Business records are those records that are created by a business that have a long-term value to the business itself, its stakeholders and future generations. They can include paper records, electronic records, audio recordings, videos and photographs. Most of the material produced by any organisation is ephemeral and of little use after the function that created it is ended. However, some of the records remain a unique corporate asset that documents and provides evidence of a company’s origins, growth, products, services and decisions.
A business archive is a unique corporate asset that can be used for important legal, marketing, communications and business decisions that form part of a historical business context. Rather than being a matter of nostalgia, a business archive is an important investment in the future of the company.
Typical material retained in a Business archive includes:
- Foundation documents – charters or Memorandum of Association
- Board/Directors minutes detailing decision making
- Annual accounts and reports
- Staff lists/employee registers listing length of service
- Title deeds & leases for property and land
- Licenses and patents for any products and inventions
- Product design and sales literature
- Staff reminiscences, reunions
- Photographs, films and videos
It should be noted that business archives are useful for more than just researching the history of a specific business or business history more generally. Business records contain a variety of useful items for family historians and somebody researching an ancestor’s work at a business might take interest in staff lists recording details of who worked there, day-to-day actions in the firm recorded in ledgers, daybooks and registers, and correspondence concerning employees. In more historical records there may also be applications for employment and career information such as hiring, promotion, and salary. Additionally, there can also be photographs, staff handbooks and newspaper clippings of events showing what working life was like.
Local history can be shown where businesses have played a significant part in the lives of local communities through minutes, photographs and newspaper clippings. Social history can be studied through the products and services the business offered, providing documentary evidence of such things as expansion and closure of businesses, the changing nature of retail and the high street and how this shapes communities and other changes and evolutions in interactions with businesses over time.
Preserving a business archive means that the business’ corporate memory is preserved for the future and can be accessed and referenced for years to come. If your business holds an archive that you would like to deposit with us for safe-keeping, or you would like advice on looking after your own business archive please contact us – archives@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk.