Presented by Baiba Berzins
Business records are an important source of information not only for economic historians but also for social and other historians, heritage consultants, political scientists, genealogists and many other types of researchers. This paper looks at three collections of business records acquired in recent years by Australian institutions and the often unexpected information which they yield. It will also consider where to look for alternative sources of information when business archives are not readily available by looking at the history of tourism in the Northern Territory, an industry in which government agencies, small entrepreneurs, large companies and Indigenous enterprises have been players over the years. The Connellan papers held by the NT Archives Service are an important source of information but there is also much valuable material in government records, in oral history interviews and in manuscript collections in repositories and in private hands.