Australian Society of Archivists
1999 Conference

Where have all the [Business] Archives gone?

Kathryn Dan and Bruce Smith

• Introduction
• Origins of collecting Australian business archives
• From optimism to crisis
• Where are we at generally with collecting business archves?
• What can we surmise about risks and vulnerabilities for collecting business archives?
• In-House Business Archives
• What do we know about Australia's in-house business archive collections?
• Role of the ASA
• The 1990s
• Examples
• Concluding remarks
• Endnotes

Introduction

Vic Carroll, "Making corporate history", Australian Financial Review, 27 November 1998 Concern about business archives is not a new phenomenon. But the question we pose today is whether we as archivists see sufficient support structures to ensure that evidence of today’s business records will exist tomorrow?

Bruce Smith and I will split this paper into the consideration of collecting archives and in-house archives. I will look at NBAC as an example of collecting business archives in Australia comparing the recent crisis to early optimism in collecting Australian business archives. I will compare the past and the present, examining what vulnerabilities are faced and what action we could take to overcome them. Bruce will look at what has happened in regard to in-house business archives and see what information is known or not known. [return]

Origins of collecting Australian business archives

The Noel Butlin Archives Centre had its genesis with Professor Noel George Butlin, an eminent economic historian. In 1951 Noel Butlin accepted a Senior Research Fellowship at the very young Australian National University (ANU) and started to scout around for research materials to support his wide-ranging work. From his discovery that there were few business records held in existing library collections grew the pursuit of such material for ANU. He commenced collecting primary source material in his field from organisations such as the Australian Agricultural Company and Goldsbrough Mort and Co. This collecting was to form the basis of the archives at ANU.⁽¹⁾

Known for some years simply as the ANU Archives, this collection of records grew from those of a few financial institutions and agricultural enterprises, to one that encompassed a broad span of business records. By 1957 the ANU held records of thirty business firms. In the 1960s its brief was expanded to include comprehensive coverage of the records of federally registered trade unions. The Archives became well known as the ANU Archives of Business and Labour and was renamed in 1992 in honour of Noel Butlin, the force behind its creation. The Centre holds records of inestimable value to Australian society from firms which have played a crucial role in its development, such as the Australian Agricultural Company, Goldsbrough Mort & Company Ltd, Burns Philp, Tooth & Co. and CSR.

Butlin saw his collecting activity as a source for research. He said, "The collection is designed primarily as a service to research workers in Australian universities rather than as a convenience for business firms."⁽²⁾

The origins of this business archives collection, then, were not very different from the origins of many business archives collections around the world. Economic historians, in recognising the importance of these records to their own discipline, and, in some cases, the wider community, played a critical role.⁽³⁾

In addition to what was happening in the national capital at ANU, there was plenty of action as far as business records were concerned in both New South Wales and Victoria during the 1950s. The Business Archives Council of Australia (New South Wales Branch) was already in print in 1955 with a booklet Business Archives. It had the cover explanation "Why business records should be kept. How material should be selected for keeping. How records should be kept."⁽⁴⁾

Through this kind of publication and various seminars, the Business Archives Council of Australia (New South Wales Branch) worked to advise and improve the knowledge of records managers and archivists working within companies. In doing so they satisfied a clear need. Summer schools and advisory courses were fully subscribed with little or no advertising.⁽⁵⁾

But the Council also raised awareness of and fostered the placing of business records with collecting archives. In NSW the Business Archives Council looked to the University of Sydney, University of New England and the Mitchell Library as important players in the collecting archives field. They suggested these places of deposit as a solution for the "many firms [who] simply do not have the resources or the storage space to accommodate or organise a large mass of unfamiliar old records".⁽⁶⁾ There was much optimism that this collecting would expand.

