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Looking back at 2009

Monday 21 December 2009


December is always a bit of a time for reflection and I suppose 2009 has a lot for us to reflect upon.

It has been a turbulent year for Scottish business. The recession has seen major changes in its banking sector, well known High Street names at a local and national level disappear and several business in the manufacturing and industrial sectors consolidate or close their doors for the final time. The last few weeks has seen Scotland's largest airline disappear and First Quench, the owners of Haddow's off-licenses, go into administration.

Yet the Business Archives Council of Scotland, Ballast Trust, the archives community and enthusiasts have continued to work hard to ensure that where businesses have ceased trading their records are preserved. Moves are afoot already in both the above cases to try and ensure that their key business archives are retained. Notable collections moved into public archives in 2009 included:

- the records of local paper mills being transferred to St Andrew's University and a local heritage society in Aberdeenshire
- the records of a Newmilns lace mill being transferred to Ayrshire Archives
- the records of a gear and deck machinery manufacturers moving to Renfrewshire Archives

Several derelict industrial sites have thrown up small collections of archives during their redevelopment that have also been saved with the co-operation of owners and liquidators.

There have been other positive moves this year too. Companies such as Persil, Marks & Spencer and Glasgow's House of Fraser have actively promoted their history, drawing on their archives for marketing and to demonstrate their longevity during their anniversary years. The National Strategy for Business Archives in England and Wales was launched and work on a Scottish strategy is well underway, going out to public consultation in the first quarter of 2010.

These strategies will for a continued positive and proactive approach to business archives in in Scotland in 2010 and beyond.

Have a great Christmas and New Year everyone!

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Business Archives on Radio 4

Monday 7 December 2009

The Radio 4 programme You and Yours is going to have a section on business archives this week, on Wednesday, 9 December between 12:00 and 13:00.  It will discuss the importance of business archives and also the National Strategy for Business Archives (England and Wales).

 
The programme may feature the following items:

  • Marks & Spencers and University of Leeds: new partnership
  • Former Woolworths Director's collection of the firm's history
  • Sweet factory archives found on Olympic site destined for London Metropolitan Archives

A podcast will be available for download and of course you will be able to listen again on the iplayer.
 
Thanks to Richard Wiltshire for the email about this to the listserv.

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About This Blog

This blog will provide information about the development of a National Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland. It will also be used to provide general updates about Business Archives in Scotland.

This blog is written by Kiara King, the Ballast Trust archivist. Updates on the Data Mapping Project are written by Cheryl Brown, project officer.
This blog ceased to be updated in 2013. Follow @busarchscot for the latest news on business archives in Scotland.

Participate

The Business Archives Strategy for Scotland was published in August, read it here. Keep an eye on the blog for more news about business archives and the strategy's implementation.

You can also contact us at any time with thoughts and contribute your comments to the blog!

Contact us

Please contact us if you have any comments or suggestions.

Kiara King (Ballast Trust Archivist)
Kiara.King@glasgow.ac.uk

BACS
bacs@archives.gla.ac.uk