Case study: Scottish Business Archive - Supporting Business to Secure its Heritage

The Scottish Business Archive at the University of Glasgow is one of the largest collections of business records world wide, and represents the business interests of Scotland from the eighteenth century to the present. The collections reflect the contribution and breadth of activity that Scotland’s business, industry and enterprise has made, and continues to make, to the world economy.



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The Scottish Business Archive offers services to the Scottish business community, providing a corporate archive service. It works closely with the Business Archives Council of Scotland to offer advice and support to business on the management of information resources, and provide an off-site archive management service for heritage resources. This service offers business an alternative option for the professional management of its archives which minimises investment in property and staff.

By depositing their archives with the Scottish Business Archive, businesses are contributing to the nation’s heritage and cultural assets. Whilst it is rooted in the industrial concerns of the west of Scotland such as shipbuilding, railway locomotive manufacture, and textiles the Scottish Business Archive has grown to cover almost all types of business and industrial activity in Scotland and the UK. The 400 collections represent 1,000 companies, from banking, confectioners and distillers to retail, solicitors and undertakers.

The full case study is available here and there are a range of others here.

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Solicitors' business records

The Law Society has produced very useful guidance entitled depositing records and documents with public sector archives.

It is aimed at solicitors, office managers or personnel responsible for case files or storage of solicitors' files and records and hopes to:

reverse the trend of the destruction or sale of these historically significant legal documents and solicitors are encouraged to consider alternative options for their redundant items. This practice note provides advice on depositing old client documents or early records about your firm with the appropriate local authority record office.

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Case study: Diageo - Brand Passion and Integrity

The Diageo Archive holds records relating to more than 1500 brands past and present, from those long established such as Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky, Smirnoff Vodka and Tanqueray Gin to more recent innovative brands such as Baileys Irish Cream. The collections span 402 years of history with brands such as Bushmills Irish Whiskey having heritage and history dating back to 1608 and they tell the rich histories of these brands as well as our distillery sites, companies and people. From 18th century ledgers to the most recent annual reports, the archive materials authenticate and add texture to these rich histories.

The case study postcard featured an image of Johnnie Walker taken from original 1908/09 advertising campaigns  and used as part of the launch of Johnnie Walker Blue Label King George V in Madrid in 2008.

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The case study demonstrates how with access to original source material, the Archive team can use their knowledge, passion and commitment to verify brand information and discover new brand truths giving sales and marketing teams a unique insight into the brand to support launches, celebrations and PR events by displaying and presenting materials from the Archive.

The full case study is available here and the other case studies here.

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Case study: Tennent's - Celebrating and Marketing Your Heritage

Tennent's lager has been made in Glasgow since 1885 and Tennent’s has a long and proud heritage which has been preserved in its business archive collection.

Since the 1980s Tennent’s have contracted out the storage and management of its archive, first to the Scottish Brewing Archive and more recently to the University of Glasgow Archive Service (which took on the management of all collections previously managed by the Scottish Brewing Archive). Through this arrangement, the University of Glasgow ensures the preservation of the archive in its archival repository and provides enquiry services for both Tennent’s staff and external researchers. In this way Tennent’s ensures the professional management of its heritage assets, utilises the archive to support its current business activities, and provides a research resource for the public.  Details about the collection can be found here.

The postcard created for the launch feature an image of Hugh Tennent taken from the advertising material.

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The case study discusses how the fantastic and true tale of the brand’s heritage and entrepreneurial young founder, Hugh Tennent, was celebrated by the brand throughout 2010 in a major national advertising campaign.  Hugh’s innovative vision not only gave birth to Tennent’s Lager and new techniques for brewing in Scotland, but influenced a 125 year history of the brands creative and innovative advertising and sponsorships.

The full case study is available here and the other case studies here.

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Case Study: The Ballast Trust - Understanding Technical Records

The Ballast Trust is a charitable foundation that provides a rescue, sorting and cataloguing service for business archives with an emphasis on technical records such as shipbuilding, railway and engineering plans, drawings and photographs.  Since its establishment in 1987 it has processed technical records on behalf of national and local archive repositories and museums and played a crucial part in the preservation of many business archive collections.

The postcard created for the launch shows a scene from the Joiner's shop at Lithgows, Port Glasgow where the Trust initially operated for nearly 4 years processing over 100 tons of material related to Scott Lithgow Ltd.

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During processing the records continued to have business value and Scott Lithgow benefited from the organisation and management of the collection to allow them to answer legal and historical enquiries and settle administrative issues. The records are now held by Glasgow University Archive Services where they serve a variety of academic, enthusiast, and personal research purposes being one of the fullest collections from Scottish shipbuilding. It covers a period of over 120 years, spanning over 150 linear metres of storage and treasures include correspondence from a Confederate paddle steamer captain about blockade running during the American Civil War, nineteenth century photograph albums and a series of yard manager diaries.

The full case study is available here.

Today the Trust continues to believe business collections are essential in understanding Scotland’s rich industrial and economic past and that technical records provide important contextual information to aid in the understanding of these collections. We can support businesses and archive services to make the most of their business collections and improve their understanding of technical records through guidance, advice and our processing service based on many years of experience in handling such material.

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