Records in storage
Advice to corporate and institutional owners
Archives Sector Development is currently focusing on two main areas within this sector; business archives and religious archives.
Business archives
Business archives can support the current work of businesses in many ways: providing a corporate memory of past products, policies and personalities; supporting good corporate governance and social responsibility; and adding colour and interest to a company's past.
Company archives are often best looked after by the businesses which created them. However, there are occasions when a business can no longer keep its historical records, and needs advice on finding a new home for them. Archives Sector Development at The National Archives can help with this process and is a point of contact for any matters relating to business archive collections which have become vulnerable to loss, dispersal and neglect.
'Corporate memory' launch: Natalie Ceeney (CEO), Sir Stuart Rose, Dame Stella Rimington and Professor Mervyn King (IMAGE NOT FOR RE-USE)
A guide to managing business archives
On 9 July 2009, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Archives hosted an event at the House of Lords for the launch of the publication Corporate memory: a guide to managing business archives.
The guest speakers at this event included Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Stuart Rose, Chairman of Marks and Spencer and Dame Stella Rimington, former head of M15 and a professional archivist.
This guide is designed to help the business community maximise their own archives and records collections, and to use this business information asset effectively to improve performance, explore new markets and above all to succeed in today's competitive global markets.
- Corporate memory: a guide to managing business archives (PDF, 7354.57kb)
The Business Archives Strategy
The National Archives and its partners, the Business Archives Council, Society of Archivists, Museums Libraries and Archives Council, the Welsh Assembly Government (through CyMAL), Economic History Society and Association of Business Historians, have developed a strategy for business archives arising from a series of round table meetings of interested parties.
It is intended to raise the profile of such archives and to promote their value to businesses and researchers alike, ensuring that future collections of such material are more representative of economic activity and more valued by businesses themselves for commercial purposes, and are better cared for and utilised in the future.
The strategy for England and Wales can be found on the Business Archives Council website: businessarchivescouncil.org.uk
Best Practice online website: managingbusinessarchives.co.uk. This website has been developed in order to help businesses manage their archive collections. It is aimed at company personnel with no prior knowledge or expertise in archive management as well as professional business archive practitioners.
Religious archives
The National Archives recently joined forces with the Religious Archives Group (RAG) affiliated to the Society of Archivists to consider 'The State of Religious Archives in the UK today'. A report on the proceedings is now available via the link below.
In partnership with RAG and the Society of Archivists, The National Archives is also undertaking a survey of religious archives in the United Kingdom with the aid of a grant from the Pilgrim Trust. The project is due to begin in the autumn of 2009 following the appointment of a Resource Discovery Officer, who will be based at The National Archives for six months.
- 'The State of Religious Archives in the UK today' report (PDF, 38.00kb)
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