The Business Archives Council of Australia (Victorian Branch) also played an early role in the gathering of business records in that State. The Council itself was a surveyor and gatherer of records. In its first annual report it described itself as "making a start with the investigation and collection of business records".⁽⁷⁾ It was reported to its July 1960 meeting that the University of Melbourne had appointed an Archivist and "had offered to store records collected by the Business Archives Council." Several rooms had been set aside at the University "for temporary storage and additional space would be found in the future."⁽⁸⁾

Membership of the Victorian Branch of the Business Archives Council, like its New South Wales counterpart, spanned the business sector as well as archivists and historians. Attempts were made to encourage firms to care for their own records. But a last resort was always the gathering of records at risk. There were dual aims. These can be seen in the objectives of the Victorian Branch. The first was "to promote the study of business history" and another was "to bring qualified historians into touch with sources of information". However, they also included "to provide skilled assistance and advice to owners of documents in the current use and disposal of business records" and "to encourage owners to preserve business documents of historical importance and interest".⁽⁹⁾

Optimism about the growth of business archives as in-house ventures and as part of substantial research collections seemed high through the 1950s and early 1960s. The official dinner held with the BACA (Vic) annual conference in Ballarat in 1963 attracted nearly a hundred guests "including representatives from federal and state politics, many industries and five universities".⁽¹⁰⁾ There were some murmurs from annual reports in the later 1960s that the corporate sector was not taking as much advantage as it could of the advice offered by the Council but in general these were minor comments.[return]

From optimism to crisis

So where did this optimism eventually lead? And why did the Noel Butlin Archives Centre, one of the first and largest business archives collections face a crisis in 1997? Let us examine that crisis and see whether there are particular vulnerabilities reflected in the situation for business archives.

In 1997 the NBAC was in danger of being closed. In August the Research School of Social Sciences at the ANU announced that the Centre would close at the end of that year. The future of the records was uncertain with likelihood that they would be dispersed, returned to depositors or simply ‘mothballed’. A proposal was being discussed within the University to cease funding of the Centre altogether. There is no doubt that a cut to NBAC funding was a consequence of broader budgetary constraint within the ANU and the university sector generally. The Australian Vice Chancellors’ Committee estimated in 1998 that funding per student had "fallen 9% since the early 1980s, and that Australian universities [were] already significantly underfunded by OECD standards."⁽¹¹⁾ This paper does not have the scope to discuss all the ramifications of budget cuts in the tertiary education sector – except to point out that the NBAC situation is a reflection of a broader trend. But why was it that the NBAC might have been seen as ‘easy pickings’ for those seeking savings?

The NBAC was structurally located within the Research School of Social Sciences, as one might expect given its genesis with economic history academics. However, with the contraction of teaching and research funding its continuing relevance to the Research School was questioned. In a press release of 19 October 1997 the Vice Chancellor of ANU, Professor Deane Terrell is quoted as saying, "While overall usage of the collection continues at a high level, use by staff and students in RSSS is very small." Essentially because RSSS was facing budget difficulties it saw ceasing any funding to NBAC as a realistic option. NBAC was not seen as part of its core research activities. (Of course this begs a question about research undertaken without reference to archival sources – but that could fill another paper.)

There had already been reviews of the Centre – either not concluded or whose reports had effectively been shelved or abandoned. In previous years the Centre had been gradually squeezed. Between 1994 and 1997 staff numbers reduced from six professional archivists and two support staff to just two archivists and one support staff member. Perhaps the NBAC had reached the stage when it was seen as a small and easily picked off operation.

The reaction to news of the closure of the Archives and possible dispersal of the collection was immediate and sustained. A groundswell of opposition formed. Those opposed to the dismantling of the Archives included archivists, historians and other academics, past and current researchers and trade unions. International colleagues, labour historians and archivists, were alerted to the danger and the Friends of the NBAC was formed as a focus for supporters of the Centre.

Lobbying and letter writing campaigns commenced and were directed principally towards the Vice Chancellor of the University. Letters and briefings were also directed to the ANU Council, the Prime Minister, Minister for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, the Australian Vice Chancellors’ Committee, Academies of Humanities and Social Sciences, and local Members of Parliament. Media releases by the ASA and other bodies attracted reasonable media interest. There was coverage of the issues on national and local radio, the local newspaper and the Higher Education Supplement of the Australian newspaper.

A range of arguments was used in support of continued operation of the NBAC. In particular media releases and letters concentrated on the importance of the NBAC as part of the national heritage. Its significance as a national collection of excellent international reputation was emphasised. The obligations of ANU towards depositors and users were also pointed out. The ASA’s media release of 23 August 1997 suggested that the ANU could not "simply walk away from a commitment made in good faith to its depositors and users to ensure the long-term preservation of these invaluable records".⁽¹²⁾ There were agreements with depositors in place and general obligations inherent in establishing the Archives at ANU in the first place.

