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1994 Newsletter Archive
A CLASSIC TRADITION: PHILANTHROPY BENEFITS EMORY UNIVERSITY
by Beverly B. Allen, Reference Archivist
A 1926-27 student handbook contains a song which reflects (in the irreverent
manner of undergraduates everywhere) the special bond between Emory University
and Atlanta's premier corporation. "Coca-Cola School" claims that "we were
raised on Coca Cola/ So no wonder we raise hell." Since the early 1900's,
Emory's fortunes have been closely linked to Coca-Cola. Asa Griggs Candler
founded the Coca-Cola Company after purchasing the original formula from
druggist J.S. Pemberton. The Candlers, and their successors, the Woodruffs, who
purchased the company in 1919, have been generous benefactors to Emory. Asa
Griggs Candler's 1914 gift of $1,000,000 established Emory University in
Atlanta. In 1979, long-time Coca-Cola CEO Robert W. Woodruff's gift to the
school of more than $100,000,000 was the largest single endowment to a college
which had been made up to that time. It seems only fitting that the papers of
the Candler and the Woodruff families should reside at Emory.
The Asa Griggs Candler Papers (1821- 1951) consist of 22 boxes of business
papers, correspondence, photographs and other materials relating to Coca-Cola,
Emory University and Candler's banking and real estate interests. While
Coca-Cola maintains a corporate archives, the 300+ boxes of Robert W. Woodruff's
papers at Emory also contain a wealth of information about the early history of
the company, including the legendary chairman's engineering of Coca-Cola's
phenomenal expansion in the 20th century. The collection includes
correspondence, financial and company reports, photo-graphs, scrapbooks and
other materials. The collection has already furnished sub-stantial source
material for two major biographies (one forthcoming) of the company.
Other notable business collections include the papers of the Harrold Brothers
(Americus, GA), cotton warehousemen, which contain information on prices of
commodities, especially cotton, and how the product was sold and used; and the
papers of Charles Holmes Herty, a noted chemist, who was instrumental in the
development of a paper industry in the South. Emory's holdings span the 19th and
20th centuries and document many different kinds of commerce, including
manufacturing, ban-king, retailing, and shipping, and trade in textiles, real
estate, railroads and lumber.
While Emory does not have an aggressive collecting policy with regard to
business records, we do actively seek to add papers of individuals and
organi-zations which augment existing strengths. We have limited funds for
acquisition of new materials, and depend primarily on donations for additions to
our holdings.
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GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL: HOME OF TWO TRANSPORTATION LIBRARIES
Two little-known transportation libraries are located in Grand Central Terminal
(according to a recent article in the New York Times). Opened in 1937, the
Williamson Library is the home of the New York Division of the Railroad
Enthusiasts. The collection consists of 5,000 to 10,000 books, magazines and
other items about railroading, much of which was given to the library by then
president Frederick E. William. The library is open to the public by
appointment; write for information to P.O. Box 1318, Grand Central Station, New
York, NY 10017.
The other library, the Frank Julian Sprague Memorial Library of the Electrical
Railroaders Assoc., opened in 1979. Specializing in electrically powered rail
and trolley lines, the Sprague has a half-million publications and slides.
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BUSINESS WITH A METHOD: BUSINESS RECORDS AT THE HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL
by Florence B. Lathrop, Director, Historical Resources
Graduate business education in the U.S. was only about fifteen years old when
the Harvard Business School opened in 1907-08. HBS's distinctive strategy, in a
field with as yet no defining literature or teaching method, was to analyze real
problems and to train management generalists. To support these two goals, the
school's founders that first year charged the library to collect teaching and
research materials--like annual reports, circulars, pamphlets--actually being
produced by firms in their daily opera-tions. The library also cast a wide net
for books and journals on a range of business and economic subjects. In 1915,
the school accepted its first set of business manuscript operating records: 707
account books and 105 boxes of textile records from the Samuel Slater textile
companies, 1796 to 1915. Again, these primary materials were seen as sources for
teaching on current problems faced by businesses, informed by knowledge of an
industry's history.
In the 1920's, HBS focused on defining general management, creating the "case
method", and putting out new business journals and casebooks. The founding of a
great research library and the establish-ment of the field of business history
were also two pieces of the larger planning to differentiate HBS as a unique
business school. The dean, Wallace Brett Donham, hired two history professors to
limn out what 'business history' might be; Donham chose historian Arthur Cole
(donor of the Slater collection) to lead the new Baker Library; he organized the
Business Historical Society to educate firms on the value of their records; and
he funded research and development for organizing industry magazines, handbooks,
textbooks, reports, how-tos, public relations pieces, photographs, maps,
drawings, and manuscript business records into an intelligible business
literature. Looking back on Donham and Cole's strategy, we can see that they set
for HBS the task of documenting the history and practice of business, writ
large.
