centre is holding a workshop today in Glasgow at 5:30pm called 'Guinness Was Good for Us: Understanding Corporate Culture Through Oral and Visual Approaches' by Prof Tim Strangleman.

[Image from here]

The workshops are open to all and held in Room 4.02 of the McCance Building at the University of Strathclyde.

More information here.

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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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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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Donate a memory

The Museum of Brands in London is holding a donate a memory day on monday 26th September from 10 am to 4.30 pm.

This is a free event for senior citizens only to celebrate their childhood memories and pass them on to the next generation. A team of volunteers will be on hand to gather visitors' memories in a digital memory bank.

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Managing a Small Repository

The Religious Archives Group Conference theme this year is “On a Wing and a Prayer”: Managing the Small Repository.

Looking at the programme there are some similarities in the issues faced by religious archive with those owners of small business archives face.  The conference seeks to

address the needs of those running small repositories and, in the present economic climate, will, we feel, strike a chord with many. There will be presentations on what can be done to preserve materials on a tight budget and another on inventive ways of promoting your collections.

For those working with small business archives, it might be worth enquiring if you can attend and go along on the 27th September to see what lessons can be learned from our colleagues in the religious archives group.

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