In public statements at least, the University certainly accepted the validity of some of these arguments. A press release of 19 October 1997 stated, "the Archives provides substantial benefits to other parts of the University, as well as to other institutions and forms part of the national heritage, so it is best that it become part of a University-wide activity" [emphasis added].⁽¹³⁾ In announcing the ‘rescue package’ for the NBAC the University stated that it recognised "that the Archive Centre is a national resource and should organisationally be a University-wide responsibility. As from 1 January 1998, the NBAC will be funded for three years as a University-wide activity with the University Librarian responsible for its management. The Centre is now beyond the capacity of a single academic unit to fund or manage."⁽¹⁴⁾

Although not publicly acknowledged, one powerful argument against closure must have been the sheer difficulty of dismantling an archives collection of over 13 kilometres. When closure was first proposed, it is unlikely that the RSSS or the ANU was really aware of contractual obligations for most of the material held on deposit and still owned by creating companies. Unwillingness of other archival institutions to take parts of the collection must also have assisted in concentrating University minds on this aspect of the proposed closure.

In addition to the clear opposition to closure, acceptance of national significance and difficulty of proceeding in a practical sense, the fact that the ANU could find an internally acceptable solution clinched the continued survival of NBAC. [return]

Where are we at generally with collecting business archives?

The NBAC situation is perhaps an isolated example. But we need to consider it within the network of collecting business archives. If we look more broadly to survey the field of collecting business archives, what picture do we see? Economic historians Terwiel, Ville and Fleming have done a simple survey of where business archives are and have been held in Australia during the 20^th century. Although done on a selective basis it gives us some interesting information on the impact of collecting activity. (We might also ask why it is that historians have taken the lead here rather than archivists.)

The survey uses an analysis of the top 100 companies in the years 1910, 1930, 1952 and 1964 as a basis for gathering information. This analysis of the top 100 is based on assets and excludes financial institutions. The resulting 262 companies represent a broad range of commercial activity including: retail and grocery, textile manufacturing, agricultural (tobacco, sugar included), mining and refining, building materials, motor vehicle production, petrochemical and pharmaceutical, brewing, newspapers, paper manufacturing, transport and the entertainment industry. Locations of records were then sought for these representative companies.

Of this list, holdings of archives can be located for 55%. These researchers note that there is considerable variation in size and quality of what survives. The archives can range from a two page statement of assets and liabilities to extensive collections with published guides to their use. A little examination of where these surviving archives are held shows that 65% are held in collecting institutions. As one might expect, those holdings are predominantly at the University of Melbourne Archives and the Noel Butlin Archives Centre at ANU but there are also significant holdings at the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, State Library of South Australia and the Battye Library, Library and Information Service of Western Australia. Other collections represented in the listing are the Universities of Wollongong, Newcastle and Central Queensland, the Archives Office of Tasmania, the State Library of Victoria, National Library of Australia and the Newcastle public library.

The compilers found that "the smaller and failed companies are least well represented by archive records except where they are acquired by a larger firm".⁽¹⁵⁾

Is this a picture of success? If a legitimate role is to retain evidence of the companies experiencing success at various times in our history then perhaps not.

While collecting archives have clearly played a part in the saving of business records, we can hardly say that action has been comprehensive. For 38% of this selected group of companies no archives were located. We do not see coherence in method to ensure that the archival record of Australian business is captured.

This is not to say that attempts have not been made. Collecting policies and cooperative agreements have been put in place. The existence of databases like the Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM) for instance gives us a good picture of where business archives are for those organisations that contribute information on holdings. Grant applications to support improved access to business records have also been proposed. This is work, though, that needs to be expanded. [return]

What can we surmise about risks and vulnerabilities for collecting business archives?

Undoubtedly the general funding situation of ANU contributed to the vulnerability of NBAC. But there were other elements that can be drawn from this example that we could define as potential risks for collecting archives of this type.

Potential areas of vulnerability can be defined as:

• Declining usage or a shift in user groups
• Stability of economic base
• If located in a ‘host’ institution, perception of the activity as ‘ancillary’ to core mission
• Our inability to cover the field and act strategically in collecting, describing and promoting use

• legislative or policy support for corporate sector records
• Incentives for industry (to pursue better recordkeeping and/or use the services of a collecting archives)
• Broad and vocal support from those who use the archives and the creators of records is essential.
• For collecting institutions within larger bodies, being allied to the centre of that host institution
• Strong, clear collecting policies and associated cooperative infrastructure

We need to be politically aware and realise that decisions on our survival may rest on issues unrelated to the main concerns of archivists. We need to be able to make arguments that are relevant to the current preoccupations of resource allocators and, in part, despite those preoccupations. To achieve change we will need to take advantage of opportunities as they arise and be able to mobilise action – not just in response to a crisis but strategically, in order to better the overall situation.