In the 1920's and 1930's, manuscript repositories were generally unprepared to
see business records as legitimate his-torical sources, or to feel capable of
organizing huge sets of organizational records. By 1932, Cole had set down a
method of handling large collections at what we would today call the series
level, the dissemination of which enabled other repositories to accept business
records. Further, Baker Library also was devel-oping value-added methods of
organizing printed business materials, which allowed both Baker and other
libraries to turn variegated business sources into coherent research
collections.
Cole soon narrowed and rationalized HBS collecting policies; no one organization
can or should hope for universality. Never-theless, Baker's holdings now
constitute a uniquely deep and wide set of business documentation, which
supports HBS teaching and research, as well as out-side scholarship. Baker
Library today holds about 500,000 volumes of printed industry journals, books,
and pamphlets; 900 cartons of corporate reports, one million microfiche, 40,000
rare books, 15,000 cu. ft. of manuscripts records of 1400 different business
people and firms, and 5000 cu. ft. of HBS Archives.
Sources begin with Italian merchant account books from 1300 a.d., and move up to
real-time ticker information, on-line newspapers, and networked access to cd-rom
databases. Baker Library continues to collect some manuscript business records;
whereas the collecting focus formerly was 19th century New England, now the core
concept is more likely to be industries in which HBS has had impact in the
twentieth century. Most recently, our primary con-tribution to documenting
twentieth century American busi-ness has been the acquisition and organ-ization
of HBS faculty papers and adminis-trative records. As we look to the future, we
welcome the challenge to record the in-formation, knowledge and human
rel-ation-ships which electronic business activity is calling forth.
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FURNISHING IDEAS: HERMAN MILLER ARCHIVES
by Linda Folland, Archives & Records Services (ARS)Direction & Implementation
A Central Logic
By the very nature of its business, the design firm of Herman Miller is
continually evolving and adapting in relation to the needs of its clients.
Change is constant in this amazing amoebic existence; a corporate archivist has
to be flexible. Much progress has been made since the Archives first merged with
other records services in 1990. Significantly, the larger Archives and Records
Services (ARS) program influenced the creation this year of a central organizing
work team, focused on corporate communication and information management. This
effort, within which the Archives continues to participate, includes a welcome
col-laboration with computer tech-nol-ogists; for, as most archivists know,
these days, more and more long-term records take machine-readable form.
Having Archives and Records personnel on one team has helped the company realize
certain economies of scale not possible before. For example, imaging technicians
who once worked only with short-term rec-ords have now learned archival
processing and testing techniques. Moreover, data gathered in records surveys
are used to target fragile long-term records for early protection in a single
transmittal process, i.e., all records go to one place. This is much easier for
users. The same environ-mentally controlled vault houses long-term archival
records with short-term vital records. Logistically, one docking station
receives all incoming boxes of inactive records, and records personnel use one
corporate van to pick up and deliver. Most important of all, a central finding
system has been created on the global computer network to describe corporate
records in one place according to a central logic that eases research. The next
challenge will be to teach people outside the records depart-ment how to use it:
a goal for this year.
Although staff-hours are somewhat dispersed among different activities, the
equivalent of three full-time archivists focus on the following corporate
collections: 1) manuscripts and administrative records, 2) still photography, 3)
audio-visual productions, 4) publications, 5) oral histories, 6) product
samples, and 7) corporate art.
Public Demand
Aside from the normal level of litig-ation, regular research, and processing
which is ever-present in corporate archives, archival projects currently
underway include an exciting collaboration with the Library of Congress to mount
an exhibition in 1997 on the work of Charles and Ray Eames. Design has long been
a topic of fascination for scholars, and the naming of Charles and Ray Eames as
"the most influential designer of the 20th century" by the International World
Design Congress continues to lead many toward the Herman Miller Archives.
Types of materials held on such designers as the Eames include original
correspondence with company leaders, executive notes regarding meetings with the
designers, concept drawings, problem statements and proposals, patent/trademark
information, interviews, photography and audiovisual productions by or about
designers' work, and assorted published materials (such as promotional
literature, internal/external articles and books).
In 1989, the Archives donated a complete array of the company's
three-dimensional furniture artifacts to a consor-tium of museums, because of a
tremendous level of demand from the public for access to the collection. Such
demand forced the company to agonize over whether to go into the museum business
itself or entrust an integral part of its living history to external museums.
Not an easy choice!.
