The European Association for Banking History (eabh) in cooperation with BNP Paribas and Banque Lombard Odier is holding a one day workshop on Appraisal in the Digital Era. The workshop will be held on 22 June 2017 in Paris and the eabh is now calling for papers.

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Registration is now open for the Digital Preservation Coalition's 2017 student conference - What I Wish I Knew Before I Started. The conference will be held on 27 January 2017 in London.

The DPC, with support from the University of London, the Archives and Records Association, and the Information and Records Management Society, is pleased to invite students, researchers and new professionals in archives, records management and librarianship to a one-day conference on practical workplace skills in digital preservation.

This conference will bring a select group of leading practitioners together with the next generation of archivists, records managers and librarians to discuss the challenges of digital collections management and digital preservation. The day will open with a consideration of digital preservation basics and a scan of emerging trends in digital preservation. In the afternoon, a group of invited speakers will reflect on ‘what I wish I knew before I started’, or 'what I actually do all day' giving delegates an advantage in their own career development and helping those who frame the curriculum a chance to extend their students' readiness for the workplace. The day will end with a round table session, allowing delegates to ask questions about digital preservation practice and careers.

To find out more and how to book see DPC's website.

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Leading organisations and practitioners in Digital Preservation came together on 30^th November at the Wellcome Collection in London, for an evening of celebration at the exciting Digital Preservation Awards 2016.

Watch the video

Hosted by the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and introduced by the Chair of Judges, Adrian Brown of the Parliamentary Archives, the evening celebrated the achievements of those people and organisations who have made significant and innovative contributions to maintaining a digital legacy.

Business archives were represented amongst the winners, with HSBC Archives taking the inaugural DPC Award for the Most Outstanding Digital Preservation Initiative in Industry,

Read more about the awards including details of all winners on the dpc's website.

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The winners of the 2016 BAC Wadsworth Prize for Business History are Richard Roberts and David Kynsaton for their book The Lion Wakes: A modern history of HSBC published by Profile Books. The prize was awarded at a reception held on 21st November in London at Barclays head office in Canary Wharf.

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The Archives and Artefacts Study Network (A2SN) 2017 conference Interpretations of the Past will be held on 21st and 22nd April 2017. It will be hosted by The Arkwright Society at The Derwent Valley Mills, the scene of the first industrial revolution. Download the flyer.

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Fundraising for Archives is inviting a small group of colleagues from the archive sector to join a 6 month programme of training, mentoring and fundraising support tailored to you and your archive. From January 2017 they will run 4 cohorts with 12 places available in each and you will attend 6 training courses, each developing your skills in different elements of fundraising.

Applications are now open until 5pm Monday 21^st November. You can download an application form, read the guidance note to application and find out full information about the programme and the different modules we offer at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sector/projects-and-programmes/fundraising-for-archives/.

If you have any questions about the programme please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team at fundraisingforarchives@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk

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This year's British Records Association conference is a joint event with The Gardens Trust. Keeping the Memory Green: Records of Small Gardens will be held at The Linnean Society, Picadilly on Tuesday 29 November 2016. For further details and bookings please see BRA's website.

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Boots Archive have recently received funding from the Wellcome Trust to help develop its collections through The Wellcome’s Research Resources Grants Fund. On 7^th October there will be a chance to hear more about Boots Archive’s experience and the Fund in general. This is an excellent opportunity for business archives to find out more about the opportunities offered by the Wellcome Foundation for projects to increase access to material which has a link to wellbeing or health in its widest form.

The programme is as follows:

10.30 – Introduction and plan for the session  – Sophie Clapp, Boots Archive

10. 45 – Intro to Research Resources Scheme (and initial questions) – Chris Hassan, Wellcome Trust

11. 15 – Boots: why we wanted to transform our service, approach taken & learnings – Boots Archive, SC

11.45 – Boots: Rediscovering the Boots Archive -project delivery, decisions taken & learnings – Hannah Jenkinson, Boots Archive

12.15 – LUNCH

1.00 – Tour of Wellcome – Ross MacFarlane, Wellcome Library

1.30 – Dr Richard Hornsey, History Department, University of Nottingham: Providing an insight into the researcher’s experience

2.00 – Boots: Assessing the benefits and next steps – Judith Wright, Boots Archive

2.30 – Coffee

2.45 – Q&A panel session – Boots team, Dr Richard Hornsey and Chris Hassan

3.15 - Finish

The meeting will take place in the Burroughs Room at the Wellcome Collection Conference Centre. Lunch and refreshments throughout the day will be provided.

