Australian Society of Archivists

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Dr Hilary Golder
History and Archives
This is the text of a paper presented to the Australian Society of Archivists, New South Wales Branch in September 1999. The author takes a warts and all approach to exploring the relationship between researching and writing history and the role of archives and archivists in that process.

Judith Ellis
Consulting into Business Archives
'Consulting into Business Archives' explores the role of consultants in business archives. It suggests that there are a number of reasons that external assistance is required, and there are generally five types of drivers for establishing business archives programs: creating order out of chaos; closure or transfer of custody of the Archives; establishing corporate memory; due diligence/verification requirements; and support for existing archives/records programs or functions. Some examples are cited of the role of the consultant in these types of programs, and the resultant commitment of the businesses. It also suggests that despite the recent trend towards outsourcing, the attention paid by the private sector to its archives appears to be increasing. Digital archives are now the challenge for these organisations and for the consultants that support them.

Karen Benedict
Business Archives Reporting Structures: Is There an Ideal Placement?
This article examines the current organizational placement of business archives in the United States, although it also includes information on the archives of British Telecommunications in the UK. It includes a discussion of what little information on reporting structures appears in the literature and attempts to provide a view of what is currently happening through information gathered by survey and by solicitation through the Business Archives List. This article provides data on the reporting structure of 55 corporations. The conclusion is that there is not a single ideal organizational placement for business archives. The ideal is to have supportive administration from an area that understands the role and function of the archives and can provide the necessary resources to implement a program that meets the corporate needs.

Leigh Swancott
Origins and Development of the University of Melbourne Archives
This article examines the establishment and development of the University of Melbourne Archives as one of the nation's premier collections. It charts the beginnings and subsequent development of the archive as a major collecting institution of business and, later, labour related materials. The story is revealed to be an authority struggle between various players, in which for a time the university's collecting prevailed.

Henrik Fode & Jorgen Fink
Business Archives in Scandinavia

Lesley Richmond
Securities, Whisky, Tourism and Co‑operation: Business Archives in Scotland at the end of the Twentieth Century

 

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