Ultimately, the company selected outsourcing. The long-term success of this
decision will hinge on the usability of the Archives' documentation, which is in
some instances the only on-site reference to the company's products, and the
conditions of gift to museums, which have been designed by the Archives to
preserve the company's ownership rights to designs and contin-uing research
access without hampering museums and the public. One test this year was the
successful reintroduction of several discontinued classic designs in the "Herman
Miller for the Home" business venture aimed at the residential furniture market.
Part of the continuing work asso-ciated with the donation is ensuring that a
complete array of Herman Miller designs continues to be preserved for posterity
in a dispersed museum network, connected intellectually to foster holistic
understanding. The Henry Ford Museum, which serves as steward for the
consor-tium, has been very helpful in this regard and, in combination with
Herman Miller, will publish a guide to the collection soon.
Numerous museums in the global history network hold Herman Miller pieces in
their permanent collections, because the company serves the world community. The
1989 donations, however, went to the fol-lowing consortium recipients, located
in regions where the company has major manufacturing sites:
’ Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan.
’ Public Museum of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
’ Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan.
’ Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
’ High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia.
’ Atlanta Historical Society, Georgia.
’ Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey.
’ New Jersey Historical Society.
’ Dallas Museum of Art, Texas.
’ Dallas Historical Society, Texas.
’ Oakland Museum, California.
’ San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California.
’ Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California.
At present, the Archives is working on several externally published books. One,
about another renowned Herman Miller designer, George Nelson, will be out this
fall. Another, on the company's architecture, is underway.
Balancing internal requests with public demand isn't always easy for corporate
archivists, but it helps them remain connected to objective need for accurate
history within a "world" context.
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MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK: 150 YEARS OF INSURANCE
To commemorate its sesquicentennial anniversary in 1993, Mutual Life Insurance
Company of New York has delivered life insurance policies of politicians,
artists, actors to libraries and archives across the U.S., according to articles
appearing in The New York Times (February 5 and 27, 1994). Several of these
policies were custom-tailored and some contain interesting historical footnotes:
the policy covering famed pianist (and politically active) Ignace Paderewski
included a clause suspending coverage if he ventured into Poland (where he was a
potential target for attack); a clause in the policy for Thomas Edison
disallowed coverage in the event of electrocution.
The New York Public Library for the performing Arts at Lincoln Center received
files for Paderewski and composer Charles Ives. Tulane University accepted files
for Huey Long, whose death, for insurance purposes, was determined to be
accidental. Other policies offered were those for Enrico Caruso, Thomas Edison,
Warren Harding, Mary Pickford, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt,
Alexander de Seversky and William Howard Taft.
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THE NEW ENGLAND CELEBRATES THE 150th ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FIRST POLICY
by Phyllis E. Steele, Archivist
After receiving a charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and organizing
to do business, the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company issued its first
life insurance policy on February 1, 1844. In celebration of the 150th
anniversary of the event, the Corporate Archives and Corporate Communications
Departments prepared two exhibits: "Preparing to Issue Policy No. 1, October
1843 to February 1844" and "Policy No. 1, 1844: 150 Years of Customer
Satisfaction."
The first exhibit featured a small group of documents carefully saved and
annotated by the company's founder, Judge Willard Phillips. These documents show
how the company was originally financed and organized, including the development
of the company's first mortality studies and the establishment of the first
premium rates.
The second and larger exhibit focused on the period from the issuing of the
first policy up through the 1850's. It included the first policy, the first
policy register, the first dividend book, and photos of early policy holders,
company officers, and company agents. Among early policy holders were Daniel
Webster, William Lloyd Garrison, Rufus Choate, Emma Savage Rogers (wife of the
first president of MIT), Josiah Quincy, Jr., and John Blair Smith Todd (the
Dakota Territory's first representative to Congress and later its governor).
Also displayed were samples of the company's decorative 19th century insurance
policy forms.
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INDUSTRIOUS DESIGNS: THE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OF SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
by Terrance Keenan, Special Collections Librarian
The Department of Special Collections of Syracuse University Library is the
repository for the permanent records of businesses and organizations as
different as railroads and publishers, and in subject areas as diverse as
continuing education and industrial design. The rationale for maintaining and
supporting these records derives from programs and research needs within
Syracuse University and in the broader academic community. It is also part of
the long-term mission of Special Collec-tions to preserve the documentary
history of our culture, within certain defined limits, and business records are
no less a part of that heritage than personal papers.
Preserving the permanent records of a company or organization is a way of
docu-menting the historic process of running a business. Perhaps describing our
industrial design collections will help clarify this idea.
Syracuse University began offering courses in industrial design in 1935. By 1948
a Department of Industrial Design and a five-year professional degree program
had been developed. Since that time graduates of the program have been widely
sought within the profession. In 1963, Syracuse University Library's Special
Collections began collecting industrial design records. The design manuscripts
provided instructional material for seminars and research documentation for
graduate students in design, architecture, and related fields. The initial
strategy was to collect the papers of pioneers of the 1920's and 1930's, and a
select number of second-generation designers.