We must certainly question the assertion made by Dennis Meissner of the Minnesota Historical Society in the United States when contrasting the stability of collecting archives with the precariousness of in-house business archives: "An outside repository generally has a guaranteed existence. It exists to hold and make available important records. And it will continue to do so regardless of the economic climate that prevails beyond its doors." [emphasis added]⁽¹⁷⁾[return]

In-House Business Archives

From the time of the establishment of each Australian colony, there has been business activity. Companies like the Australian Agricultural Company (1824), the Van Dieman’s Land Company (1825), Australian Mutual Provident Society (1849) and the Bank of New South Wales (1817), now part of Westpac, were all established in the early years of colonial Australia.

Since then innumerable enterprises covering the full range of business activity have been formed, amalgamated with other enterprises or have been dissolved. A look at the share market tables in any daily newspaper shows that there are currently a large number of public companies participating in the Australian economy. If we add to these the thousands of companies not listed on the stock exchange, plus the unincorporated business enterprises, partnerships and sole traders, there are literally hundreds of thousands of enterprises that are creating and maintaining records of their business activity. We should also add to this the unknown number of enterprises that have been formed and have ceased to function since the establishment of the Colony of New South Wales in 1788.

Why is it then that after over two hundred years of business activity there are so few business records/archives held in collecting archives or in-house business archives in Australia? There is probably no simple answer to this question. However if we examine the record of business archive activity in Australia, in particular the in-house business archives, we may see what has happened.

The first in-house business archives⁽¹⁸⁾, as we would know them today, emerged in the 1950s and early 1960s. Before this time there were a small number of 'historical collections'. Among the first in-house collections were those of the Bank of New South, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Mutual Provident Society and the Commonwealth Banking Corporation.⁽¹⁹⁾ The emergence of these and other collections coincided with the first concerted efforts by collecting institutions to focus on business archives. The exact reasons for these two activities to arise is beyond the scope of this paper, but suffice to say that at this time there was a strong interest amongst academic historians in both economic history and the publication of corporate histories. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and into the 1970s many business houses were celebrating a significant anniversary, such as the 50^th or 75^th anniversary since foundation.

In 1963 a Check list of Australian Business Histories and Biographies of Businessmen⁽²⁰⁾ was published in Business Archives and History,⁽²¹⁾ the Bulletin of the Business Archives Council of Australia. An analysis of the "Check list" reveals that 42% of the 419 items listed were published in the 13 years between 1951 and 1963.
 

• "To promote the study of business history.
• To encourage owners to preserve business documents of historical importance and interest.
• To bring qualified historians into touch with sources of information.
• To provide skilled assistance and advice to owners of documents in the current use and disposal of records. To further these ends with suitable publications."⁽²²⁾

How well the Council met its objects is unknown. Certainly the volume of records transferred to collecting and in-house archives increased over the time of the Council’s peak active life. Unlike collecting, archives where survey activity can be linked to transfers to collecting archives, there is no concrete evidence of a connection between an increase in the activity of in-house business archives and the work of the Business Archives Council. In fact Annual Reports of the Victorian Branch of the Council appear to indicate that business was not looking to the Council for advice and/or assistance with recordkeeping. The 1965-66 report noted "…that business is not taking advantage of the services of the Council to the extent it could".⁽²³⁾ , and  the 1967-68 report made the following comment on records management "unsatisfactory records management is still widespread".⁽²⁴⁾ However it is interesting to speculate that the demise of the Council seems to have coincided with the decline in interest in business history in University history departments and a general decline in the scope and level activity within in-house business archives. [return]

What do we know about Australia’s in-house business archive collections?

The simple answer to this question is "very little". As a profession in recent years we have focused on issues concerning theory and practice and have not maintained a vigil on the problems confronting the different sectors that make up the archival community. This is not meant to be a criticism of the profession. It is difficult for what is a relatively small community to keep on eye on everything that is happening. We tend to concentrate on issues or crises as they arise. We don't have time to stand back and look at the archival community as a whole.

