History, Business Records, and Corporate Archives in North America

Abstract

In 1938 a young archivist writing in the fourth issue of the American Archivist offered the following observation:The historian of the future who seeks to interpret our contemporary life without taking into account the shaping forces of modern business will but touch on the fringes of the subject.For more than a generation people have spoken of two capitals, Washington and Wall Street ....We are careful to preserve the records of one capital, but we have sadly neglected the other.'Although almost fifty years have passed since Oliver W. Holmes penned these remarks, the potential of archival programmes in the corporate sector remains largely unrealized.This paper examines the close association between early efforts to preserve business records and the rise of business history and it considers the current situation in light of the historical evolution of business archives.In the early part of this century historians left their mark on the development of business archives just as they influenced all facets of archival development.One might suggest, however, that the relationship did not enjoy the same success in the business world as in the world of public records.The historians' tendency to justify archival programmes as resources to facilitate the writing of history did not generally stimulate businessmen to preserve corporate archives.Consideration of the early development of business archives suggests that alternative avenues need to be explored in order to make preservation of such archives more relevant to business in the future.In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, historians in the United States and Canada expressed little interest in business and economic history.They preferred instead to concentrate on political and constitutional subjects.In assessing their approach, R.A.Shiff suggested that the historians of the period were "too European oriented with primary emphasis on soldiers, politicians, and e~clesiastics."~The first commentators to

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