The first generation of designers came from diverse backgrounds. Egmont Arens
was a writer, publisher, and color expert; Alter Teague and Lurelle Guild were
illustrator-typographers; and Russel Wright was a theatrical designer. The
products and artifacts created by these designers are displayed in museums
around the nation, but the only evidence of the process that led to the creation
of these products lies in the archival records.
Some collections arrive at Special Collections neatly wrapped. The papers of
Tucker Madawick, long-time head designer for RCA, arrived in carefully labeled
boxes. The papers consisted of slides and models of radios, TV's, electric
razors, all numbered and chronologically arranged. By contrast, the records of
Jerome Moberg, award winning cutlery designer, were in disarray. Mixed in boxes
of all sizes were brass castings, high school records, and Masonic cufflinks.
With budgetary cut-backs all across the Univer-sity, the Library has had to be
selective about the collections it accessions and, at the moment, processing for
any new arrivals is only prelim-inary and minimal.
Our society is still losing the historical evidence of the process whereby
industrial designers create the products that shape our lives. Designers'
models, drawings, correspondence, contracts, and prototypes of countless
products have gone to the dumpster because manufacturers will not keep files on
obsolete products, and designers themselves often discount the historical vale
of their life' work.
Museums, able to deal expertly with artifacts, do not have the facilities to
manage documentation on a large scale. Businesses must cope with the press of
current events and cannot maintain records indefinitely. Our ultimate goal is to
ensure preservation of the historical evidence by involving industry,
repos-itories (libraries, archives, and museums) designers, and researchers in
cooperative collection development, a concept called documentation strategy, on
a national scale. This process requires that the key players reach consensus on
what kinds of documents and artifacts should be preserved, what documentation is
already available, and where it is located. A brief descriptive sampling of our
core design holdings follows [see appendix].
Arthur J. Pulos, Professor Emeritus of Design at Syracuse, former Chairman of
the Board of the Industrial Designers Society of America and 1993 recipient of
the coveted Misha Black Award for Education in Design, has written: "There still
exists the eternal conflict between form and function, expression and utility,
and art and service. Democracy continues to be an essential condition for
manufactured products. Des-pite their transitory value, they are the true
artifacts of our time because in them civilizations to come will find an
expressive record of our era, not perhaps, in he tombs of some future valley of
the kings, but certainly in the landfills of the people."
Perhaps the artifacts of our time will be found in archival repositories. We
have used Pulos, and other design-ers whose papers are part of our collection,
to help us target designers whose work is being forgotten. We cannot collect
every-thing, so we work on two fronts: struggling to make accessible that which
we have or to which we are already committed and working with other institutions
to develop a strategy for documenting the history of the field.
Appendix: Industrial Design Collections at the George Arents Research Library
Syracuse University
Arens, Egmont (1889-1966), papers 1880-1966, 1929-l958 (bulk). 110.0 linear ft.
Prior to opening his industrial design office in 1935, Arens had been sports
editor for the Albuquerque Tribune Citizen, a book-seller in New York City
(1917-23), sales-man for his Flying Stag Press (1918-27), and editor for Vanity
Fair (1922-23), and Creative Arts (1925-27).
Summary: Correspondence, written material photographs, and sketches, con-cen-trating
on his career in industrial design. Clients include Colombian Rope Co., the
Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. (A&P), J.C. Penney, Philip Morris, and
Reynolds Metals Co. Materials on the Flying Stag Press include correspondence
with Rex Stout, 1924-36, and Rockwell Kent, 1924-33.
Chapman, Dave (1909-1978), papers 1932-1970. 57.0 linear ft. Summary:
Correspondence 1940-65; blueprints, designs, notes, renderings, reports,
pamphlets, and clippings 1932-65; and color slides 1966.
George Nelson Company, Inc., records 1950-1968, 1957-68 (bulk). l.5 linear ft.
Summary: Design descriptions and illustrations 1957-68 including designs
prepared for client Herman Miller; and tracings and drawings 1950-68.
Guild, Lurelle, papers 1931-1968. 121.0 linear feet, 30.0 cubic ft. Summary:
Correspondence and advertising; financial records incl. bank statements and
bills; shop drawings, plans and blueprints of client work; photo-graphs; printed
material; and memorabilia including various items designed by Guild.
Industrial Designers Society of America, records 1944-1977. 125.0 linear ft.
Summary: Minutes, a scrapbook and bound items; printed material; audio-visual
material including slides, films and tapes; adminis-trative papers from
predecessor orgs. incl. A.S I.D., and I.D.I. which merged into I.D.S.A. in 1965;
and memorabilia.
