Presented by Lyn Milton
The paper discusses the archive of Fairfax Media, established in 1974. Eileen Dwyer followed by Louise Preston laid the foundations but the archive was closed in 1996. In 2006, as part of the 175th anniversary of the Sydney Morning Herald, funding was made available for an archivist to develop a plan for the future management for the archives. The paper will summarise the significant work that was undertaken by Eileen and Louise and proceed to discuss the experiences in gaining familiarity with a collection that had been unattended but not unused for a decade, taking the reins when there is no immediate succession of archivists and where many of the administrative records appear to have been lost, appraising records in a situation where there is no records management program, evaluating a record group system and introducing the series system, attempting to decipher the administrative history of a complex organisation and developing plans for records and archival services within the organisation and the community.