What appears to be the first Australian attempt to inform and educate business and business archivists about the value good recordkeeping and archives to business and the community in general occurred in 1957.  This was a three day Summer School held at the University of New South Wales in March 1957. It was conducted by a group of pioneering archivists including Allan Horton, Ian Maclean and David MacMillan. Attendees came from a range of prominent businesses (e.g. Qantas, BHP, GJ Coles (now part of Coles Myer), Penfolds Wines and Nestle⁽²⁵⁾ and were exposed to information on the work of an archivist and the archivist and the business world. It appears that state of the art information was to be presented at the Summer School. Emeritus Professor CR McRae in his opening address said "All is designed to bring modern theories and techniques before the executives, records officers, and librarians of companies and institutions".⁽²⁶⁾

The most recent assessment of business archives undertaken by the profession in Australia was the Survey of Business Records conducted in 1986 and reported in Archives and Manuscripts.⁽²⁷⁾ The survey⁽²⁸⁾ sought out information about the foundation of the business, incorporation, takeovers and major areas of activity along with information about the records held and recordkeeping practices such as the use of the disposal schedules. Focusing on 137 companies only 51 survey responses were received. Analysis of the responses revealed 37 of the respondents were founded before 1900 and 26 had published histories in some form. In describing the record types held or in secondary storage, there was a high emphasis on accounting records, annual reports and minutes of meetings.

Following on from the Survey, a seminar on managing business archives was held in Sydney. The seminar was a joint activity of the Australian Society of Archivist’s Business Archives Special Interest Group and the NSW Special Libraries Section of the Library Association of Australia. Apart from providing a forum for business archivists and librarians the papers presented⁽²⁹⁾ at the seminar became a valuable aid to practicing business archivists. Two similar seminars conducted by the ASA Business Archives Special Interest Group were held in Melbourne in 1991 and 1992.⁽³⁰⁾[return]

Role of the ASA

The ASA’s advocacy of business archives has been fragmented. In the area of publishing only about a dozen articles have appeared in Archives and Manuscripts since 1955 that could be described as specific business archives articles.⁽³¹⁾ Similarly only a handful of papers have been published in ASA Conference Proceedings.⁽³²⁾ The ASA’s main area of activity has been through the Business Archives Special Interest Group. The Group was formed in 1984 with the intention of providing a mechanism whereby archivists in the business archives field could discuss mutual problems and ideas. It maintained high membership numbers⁽³³⁾, and in fact was for a time the largest Special Interest Group within the ASA. In 1994 numbers fell and support in terms of leadership of the group proved difficult to obtain. The ASA Council reluctantly took the decision to close the group in late 1995. The group had been a useful support to the business archives community and it is to be hoped that it can be revived.[return]

The 1990s

During the 1990s we have taken into our discussions a range of terms that have been prominent in business. Terms such as economic rationalism, outsourcing, and downsizing have been incorporated into the language of archives.

James Fogerty writing in the recent Business Archives Special Issue of the American Archivist says "Mergers, restructuring, and consolidations have always been part of American business. More recently, downsizing and outsourcing have become part of the lexicon of business – words feared by employees at every level, including archivists. But even these terms describe events that have been realities for many years. There has never been a time since the rise of the corporation when companies have not bought other companies, restructured their operations, entered new business, and consolidated, sold, or spun off operations."⁽³⁴⁾

It could be suggested that Fogerty’s view on American business applies in the Australian context. Changes in the ownership and structures of business enterprises have been occurring over many years. They are not a phemonenom of 1990s economic rationalism. It is how these changes have been portrayed by those in government, business and the media that have helped to shape the general public’s view that the 1990s has been a time of rapid change for business. In fact is business has been constantly in a state of change.

What do we know about in-house collections in the late 1990s? We know that there are 18 in-house business archives that are members⁽³⁵⁾ of the ASA. We also know that there are about 22 in-house business archives listed in the Directory of Archives in Australia.⁽³⁶⁾ The "Terwiel, Ville and Fleming Guide" referred to earlier lists 38 in-house archive collections.⁽³⁷⁾ Obviously there is some cross representation in these three groups. The question is how many in-house business archives collections have been conducted or are currently running within the Australian business community? The answer is we just don't know.

How do we find out? Do we rely on the work of economic historians like Terwiel, Ville and Fleming or do we as a community attempt to discover more about the different in-house collections?