Kaufmann Industrial Design Archives, 1931-1962. 25.0 linear ft. The Kaufmann
Industrial Design Award, sponsored by the Edgar Kaufmann Founda-tion gave public
recognition to accomplish-ments in all fields of design and encour-aged
enterprising design developments. The Institute of International Education
administered the award. The award was discontinued in 1961. Summary:
Correspondence, published material, films, tapes, and photographs relative to
design Awards-Candidates.
Spilman, Raymond (1911- ), papers 1933-1976. 96.0 linear ft., 146.0 cubic ft.
Spilman designed products including Maxwell House coffee containers, Cosco
infant furniture, Ideal toys, Waring appliances, Canadian Johns Manville
products, and Underwood typewriters.
Summary: Correspondence, sketches, plans, photographs, correspondence, bills,
tax materials, check stubs and other fin. papers. Also prototypes and models.
Teague, Walter Dorwin, papers 1898-1959, 1950-1959 (bulk). 109.0 linear ft.
Summary: Graphic designs, business files and correspondence, con-struction files
and designs and for the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs,
manu-scripts, memorabilia, and published writings.
Van Rosen, Robert E. (1904- ), papers 1848-1966. 6.0 linear ft. Summary:
Business files including patents and product models 1848-1960; photographs;
personal files; writings and published materials.
Wright, Russel (1904- ), papers 1931-1965. 60.0 linear ft. Summary: Business
records (1931-64) about clients including American Cyanamid Corporation, Casein
Company of America, Cornwall Corporation, and General Electric Company;
manuscripts 1949-51; consumer and trade surveys 1943-59; photographs; clay,
plaster, and paper models; and scrapbooks of clippings.
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YANKEE INGENUITY: HISTORICAL BUSINESS RECORDS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT
by Rand Jimerson, University Archivist
As a leader in the Industrial Revolution of the early 19th century, Connecticut
played an important role in the history of American industrialization. In the
mid-20th century, many Connecticut firms moved operations to Sunbelt states and
the state's economy shifted to a white-collar service base. These
transformations are clearly reflected and thoroughly documented in manuscripts
collections maintained by the University of Connecticut Library's Historical
Manuscripts & Archives Department.
The critical role played by business enterprise and industrial growth
through-out Connecticut's history make collecting historical business records an
essential part of the Archives Department's broad mission to document modern
Connecticut society. Efforts have been made to obtain collections that represent
the diversity of Connecticut business and industrial firms. The department's
collecting policy focuses on business records of Connecticut firms, principally
since 1850, although a few collections date from the 1790's.
Early 19th century business collections include records of: mining and
metallurgy companies, including Kent Iron Company; stone quarries; saw mills,
grist mills, and other family-run enterprises; and early textile mills,
including the Slater Company of Jewett City, founded by John Slater, brother of
Samuel Slater.
During the heyday of 19th century industrial growth, Connecticut firms played a
leading role in textiles, brass, clocks, locks and hardware, heavy
manufacturing, and other industries. These are all documented in the
department's collections. In addition to the Slater Company, one of the major
textile firms in Connecticut was Cheney Brothers, once the leading silk
manufacturer in the United States. The brass industry is represented by several
collections, including records of American Brass Company. Clock manufacturer E.
Ingraham Company and locks and hardware producer Sargent and Company--still
active in New Haven--have extensive historical records collections. Heavy
manufacturing is represented in the records of Farrel Foundry Company, Malleable
Iron Fittings Company, and others. Prominent among several firms producing
cutlery and silver products are predecessor firms of International Silver
Company, once one of the world's leading silver producers.
The largest and in many respects richest collection of historical business
records in the Archives is that of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad,
which in 1872 consolidated most of the rail lines between Boston and New York.
This 2,500 linear foot collection includes managerial, administrative, real
estate, financial, and legal records of the New Haven Railroad and more than 300
predecessor and subsid-iary companies.
Through a partnership with the New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical
Association, a private railfan organization, the Archives maintains historical
collections deposited by NHRHTA members, as well as numerous privately donated
collections related to the New Haven Railroad.
For the past 15 years, the University of Connecticut has been one of the most
active repositories in the Northeast in preserving historical business
enterprise records. The result is a rich research collection documenting the
history of Connecticut business since 1850. The Archives Dept.'s business
collections currently consist of approximately 6,500 linear ft., representing
more than 75 major companies.
Due to staff shortages, the department depends upon offers of collections and
leads from individuals and other reposit-ories. Most of the collections document
defunct businesses or companies that were closing or transferring operations
else-where. However, some of the collections, such as Sargent and Company, are
from companies that remain in business.