To book please contact Sophie Clapp.

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The Business Archives Council is delighted to announce the winners of the BAC cataloguing grant for business archives related to the Arts, 2016. The Arts grant was launched in 2013 to support an under-represented area of business archives and to complement wider initiatives for archiving the arts by The National Archives and the Campaign for Voluntary Sector Archives.

This year the award goes to Special Collections, Leeds University Library & Red Ladder Theatre Company for the cataloguing of the Archives of Red Ladder Theatre Company.

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We are delighted to announce that the BAC will be providing five bursaries for aspiring new archives and records management professionals.

Find out how to apply.

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Book now for the Business Archives Council's annual conference to be held on Monday 21st November 2016 at the head office of HSBC in Canary Wharf. Branching out: the rewards and realities of diversifying your service aims to share, discuss and debate the variety of ways business archives can branch out and become more diverse, from moving beyond the traditional archive functions to making collections more relevant for the 21st century audience.

Find out more, including how to book.

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UNESCO’s Recommendation and the UK Policy Brief stress the need to protect documentary heritage, which has never been more pressing in a time of exonomic and political uncertainty both within the UK and internationally.

The Recommendation can be found at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002433/243325e.pdf (page 158).

In response to the Recommendation, the UK National Commission to UNESCO has published a policy brief 'Practical considerations for the UK in applying and communicating the new UNESCO Recommendation on protecting documentary heritage including digital form'.

The policy brief provides practical advice to practitioners and decision-makers about the role of the Recommendation in the UK and about its impact in particular on preserving and accessing digital documentary heritage. It was developed in consultation with a range of digital preservation and documentary heritage experts including representatives from The Digital Preservation Coalition, The British Library, The National Archives, Simon Tanner, the Parliamentary Archives, Chief Archivists in Local Government, and the LSE Library.

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Between 1987 and 1997 National Life Stories (NLS) explored the inner world of Britain’s financial capital and gathered 150 in-depth biographical recordings with men and women from the Stock Exchange, the merchant and clearing banks, the commodities and futures markets, law and accounting firms, financial regulators, insurance companies and Lloyd’s of London.

Much has happened in the City and in the UK’s financial sector since 1997 and NLS is now planning to initiate a new oral history programme – City Lives Revisited– to document the key recent changes that have occurred. NLS is inviting interested parties to tender for a Scoping Study to assess existing oral history collections relating to the UK’s finance sector, both at the British Library and more widely, and make recommendations about the scope and scale for a new programme of interviews.

All applications must be received by 5.00pm on Monday 26 September 2016.

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The Business Archives Council is delighted to announce the winners of the BAC cataloguing grant for business archives 2016.

Once again, the judging panel was very impressed with the high standard of the applications that were received from across the country, but ultimately decided to present the award to Lancashire Archives for the cataloguing of the records of the Abbott and Company of Lancaster, stained glass manufacturers.

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The winner of the 2016 BAC Bursary for Business History Research is Dr David Turner of the Centre of Lifelong Learning, University of York. David will use the bursary to look at Brewing and British railways, 1870 to 1914. Find out more.

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Two workshops on corporate archives in global perspective entitled Private Interests and or National Heritage? Corporate Archives and the Production of History in a Global Perspective will be held at the State Archives of Gothenburg, Sweden in November 2016. The two keynote speakers are Elizabeth Shepherd and Charles Harvey. There is now a call for papers for the remaining sessions.

Take a look at the call for papers advert.

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Save the date for this year's BAC conference which will be held on Monday 21st November at HSBC in Canary Wharf. More details to follow shortly so keep an eye on the BAC website conference pages.

