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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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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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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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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Social Enterprise, Victorian-style

One of the surprises of the 100-Oldest Companies project was discovering that many Scottish companies were initially started to bring benefit to the local community.

Of the 100-Oldest, the Corstorphine Public Hall and Cupar Corn Exchange Companies were both set-up to build and then manage their titular facilities for the public good, addressing important needs in their respective localities. Many of the subscribers were local men and women (though some of the shareholders in Cupar were members of the landed gentry), and neither company sort to make any profit from their investment.

Of the other companies still surviving, The Dean Grounds Association raised money for tennis lawns, which it then handed to the Dean Tennis Club, and the previously mentioned Leith Cemetery Company provided a much needed service (at affordable prices) to the people of Leith.

Although we may think of companies as a means to maximise profit, this sort of publically spirited enterprise actually pre-dates many larger, money-making businesses incorporating themselves: most large firms regarded limited liability companies with suspicion until the 1890s and 1900s. Perhaps when current politicians talk of the need for social enterprise and community investment, they could do worse than look to the past for examples of success.

Photo of the Cupar Corn Exchange tower, taken from wikipedia. The owner is user:kilburn

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Survey Work for the 'Scotland's 100-oldest Companies Project'

Two very different companies allowed me access to their records within the last week for the 100-oldest Companies project.

The first was the Edinburgh Crematorium Limited, who allowed me to survey the surviving records of the Leith Cemetery and Cremation Company. These records consist of a small, but perfectly formed, collection going back to the company's foundation in 1887.

Though the business is not well-known outside of Leith, its story is an interesting one of local people addressing a local need for a cemetery, which they then ran until increasing overheads prompted the sale to Edinburgh Crematorium in the 1960s. You can find more in my entry on the project wiki here. I looked through the records on site in the peaceful surroundings of the Lodge at the entrance to Seafield Cemetery in Leith.

The second was KPMG, who gave me access to the records of a company formed at much the same time, the Quays group. Interestingly the company started life as the Cathcart Cemetery Company, though by 1910 they had become Alexander Holdings, the holding company of the first Ford Motors sales dealership in Edinburgh. In 2000 it became Quays Group, a property investment company operating in Poole, until it went into administration in 2004.

Sadly, unlike at Seafield Cemetery, there was little of historic value left in the Iron Mountain store where KPMG, as company administrators, hold the records. There is more detail on the project entry.

However it was interesting to compare and contrast what survived from two companies that started with very similar aims, yet whose paths took markedly different turns down the road.

(Photo of Seafield Cemetery sourced from here)

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'Oldest Companies' Progress

The Scotland's 100 oldest companies project has passed the halfway mark as the fiftieth entry was posted up today on the project wiki. While the BACS Surveying Officer may pretend that it's been a solitary slog at the coal face, in actual fact the response from business, record-holders and interested researchers has been very enthusiastic. Thanks to everyone who has helped, a large 'thank you' page is being prepared on the wiki even now.

However while progress has been generally good, I have been unable to unearth anything on three companies. If anyone knows anything about The Scottish National Glass and Glazing Company Limited (SC001047, incorporated in 1881), Scottish Property Investment (SC001597 incorporated in 1887) or Spanish Real Property (SC000683, incorporated in 1876) please get in touch, either via here or the blog. Thanks.

(Photo is sourced from here)

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British Steel Archive Project

On Friday the British Steel Archive Project celebrated its successful launch in Middlesbrough. The project was an ambitious scheme to catalogue and celebrate the heritage of the steel industry on Teeside, which is still very visible today. The project involved the development of close working partnerships between a variety of different stakeholders to create an ongoing and sustainable improvement to a collection that was sitting in uncatalogued boxes. Although this wasn't a Scottish project (though some of the companies involved did have long-standing roots in Scottish industry) the planning and execution of it were very impressive, and it should stand as a model of what can be achieved in the business archives sector.

Through basing the work at Teeside Archives, the project has improved and enhanced existing facilities (including a new website and CALM catalogue) and set in place a structure, including a volunteer and friends scheme, that will ensure the initial work on the collection can be carried through to completion. I was also impressed with the outreach work performed in schools across the area. Attendance and participation levels were also much greater than anticipated (almost double the initial estimates)

All of which would not have been possible without an initial assessment of the value of the collection by David Powell, the then BACS Surveying Officer, that allowed Dr Joan Heggie (the project leader) to successfully apply for Heritage Lottery Fund money. Congratulations to Dr Heggie and her team on the completion of an impressive and valuable business archives project.

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Scotland's Hundred Oldest Companies Update

It's been a busy month, but currently the project wiki is up and running, and the BACS officer is more than happy to field any comments or questions either through the discussion pages of the wiki, through this blog, or via email.

So far I've identified and contacted the archival institutions that hold records of the oldest limited companies (see the wiki for more specific details). The plan over the next couple of months is to contact those companies whose records do not appear to be in an archive at present. Hopefully the project will be able to increase the visibility and accessibility of these resources, and help their holders to make the best possible use of them.

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Scotland's Hundred Oldest Companies Project

Over the next three months the I'll be working on a project to identify the record holdings of the 100 oldest Scottish companies still registered with Company House in Edinburgh.

The central outcome will be the development of a guide to the records of all the companies, including notes on the history and terms of use and access (this guide will be made available on the BACS website when complete). The companies on the list represent a cross section of Scottish business life, ranging from the companies managing community halls to large multinational firms, and this project will celebrate the richness of this diversity and heritage.

The purpose of the project is to create a valuable resource for future users and researchers of business archives; establish a project that can be used to increase the awareness of business archive use; and to reach out to businesses that may have valuable records and have not previously been approached by the BACS. The project will also be used to tie in with the launch of the Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland in January, raising the profile of business archives amongst record holders and record users alike.

I'll also be regularly posting my progress on here as the project launches early next year. I hope that I'll be able demonstrate some solutions and actions that can make use of the trapped value in business records, and perhaps put the spotlight on some previously under-appreciated collections.

I welcome any comments and suggestions...

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New BACS Surveying Officer

David Luck has been appointed as the new BACS Surveying Officer, and will be updating this blog in the forthcoming months. Like David Powell, David will be based in Glasgow University Archive Services, and can be reached on the BACS address or at David.Luck@glasgow.ac.uk .

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BACS Surveying Officer

The post of BACS Surveying Officer has been advertised here.

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So long, farewell...

.... to David who has moved to Stornoway to become the Project Manager for the new Archives Service for the Western Isles.

"The new Archives service will support the preservation, awareness and access to the archive collections in the Outer Hebrides by increasing the level of professional support and advice available to public agencies. It will build on the richness of local archive collections, and promote the Gaelic language, culture and heritage of the Western Isles."  More information about the project can be found in this press release.

I'd like to wish him the best of luck and say a huge thank you for working to develop the strategy.

I should also mention that if you wish to get in touch about the strategy then please email either the BACS (bacs@archives.gla.ac.uk) or me (Kiara.King@glasgow.ac.uk) and not David anymore. 

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December into January

Whoops, we've been a bit quiet of late but hopefully that will be remedied over the coming weeks!

The final draft of the Business Archives Strategy for Scotland is in the final throws of preparation and should be public within the next few weeks for comment. Watch this space for more news!

Scotland is now formerly represented on the Crisis Response Team that has been established by the Business Archives Strategy for England & Wales. This small team has been established to help co-ordinate rescue work and offer help and advice where business enter into receivership liquidation so that archives can hopefully be saved for the nation. The team will work closely with local archive repositories and other organisations with an interest in business heritage.

It is recognised by the English & Welsh strategy that business, trade and industry do not stop at the border between Carlisle and Berwick. So, for example, First Quench owners of the Thresher and Victoria wine retail chains is very much and English company. However, they also owned the Scottish chain of Haddows so it is sensible that Scotland takes an interest in the records of the parent company and offers support. Scotland is represented on the team by David Powell, the Surveying Officer of the Business Archives Council of Scotland.

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