Plans are now underway to begin con-struction of a new 50,000 sq. ft. archival
facility, the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Expected to open for research in
1996, the Dodd Center will combine the Historical Manuscripts & Archives
Department with the library's Special Collections Department, with advanced
environmental controls, comfortable research facilities, a small exhibition
gallery, and a conference center.
Appendix: University of Connecticut Business Collections
Kent Iron Company: 156 volumes, 1832-82, including labor records for employees,
production and sales records, administrative records, and general accounts.
Slater Company: 65 linear ft., including administrative, financial, employee,
sales and production records; of special note are more than 100 small account
books for employees accounts at the company store. Collection dates from 1796 to
1884.
Cheney Brothers: 65 linear ft., 1847-1974, including administrative records,
personnel, labor relations, general accounts, board minutes, and blueprints.
E. Ingraham Company: 268 linear ft., 1840-1970, including administrative
records, correspondence, general accounts, labor/ personnel records, production
and sales records, photographs, maps, and blueprints.
International Silver Company: 48 linear ft., 1853-1900, includes records of
predecessor companies, including Meriden Britannia Co., Rogers Manufacturing
Co., Oneida Silver Co., and others.
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A LAND OF ENTERPRISE: THE AMERICAN HERITAGE CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
by Maxine Trost, Manager of Arrangement and Description
The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming collects manuscript
materials in a variety of subjects, including Wyoming and the West, popular
culture, conservation and the environment, and various types of businesses. The
Center's collecting focus is not on business records as such but on particular
indus-tries: mining and petroleum enterprises, agricultural concerns, and
transportation companies.
Riches of the Earth
It may not occur at first to some researchers and archivists to look to Wyoming
to find information about the petroleum industry, but researchers will find not
only records from Standard Oil of New Jersey (60 cu. ft. of reports, ledgers,
correspondence, and publications, dated from 1881 to 1969), but also records
from Husky Oil Company (1.35 cu. ft. 1938-1984), Midwest Oil Corporation (48 cu.
ft. 1895-1951), Northwest Oil Company (9.5 cu. ft. 1916-1978), and others.
One of the American Heritage Center's largest collections, indeed, one of the
largest collections of its kind to be found anywhere in the world, is the
Anaconda Collection. The Anaconda Company began with a single silver mine near
Butte, Montana, in 1866. It was bought by Atlan-tic Richfield in 1977, and in
1986 more than 40,000 tons of reports, maps, field notes, and correspondence
were delivered by semi-trailer trucks to the Laramie campus.
Mining corporations pay membership fees of up to $8,500 for access to the more
than 1.8 million documents, which cover 47 states and 110 foreign countries.
Companies find it much more economical to extract information from these reports
than to go into the field to conduct new exploration projects.
Other mining company records include the Long Bar Mining and Water Company (1
cu. ft. 1844-1861) which describes early efforts to supply water to mines and
agriculture in Yuba County, California, and the Gold Development Company of Utah
(1.5 cu. ft. 1895-1913).
Lionizing Early Aviation
The American Heritage Center also holds many fine aviation collections including
800 cubic feet of research data, notes, correspondence, flight journals,
photographs, and other material collected by Manufacturers Aircraft Association
covering the early decades of aviation. A popular collection with historians and
school children alike is the Roscoe Turner Collection (Papers, 1897-1972, 87 cu.
ft.). Turner was a aviation pioneer who operated an early flight service and a
flying cigar store and kept aviation before the public eye with his daring feats
and record setting flights. Historians enjoy the documentation of the early
airline industry; children enjoy photographs of Turner sharing the cockpit with
his pet lion, Gilmore.
Buffalo Bill, Businessman
Perhaps more to be expected in an archives in Laramie, Wyoming, are the papers
of George Washington Thornton Beck (10 cu. ft.). George T. Beck arrived in
Wyoming in 1879. He made his way to what is now Cody, Wyoming, where he formed
the Shoshone Land and Irrigation Company in partnership with William "Buffalo
Bill" Cody. The largest portion of the collection came to the American Heritage
Center in 1947. What is perhaps the most valuable part of the papers, business
corres-pondence between Beck and Buffalo Bill, came in 1993.
Jack Rosenthal, a Casper, Wyoming, business man and stamp collector, was offered
the collection of letters while he was on the east coast at a stamp advisory
board meeting. Mr. Rosenthal acquired the letters, which had lain unknown in the
attic of a distant relative of Beck for many years, and donated them to the
American Heritage Center. The letters give valuable insights into Cody's
character as a business man as well as information about business practices of
the time.
