As an organisation’s corporate memory, a business archive is a contemporary asset as well as a rich source of information for many kinds of history.
Business archives also help individuals, including professional academics, students and family historians, to research aspects of business, social, design, family and economic history.
A ‘business archive’ or ‘business archives’ can mean the collection(s) of records accrued by a business and selected for permanent preservation. The records may be selected because of their historical value, and/or because they act as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of the business. The term ‘business archive’ can also refer to the archive service within a business.
A collection of business archives will usually include analogue (e.g. paper) records and digital records too (both born-digital and digitised records).
Business archives can make crucial contributions to company success by:
- fostering and developing company identity
- supporting strategy and planning
- providing evidence in cases of legal dispute, such as copyright
- shaping future advertising campaigns and product development
- acting as a source of content for engaging new customers
- leveraging positive press coverage and public relation stories
- acting as a unique selling point and enhancing brand trustworthiness
- providing a source of celebrations, helping to mark anniversaries
There are resources that provide guidance on what kinds of records it would be important for a business to keep:
- Managing Business Archives – Key Records
- Business Archives Surveying Officer for Scotland – Records for Permanent Preservation (PDF, 527 KB)
Researchers wishing to know more about business archives can consult our research guides on Companies and businesses in collections at The National Archives and Company and business history records held at other archives.