Presentation given at the 2014 Meet the Archivists event.

1. Using Business Archive Collections
Kiara King, Ballast Trust Archivist

2. What are Business Archives?
Business archives are the
historical records of for profit
businesses, business-related
bodies and businessmen and
women.
Why are they important?
As Scotland’s businesses and
industries were and are crucial in
shaping its economic and social
development, so business
archives naturally have a wider
value to society. They can be
found in most archive repositories.

3. Why do businesses keep archives?

4. Records and archives are a business tool
They provide:
• Information value
• Evidence and proof of business transactions
• Support for legal requirements and to defend intellectual property
• A work tool to managing resources and staff
• Inspiration and documentation of product innovations
• Confidence in a brand and customer loyalty
By keeping archives, businesses capture
today’s experience, knowledge and business
know-how for future use.

5. Why do we keep businesses archives?

6. Users of business archives
Internal
Legal
Marketing
PR
Corporate Social Responsibility
Design & production
External
Researchers
•Corporate histories
•Social histories
•Economic histories
Family historians
Local historians
Press
Design inspiration

7. Types of records found in business archives
Corporate Records
• Memoranda and Articles of Association
• Minute books
• Share registers
• Letter books
Financial Records
• Annual reports and accounts
• Balance sheets
• Account books
• Ledgers
Production Records
• Technical plans/drawings
• Models/prototypes
Employee Records
• Staff files
• Accident books
• In-house magazines
Marketing & Sales Records
• Advertisements
• Sales ledgers
• Packaging

8. How to start: identifying possible sources

9. Online resources
All of these links are available at
http://www.scottisharchives.org.uk/businessarchives
Online catalogues
• www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra is now discovery
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
• www.nas.gov.uk/
• www.archiveshub.ac.uk
• www.scan.org.uk (Scotland)
• www.a2a.org.uk (England & Wales)
• http://ssa.nls.uk/ (film archives)
• www.rcahms.ac.uk
Guides
• http://www.abh-net.org/archives.html
• http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/business-history.
htm
• http://www.neha.nl/w3vl/unitedkingdom.html

10. Using archive catalogues
• Different types for levels of description
• Collection level descriptions
– Collection guides
– Subject based source lists and guides
• Item or piece level descriptions
– Catalogues (online, word lists, paper copies)

11. Arrangement
• Records only make sense in context of the archive as a
whole and in context of the objects and activities of creating
organization
• Arrangement - to reveal the structure of the archive -
provenance and original order
• Not always possible - sometimes classification is necessary

12. Description
Provides user and manager of archives with information on:
• Context of records
• Physical characteristics
• Intellectual content
Offers access points for the archives
Description is a surrogate for the original record
Archives description is hierarchical and goes from general to
specific (macro to micro)
• Information given at highest level possible
• Descriptive levels
• Fonds (collection)
• Series (class)
• File (basic unit of handling)
• Item (piece)

13. Finding archives – Discovery (formerly NRA)

14. Discovery search result

15. Discovery search filter by creators

16. Discovery search filter by business

17. Discovery result for Harrison McGregor & Guest
Ltd

18. Discovery result for Harrison McGregor & Guest
Ltd

19. Remember: things to consider
Context
• Individual records cannot be viewed in isolation
• Always look at the archive catalogue for similar or related material and
secondary sources
• What organisation/business created this record?
• Why was it created? Is it a true record of the facts?
Format
• We make assumptions about documents without thinking
• Format points to the type of information held within the record: printed hand-written
or annotated
Content
• Legible or illegible?
• Why was this document created? By whom and for whom?
• What is the informational content?

20. Business Archives on Twitter
See how business archives and other archives promote themselves:
@ballasttrust = Understanding technical records since 1987! We work with business archives - processing
records of shipbuilding, locomotive & engineering industries mainly.
@Design_Archives = Eighteen archives of British and international industrial and communication design at
the Faculty of Arts University of Brighton
@the_abh = Tweets for the Association of Business Historians dont necessarily reflect the views of the
council or membership. RTs = interesting not endorsement #bizhis
@POHeritage = P&O Heritage Collection exists to preserve and celebrate the maritime history and
collections of one of the best known shipping companies in the world.
@CoopArchive = Co-operative Archive : Archive repository based in Manchester, UK for the records of the
co-operative movement
@coke_archives = The Coke Archives' Twitter feed updated by our Archivists. Ask us history, pop culture, or
collectors questions
@RBS_Archives = History and heritage information from The Royal Bank of Scotland Group's Archives team.
They also run @JohnoftheBank Tweets from John Campbell an18th century banker tweeting events of
the 1745 Jacobite siege of Edinburgh in real time. Drawn from his diary.
List of business archives on twitter here https://twitter.com/i/#!/BallastTrust/business-archives

21. Get in touch
Business Archives Council of Scotland
www.gla.ac.uk/archives/bacs/
Email: Kiara.King@glasgow.ac.uk
Twitter: @ballasttrust