Another important businessman from the turn of the century was F.E. Warren,
Wyoming Territorial Governor and one of the first two U.S. Senators from
Wyoming. Warren maintained ranching, banking, real estate, and public utility
interests in Wyoming. The F.E. Warren Papers, 1867- 1974 (125 cu. ft.), held by
the American Heritage Center, are a particularly valuable resource for the study
of business practices because Warren conducted his business by mail while he was
serving in the Senate in Washington. His instructions to his managers and their
reports are all preserved for scholars.
Other western- oriented collections include records of the Woodmanse Man-ufacturing
Company of Freeport, Illinois (1 cu. ft. 1885-1929). The collection includes
product catalogs and price booklets for the company's windmills. Equally
important in the history of the West was barbed wire, and the American Heritage
Center holds the Ellwood Barbed Wire Corporation records "one of the most
important collections in the country on the history of barbed wire." The
collection also includes information about Percheron horse breeding, mining, and
ranching (120 cu. ft. ca. 1880-ca. 1920).
to top of 1994
REACHING OUT FOR SURVIVAL: THE ROYAL BANK EXPERIENCE
by Gordon Rabchuk, Corporate Archivist, Royal Bank of Canada
Perhaps the most obvious reason why business archivists have long remained on
the margin of poverty is the tendency of some of them to view their function as
unique and, therefore, indispensable. Unfortunately, this dangerous pursuit of
special status has isolated business archives from the daily on-goings of
corporate life and has estranged its archivists from their corporate hosts.
While many of us have welcomed the transition from academic convocation to
business suit, we have unwittingly participated in the planning of our own
demise with our scholarly approach to selling archives.
Lamenting about inherent corporate hostility towards history is certainly not
the solution. Instead, we should look inward and be more critical of our
marketing campaigns which have unwisely presented archives as the undisputed
foundation for higher learning. If we had kept our ear to the ground, we would
have recognized that the intrinsic value of business archives can only be
appreciated by focusing on its ability to support the larger corporate mission.
An appropriate response would have us canvassing the opinions of others within
the organization whose particular needs and expectations would serve as the
foundation for the development of meaningful products and services. Outreach
initiatives which break down the traditional barriers by encouraging dialogue
between the archives and its targeted audience are essential if the former is to
transform itself into a vital corporate function.
Unfortunately many of us have only embraced outreach as we lay on our
professional deathbeds. Although the life of the Royal Bankås archives has never
been in serious doubt, we too could have easily expired had we not changed old
habits.
Old Habits
Since its inception in 1977, Royal Bankås archives had effectively fulfilled its
conventional mandate: to preserve the bankås history with secondary emphasis on
corporate image enhancing historical displays. For close to a decade the
archives maintained this steady, but very unimaginative course. However, by
1986, the department had shown little signs of maturity amidst a rapidly
changing corporate environment with more sophisticated information demands and
heightened expectations.
Analysis of our core activity statistics confirmed a passive approach to
business development and more alarming, a niche market status. Given the thrust
of existing evidence, there was little doubt that the archives could easily be
swept away by a major corporate house cleaning. Our whole way of thinking,
including the way in which we approached our clients, had to be retooled.
Retooling
As a first step towards broadening support, we attacked our most pressing and
fundamental problem, our poor image. According to clients, our proficiencies in
managing and disseminating
information were hardly innovative. We were compelled to give this issue top
consideration.
In the past, the quality of research delivered and the turn around time when
responding to queries had suffered due to our unbending commitment to
traditional archival theory and practice. The limitations imposed by our manual
funding aids frequently tested the patience of even our loyal supporters whose
subject-related queries required lengthy and exhaustive searches.
Equally damaging were the dreadful comparisons with other information managing
departments whose superior turn-around time to client queries exposed our
unintentional - but nonetheless blatant - disregard for quality customer
service. We addressed this very issue through the creation of on-line databases
which greatly enhanced the quality of service provided to customers by
embellishing the descriptive access to the information. To spread the word, we
counted heavily on the endorsements of clients whose satisfaction with our
revamped reference service would hopefully be passed on to other Royal Bankers.
There is no greater endorsement than the kind worth of a satisfied client Right
Place,
Right Time, Right Attitude
Although an important and even integral part of our raison dåetre, the
automation of our search and retrieval procedures represented only one of
several thrusts in our image-building campaign. The bankås upcoming 125th
anniversary and its related activities drew heavily upon the archiveså resources
and expertise. For at least a half year before, and certainly during the entire
anniversary year, record numbers of Royal Bankers sought our advice in their
search for new twists on how to
Although the bankås history was written by a consulting historian, the archives
staff played a dominant role in its planning, production, and final
distribution. A strong and lasting friendship was struck with the historian
whose humble acceptance of praise for a job well done always included his
sincere endorsement of the archives for its support and its progressive approach
to information management and customer service. Thankfully, the historianås
circle of friends within the bank- many of which belonged to senior management -
were not spared from his sermons on the benefits of our archives!
