European Board of National Archivists

18 November 2010

Business archives in the UK

Nick Kingsley

The UK corporate sector

• 70% of the value of FTSE 100 quoted companies derives from earnings overseas (e.g. BP, Rio Tinto, GSK)

• A substantial part of UK-based industry is owned by companies based in US, Europe, India and elsewhere (e.g. Eon, Jaguar-Land Rover, Cadbury Schweppes)

• Shift from manufacturing to service industry in later 20th century led to closure of many old-established companies and growth of new major employers with relatively short corporate histories

• Large firms (over 250 employees) account for 52% of economic value of private sector; SMEs 32%; micro-businesses 16%

• Many firms regard records as a regulatory burden not an asset and rely on private sector contractors to store semi-current records and destroy them at regular intervals.

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The pattern of corporate archives in the UK

• No national centre for business records in England or Wales, but Glasgow University effectively plays this role in Scotland

• 75 companies (including 20% of FTSE 100 companies) have known in-house archives services (chiefly banking, retail and pharmaceutical firms) registered on ARCHON

• Many companies have informal internal archives associated with records or knowledge management activities, not offering public access

• Thousands of company archives deposited in public archives – many relate to closed companies and nationalised industries

• A large number of active companies – especially smaller firms – have records that are not organised or cared for in any way

Mapping corporate archives

• ARCHON directory records corporate archives: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon

• Details of the holdings of corporate archives and collecting institutions are included in the National Register of Archives, which is searchable and can be browsed by sector and sub-sector: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra.

• A private charity, the Business Archives Council, and its Scottish counterpart, have funded surveys of particular business sectors, such as the banking and pharmaceutical industries

• The Historical Manuscripts Commission (now part of TNA) funded surveys of manufacturing industry records and TNA is now working on a survey of the architecture, building and construction industry.

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A national strategy for business archives

• In 2006-09, The National Archives worked in partnership with the Business Archives Council to o research the challenges facing the archives of businesses in

England & Waleso and to develop a strategy for addressing the issues identified

in an affordable and sustainable way• The strategy was issued in the spring of 2009:

http://www.businessarchivescouncil.org.uk/materials/national_strategy_for_business_archives.pdf

• The strategy includes an action plan with actions for The National Archives and other bodies.

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Objectives of the strategy

• Raising awareness among businesses of the value of their records and archives, and providing guidance and support from the professional archive community

• Increasing the number of corporate sector business archives and of business collections in public sector repositories

• Raising the profile of business records with the public, and throughout the national archival network, while promoting wider usage and exploitation

• Raising standards in the care of business archives through best practice exemplars, professional training and an improved funding and support infrastructure.

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Challenges facing business archives

• Few internal business archives in the corporate sector have long-term stability; they may be closed if profits decline or as a result of a changing management approach

• The records of businesses without strong internal archival or records management services are especially at risk when firms move, are taken over, or close

• Most businesses have given no thought to the preservation of digital records beyond immediate business or legal requirements

• Few companies use their archives to help gain competitive advantage; records are disposed of because their value is unseen

• The records of very large firms, especially those without a strong local affiliation or with international activities, are difficult to place in publicly-funded archives in England or Wales

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Strategic actions

• To promote the value of records and record-keeping to companies we have produced a booklet Corporate Memory with case studies aimed at business executives: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/corporate-memory.pdf and a leaflet aimed at smaller companies

• To help businesses care for their archive we have produced a website: http://www.managingbusinessarchives.co.uk/

• To encourage the deposit of business archives in public institutions The National Archives has committed to encourage collecting institutions to accept business archives, and to establish an online register of the specialisms of institutions collecting business archives, for the guidance of depositors and users

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Strategic actions (2)

• Archivists working with business records need to build stronger support networks to share experience and knowledge, and to help users to understand the records generated by businesses

• The National Archives co-ordinates a ‘crisis response team’, which works to secure the preservation of records when firms close down or records are otherwise placed at risk

• The National Archives is trying to ensure firms specialising in business administration and liquidation make arrangements for the records of businesses which recognise their historical value

• The National Archives and the Business Archives Council will work jointly to undertake surveys of business archives, especially in sectors which are under-represented in public collections

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