If, as archivists, we want to find out more information, what information do we need to know? If the profession is to provide an advocacy role for business archives and business archivists we need to understand the context in which in-house business archives operate. There is no ready-made model to provide an overview. The ASA and the ACA as leaders in the community need to identify as many in-house collections as possible and actively seek out information about:

• Budgets
• Staffing
• Position/status in the host organisation (who the does the archivist report to?)
• Role of business archives in their host setting? Cultural heritage; Evidence; Public Relations/marketing; some other role, or a combination of roles
• Size and composition of the collection
• Status of policy development (e.g. Are there policies covering acquisition, access and management of the collection?)

Following some brief discussions with business archivists I feel that the best approach is to collect together the information mentioned above. Then, rather than develop strategies for the broad grouping of in-house business archives, use the information to promote business archives in general and to provide background for advocacy in individual cases. As one archivist who wished to remain anonymous said to me; "What can the ACA or ASA do? If the management decide on a particular course of action they don’t want to hear feel good arguments about cultural heritage, etc.."

In the past few years business archives have been threatened in a variety of ways. The ASA has attempted, not always successfully, to influence decision-makers. Kathryn has already spoken about the Noel Butlin Archive Centre. The following are just a few examples of what has been happening. [return]

Examples

National Mutual Life Association
Merged with T&G Mutual Life Society Ltd. in 1983. T&G had a small in-house archive and had engaged the services of consultant archivists from time to time. Following the merger National Mutual continued the archival program. In 1990 the company decided to close the archival program, the archival staff were either redeployed or retired. The fate of the records is unknown, although it is believed that the company still holds the records.

It is interesting to note that at the same time the National Mutual Archive was being effectively closed down, the ASA was actively involved in a campaign concerning the independence of the Victorian Keeper of Public Records. It seems that the ASA was not active in any form of advocacy for the National Mutual Archive.

State Savings Bank of Victoria
Predecessor bodies dated back to the late 1840s. In the early 1990s the Victorian government agreed to sell the bank to the Commonwealth Bank. At the time the State Bank had a well-resourced archival program which included a purpose built repository, which had been declared a Place of Deposit under the Public Records Act 1973. The Commonwealth Bank proposed that the archival records be transferred to its repository in Sydney. This proposal created concern amongst historians, there were letters to the Editor and representations were made for the archives to remain in Victoria. The eventual outcome was that as the records were the records of a statutory authority and subject to the provisions of the Public Records Act the records were transferred to the custody of the Public Record Office, Victoria.

Westpac Banking Corporation
Westpac has had a long-standing in-house archival program. Until recently the archival program has been well resourced and appears to have been seen as having a valuable contribution to make to the bank’s mission. Over the past two to three years the program has been "downsized", experienced staff have either been replaced by inexperienced staff or not replaced on leaving. The archival program has been merged with the bank's other historical services and has in the recent past been managed by a museum curator. It is understood that this is no longer the situation and that a "generalist" manger, who has an understanding of the particular needs of the archive, now oversees the program.

Van Dieman’s Land Company records
In the early 1960s the company placed it’s "historical records" on indefinite deposit with the Tasmanian State Archives. In recent years the Tasman Agricultural Company Ltd. the successor to the Van Diemans Land Company realised that the records had a commercial value and decided to sell the records at auction, either as whole or as individual items. To date there has been no sale and there is no indication on what will be eventual fate of the records.

The preceding examples are only representative of what has been happening within in-house business archives. We know that many others have been affected by "downsizing" etc. These include the archival operations of Coles Myer, ANZ Banking Group, National Australia Bank and BHP.

There is no simple answer to how the archival community can respond to changesthat are occurring for in-house business archives. However if we to respond at all we need to have a body of information on how and why business archives operate. Once this information is collected there will be sound basis to establish advocacy. Within information we are working in the dark. [return]

Concluding remarks

To conclude we would like to offer a view from an archivist working with business archives.

"The problem ~
At it simplest, the problem I guess is how to convince businesses – big medium and small, local and branches of global entities - to make proper arrangements for their records. If one combines

1. the cost to run an in-house archives,
2. the lack of an obvious return in preserving the 'old stuff',
3. little statutory incentive,
4. the potential for bad publicity if its kept and made available,
5. a moribund Business Archives Council, and
6. pressures on the few archives which do collect and preserve them,