Publicising the national strategy

Plans are ongoing for the official launch of the national strategy for business archives in Scotland but in the meantime we are publicising it where we can.  One such event is the the European Business History Association's conference this week at the University of Glasgow's Centre for Business History.

We hope that business historians will be interested in the strategy and particularly the actions aimed at increasing the use of business archives for academic research purposes.

To help with the publicity, I've created a small leaflet that I thought I would share here as well for downloading and printing (although it is a full colour leaflet so make sure you set it to print black and white).

• NSBAS Leaflet

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Strategy is now available

The National Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland can now be view and downloaded here.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped David and I to produce this document.  A launch for the strategy is being planned and details will be posted here once they are finalised but we hope the launch will take place in the Autumn.

Any comments about the strategy can be sent to me at kiara.king@glasgow.ac.uk or bacs@archives.gla.ac.uk.

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Pringle to form an Archive

Pringle of Scotland have launched an appeal to the public to help it create an archive of its 195 year history.  They are looking for objects, documents, photographs and memories of the company and the brand.  This information will help form the basis of a company archive in Hawick.

The company is hosting a ‘Day of Record’ at the site of the former factory in Hawick on Thursday 12th August (10am - 6pm).  This will be an Antiques Road Show style day for local people to come along and bring in their treasures and share their memories of the company.

To find out more about the day please email: dayofrecord@pringlescotland.com.

To find out more about the history of pringle, there is a brief overview provided by a heritage in luxury.

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RBS Archive news

Congratulations to the Royal Bank of Scotland Archives who have had one of their collections recognised by the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

Thanks to Alison Turton for the following information sent to ARCHIVES-NRA:

"Following on from the announcement yesterday from David Dawson, Chair of the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Working Group, RBS Group Archives is pleased to announce that a collection of its documents has been inscribed on UNESCO’s new UK Memory of the World Register.


The inscribed archives relate to the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies. Dating from the 1690s, they tell the story of a failed Scottish attempt to build a trading colony at Darien, in present-day Panama. The scheme’s catastrophic failure prompted an economic collapse that was instrumental in forcing Scotland towards political Union with England, finally enacted in 1707. As a result the archives are uniquely significant in documenting the economic circumstances underlying the foundation of modern Scotland.

The nomination for the UNESCO register was made by the RBS archive team with the National Library of Scotland, which also holds Company of Scotland records.

To coincide with the launch of the UK Memory of the World Register, we have refreshed our online teaching resources for schools, which include materials based on the story of the Darien scheme and the Company of Scotland archives. This resource is available in English and Gaelic on our new website at: http://www.rbs.com/ourteachingresources.

We’ve also added to the information available in our online archive guide about the Company of Scotland archive - just type ‘RBS Heritage Online’ into your browser."

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A Living Archive - Dundee University & Canongate Publishers

With thanks to Patricia Whatley for this information via Scotarch:

The University of Dundee Archive and Canongate publishers have joined together to create a 'living archive'.  The University is to be the custodian of the Canongate Archive, which will include all the publications produced, draft manuscripts, artwork and marketing material and accounts. The University Archive is also working with Canongate to ensure that significant electronic records, including emails and texts, are included in the archive on an ongoing basis, which will provide a full record of the company and its ongoing development within the digital age.

This is a great example of partnership working for a business archive, particularly for such an important literary collection.  From the press release it is clear that the company have recognised that "having the expertise and knowledge of the University’s Archive Services to help us record and document our past, present and future is a generous gift and a wonderful opportunity." (Jamie Byng, Publisher and Managing Director of Canongate Books.)  More information about the archive is available here.

Canongate, founded in 1973, is one of the most exciting, dynamic and innovative publishing houses in the world, with a stable of international names bursting with literary talent and original ideas - David Simon, Barack Obama, Yann Martel, Philip Pullman - yet its roots are firmly Scottish and it retains the spirit of the Scottish Canon.

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