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Over the next few months, The National Archives will be collaborating with archive professionals, key stakeholders and strategic partners from the cultural, creative and digital sectors to:

- develop a strong strategic vision to support the case for archives as a vital part of the nation's heritage
- explore and build on the themes of digital transformation, innovation and financial resilience
- produce a future vision on archives to secure the best possible long-term future for archive collections and services

You can get involved by taking part in the roundtable events that TNA will be holding:

- 11 July at Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre
- 25 July at The National Archives
- 27 July at The Priory Rooms, Birmingham
- 29 July at The University of Manchester

Take a look at the website to find out more including how to book a place for the event.

Further opportunities to contribute will include an online survey, as well as interviews across the sector and Twitter Q&A sessions.

Any comments or feedback can be sent to ArchivePolicy@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk

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This year's eabh summer school will take place 14-16 September hosted by the Banco de Espana in Madrid. The theme is 'Transparency and information management in financial institutions. From the inside out.' Registration is available at a 20% discount until 15 July. Details including the programme are available on their website.

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The Museums Association Conference and Exhibition is the largest event of its kind in Europe for museums and heritage professionals. This year's conference will be held 7-9 November in Glasgow, with themes of People and Places, Being Brave and Health and Wellbeing. Keynote speakers include Jackie Kay, national poet for Scotland and Oonagh Aitken, chief executive of Volunteering Matters as well as two representatives from the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Early bird booking ends of 5 August 2016, so for further information and to book a place visit the Museums Association's website.

 

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In April 2016 ESB Archives launched a new website. ESB was the first Irish semi-state commercial body and will be celebrating its 90^th anniversary in 2017. In 1991, ESB Archives was formally established to collect, preserve and make accessible the history of ESB. The collection includes administrative records, maps, photographs, film and artefacts.

ESB was established to be the first fully integrated (generation, transmission, distribution, marketing and sale) national electricity service in the world and has played a significant role in the construction of the national infrastructure.

The website provides a virtual archives experience outlining some of the key developments of ESB. Some of the milestones and innovations associated with the wide ranging portfolio of its activities are showcased through the medium of digitised content from paper and audio visual collections preserved in ESB Archives, along with infographics to help create an aid to more fully understand that story.

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The morning session of Local History Day held on Saturday 4th June at St Andrew Holborn, London EC4A 3AB will focus on business archives, with Alex Ritchie (Business Archives Advice Manager at The National Archives) and Richard Wiltshire (Senior Archivist for Business Archives at London Metropolitan Archives) talking on the subject.

Find out more and how to book.

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'The City (or London Business), the Commonwealth, and Europe: Past, Present,...' will be held on Friday 3 June 12.30-16.30 at The London Metropolitan Archives and will look at the important business and commercial relationships between London, the Commonwealth and Europe. The talks will cover the 1950s, the impact of the 1975 EEC referendum, and business to the Commonwealth post-1975. There will be a chance to see original archive documents. £10 including lunch.

Book now.

 

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The winner of the 2015 BAC Bursary for Business History Research is Sergio Castellanos-Gamboa of Bangor University. His research project investigates the origins and long-term development of consumer credit in Britain. He will use the bursary to recoup relevant information from surviving records of the Committee of London Clearing Banks and the British Bankers Association stored at the London Metropolitan Archives. In turn the data will be used as part of his dissertation and his research will include cliometric analysis of lending practices. The award was announced by Mike Anson at the annual conference of the Association of Business Historians held in Exeter. Sergio was presented with a cheque for £1,000.

Find out about past winners.

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As a result of the generosity of Sir Peter Thompson, former Chairman of the National Freight Corporation, and the Wellcome Foundation, the BAC has instituted a trust fund, the income from which is used to offer annually a bursary to help an individual to further their research into business history through the study of specific business archives. In 2016 the value of the award will be up to £1000.

Find out how to apply.

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The National Gallery won the BAC cataloguing grant related to the arts in 2015 for the cataloguing of the correspondence of international art dealers Thos. Agnew & Sons. The final report of the project has now been published. Take a look.

