Chairman's Statement 2004-2005

The Chairman's Year 2004-2005

2004-5 has proved to be another good year for the Council.

Journal, Newsletter, Web

The issues of our journal Business Archives – ‘Principles and Practice’, and ‘Sources and History’, continue to thrive under the direction of new editors, Valerie Johnson, of BP, and Dr Michael Anson, of the Bank of England. Under Jane Waller’s most competent direction, we have published the customary four issues of our Newsletter, and enhanced the process of dissemination with development of the BAC web-site. I should like to draw your attention to the ‘Hidden Assets’ section of the website, which promotes the professional management of business archives. Jane has also made it possible to access articles from back issues of the journals.

My thanks on your behalf to everyone concerned in these ventures.

Conference 2004

Hosted by Lloyds TSB on 30 November 2004, we held a very successful conference on the theme of ‘Business Archives: Fit for the Future?’. The sessions were chaired by Nicholas Kingsley, then County Archivist of Gloucestershire and now Head of National Advisory Services, TNA. Lively debates on the challenging future for business archives were stimulated by our speakers: Piet Clement, Heads of Library, Archives and Research Support at the Bank for International Settlements, Basel; Andy Pols, of Pols Consulting; Martin Rush, of the Royal Mail Group; Adam Green and Gary Collins, from the Access to Mineral Heritage Project; and Justin Cavernelis-Frost of MLA. There was also a valuable panel session on Funding, with contributions from Lucy Jones of BT, Rachel Hosker, Scottish Business Archive, Glasgow University, Lisa Giffen, BAC (Scotland), Judy Aitken, from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and Tania Noble of Arts and Business.

Wadsworth Prize 2004

At a reception held at the Bank of England Museum on 30 November 2004, the Prize for 2004 was awarded to Professor J. Forbes Munro, of the University of Glasgow, for his book Maritime Enterprise and Empire. Sir William Mackinnon and his Business Network, 1823-1893 (Boydell Press, 2003). The award was presented by our President, Sam Twining, and Sir Ian Hay Davison, a member of the Prize panel. Congratulations to the winner, and our thanks to Sarah Millard and the Bank of England for generously acting as hosts.

Bursary

Following the award to Stephan Schwarzkopf last year, the fruits of which we expected to see in print very soon, I am delighted to announce that we have another worthy winner, after a competitive round of judging. Mr Hiroki Shin of St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge has won the 2005 award and will use the funding to research ‘levels of confidence in the Bank of England note’, with particular reference to archives in Wales and Scotland.

Business Records Development Officer

But above all, our greatest achievement, for which Sara Kinsey deserves much of the credit, has been in persuading TNA and other members of our Business Archives Round Table to support an exciting new initiative in business archives, the funding for a two-year post of records development officer, to be based at TNA in Kew. The Council dug deep into its pockets to come up with £16,000 over the two years, but is delighted to find that its entrepreneurial spirit has been matched elsewhere. In addition to support and accommodation from TNA, we have received commitments to fund from the Society of Archivists, MLA, CyMAL, and the Economic History Society. The development officer will fill gaps in the business archives map and deal with special cases and emergencies. The venture, I feel, is a tribute to wide acceptance of the view that we should all be making a pro-active stand on the business archives issue.

New Executive Members

I should like to introduce our new executive committee members, who have joined us since last year:

Judy Faraday, Partnership Archivist for the John Lewis Partnership, who has organised our events here today; and two business historians:

Dr Gerben Bakker, from the Department of Accounting, Finance and Management, University of Essex, who was formerly at the LSE and the European University Institute in Florence; and

Dr Roy Edwards, from the School of Management, University of Southampton, also formerly at the LSE.

Valedictory

Finally, and rather sadly, it is time to pay tribute to some resignations. First, it is with regret that I announce that Melanie Aspey of Rothschilds is to step down from the Executive. Melanie has been a loyal and effective supporter of the Council since the days she was an advisory officer. She has been a trustee for some years, and was my predecessor as Chair from 1999 to 2003. I hope that she will be able to rejoin the Executive at a later stage.

Eamon Dyas of News International has also resigned from the Executive, and we will certainly miss his support. Again, I hope that he will be able to rejoin the Executive at a later stage.

Regretfully, I also have to reveal that Fiona Maccoll of Rio Tinto, is stepping down after seven years of sterling service on the Executive. Fiona has acted as Deputy Chair and Secretary since 2003. The secretarial baton is to be passed to Karen Sampson of Lloyds TSB, and I have no doubt there will be a seamless transition from one sound and supportive colleague to the next.

Terry Gourvish

Chairman

8 November 2005