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The Scottish Council on Archives is publishing a report later this year to celebrate the business archive collections held across all sectors in Scotland - archives, museums, libraries, universities, private owners and businesses. The report will help to mark the end of the 5 year national strategy for business archives in Scotland.

To ensure that the report represents the breadth of activity in Scotland the Scottish Council on Archives is running a survey for information covering the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2016. To participate in the survey go to the Scottish Council on Archives' website. It will close on Wednesday 1 June 2016.  

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The BAC guidance and proceedings notes are based on the annual conference themes and are for the use of archive managers, staff and researchers.

Collecting Business Archives is the proceedings of the 2015 conference Hunter Gatherers: Collecting Today's Business Archives.

See more guidance and proceeding notes.

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Inspired by material from the Ideal Home Show found in the recently deposited Earls Court and Olympia Collection, London Metropolitan Archives will be hosting an event on 6 May 2016 entitled "Ideal" Homes? A history of the home. Take a look at the programme or the website to book.

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In support of the National Strategy for Business Archives, the Business Archives Council (BAC) is delighted to announce that it is once again offering a cataloguing grant for business collections relating to the arts. The grant this year wil be worth £3000. Applications are now open, so find out more.

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A2SN will be holding a workshop on 9 and 10 September 2016 entitled Shipping the goods in more ways than one - and more at the National Waterways Museum and Archive, Ellesmere Port. The aim of the workshop will be to explore some of the stories behind archives and artefacts at the repository, as well as the more general narratives behind historic freight. The costs will be £40 for one day and £60 for two days. Students get two days for the price of one.

Further information and the programme are available of A2SN's website.

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The Legal Records at Risk project was set up by the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies to investigate the findings of previous studies, including the British Records Association report on Records at Risk (2011), that significant records of many institutions specialised to law are at risk. You can find out more on the project's new website. 

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In support of the National Strategy for Business Archives, the Business Archives Council (BAC) is delighted to announce that it is once again offering a cataloguing grant for business collections. The grant this year wil be worth £3000. Applications are now open, so find out more.

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This year's eabh's conference Financial Interconnections in History will be held on 29 April 2016 at Oesterreichische Nationalbank in Vienna. The day will explore the theme of financial globalisation.

Find out more about the programme and how to book.

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Archives Online. It's all about choices is an eabh workshop aimed to support archivists and records managers in strategically planning and implementing the online presentation of their institutions' archives. It will be held at Oesterreichische Nationalbank in Vienna on 28 April 2016.

Find out more and how to book.

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The next A2SN Workshop will be on 9 and 10 September, 2016 at the National Waterways Museum and Archive, Ellesmere Port. The aim of the workshop will be to explore some of the stories behind archives and artefacts at the repository, as well as the more general narratives behind historic freight. The costs will be £40 for one day and £60 for two days. Students get two days for the price of one. Find out more in due course on the A2SN website.

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Preserving Transactional Data is a joint workshop with the Digital Preservation Coalition and the UK Data Service. It will be held on 17th March 2016 in London and will discuss the issues facing long-term access to data that result from single, logical interactions with a database. The session is free for DPC members and ESRC Big Data Network centres.

To find out more and to register visit the DPC website.

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The Scottish Business History Network was launched on 11th February 2016 at a reception at the Museum on the Mound in Edinburgh. The new network aims to connect all those (individuals and organisations) with an interest in Scottish business history and business archives. It continues the advocacy and outreach work begun by the five-year National Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland 2011-16.

Find out more:

http://sbhnetwork.co.uk/index.html

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The European Oil and Gas Archives Network (EOGAN) annual conference will be held between 15-18 June 2016 in Basilicata, Southern Italy. The theme of the conference will be 'Capturing oil and gas - challenges for records managers, archivists, curators and researchers.'

Find out more and book.

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This year's International Council for Archives, Section for Business Archives conference will be held at the head office of Cocal-Cola in Atlanta, USA 4-5 April 2016. The theme of the conference is Sustainable Archives.

Find out more and book now.

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