The Morning After
But the euphoria brought on by our sudden popularity was easily deflated by the
reality that many of our new contacts were simply victims of circumstance. Few
possessed any personal appreciation for history or archives, and collectively
this body of unbelievers posed new mountains for us to scale. Our particular
problem was how to maintain momentum once the bustle of the 125th celebrations
had died.
We worked to de-emphasize the myth that archives serve a one-dimensional purpose
as the gatekeeper of the organizationås history by successfully lobbying to
expand our mandate to reflect our sensitivity to topical bank issues. Believing
that records management has never been more important than it is today given the
ever-increasing litigious nature of society, we proposed to tighten current
records management guidelines and to actively solicit compliance with new
instructions by meeting with Royal Bankers from all departments. With the
creation of a cache of legal and fiscal documents, the bank was in a better
position to build a defense if ever challenged.
In addition, by dividing the Bank into four groups, the archives staff adopted a
relationship management approach whereby they were responsible for identifying
contact officers from each respective department and meeting with them on a
regular basis. The cementing of new and permanent relationships required input
from clients about how we could better serve their information needs.
Our intrusion into the daily lives of Royal Bankers obviously had to be
sanctioned by executive approval. A formal directive was circulated which
naturally drew attention to the archiveså services but, more specifically,
invited bank-wide cooperation to strengthen the bankås memory with the
introduction of tightened records management guidelines. However, the long-term
effectiveness of such directives quickly fade if the foot soldiers have not been
convinced of the worthiness of the initiative, so our challenge continues.
New Opportunities
The recent crumbling of the traditional four pillars of banking sanctioned the
marriage of banks and trust companies, brokerage firms, and in the
not-too-distant future, insurance companies. Following the bankås footsteps, we
aggressively pursued the opportunity to participate in the integration process
which brought a well-respected Canadian trust company into the Royal Bank fold.
Our goal was singular: we lobbied for approval to provide full archival services
to the new acquisition. This experience required us to quickly adapt to a new
culture whereby relationships would be won or lost depending on our abilities to
meet the expectations of new family members.
A Commitment to Listen
If there is one common attribute which links our modest rise from the Ãback
roomå to a more comfortable standing within the organization, it was our
unyielding determination to provide the best possible service to our clients.
Accolades will certainly follow if clients feel that you have done your very
best to satisfy their requirements.
When we are dealing with an internal audience, as most business archives do,
there is little time or need for extensive verbal presentations on the benefits
of archives. Most business types prefer to see results before committing their
allegiance, and products and services that reflect what archivists think their
clients should desire rather than what clients know they want invites
professional suicide.
An astute business archivist has to build an image not necessarily from the top
down, but more importantly from the bottom up. The importance of creating and
maintaining grass roots support for the archives requires a commitment to listen
and react to clientså ever-changing needs. Nothing else really matters.
to top of 1994
ESSENTIAL SERVICES AS OUTREACH: CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC DIOCESAN ARCHIVIST
by John Treanor, Archives & Records Center, Archdiocese of Chicago
When archivists hear the word Ãoutreach,å they immediately conjure up images of
exhibits, newsletters, educational programs, and other projects designed to
increase program visibility and client contacts. Traditional archival education
has taught that if you provide outreach programs, your client base will
increase; this increase will provide justification for increased resources and
mitigate against budget cutbacks.
Where this traditional formula falls short however, is in the realm of corporate
archives. Unlike traditional archives (historical societies, government
repositories) whose charters and enabling legislation call for making records
available to citizens, corporate archives have no mandate to serve the public or
even make records available to researchers outside the company structure.
Corporate archives exist primarily to serve the corporate center - and by
definition its goals are different than those if repositories that serve the
public. Therefore the word outreach should conjure up a different image to the
corporate archivist
While the traditional notions of outreach should not be discarded, it is
crucially important for the corporate archivist to the corporate archives to be
successful, the services it supplies must be essential to the day-to-day
operation of the organization. Although essential services will vary according
to the needs of the individual corporations, one of the most predominate forms
is records management. The Catholic Diocesan Archives stand as a good example of
the impact the assumption of an essential service like records management can
have on an archives.
Both Government and Corporate Models
While Diocesan Archives serve a religious organization, they operate under
mandates found in both government and corporate models. The Catholic Church
throughout the world operates within the guidelines of codified laws called
Canon Law. Canon Law provides a framework for how the faithful are governed,
issues are adjudicated, and Catholic Dioceses are structured. All Dioceses are
mandated by Canon Law to have an archives. Since the Catholic Church has its own
enabling legislation and its own judicial system, it is easy to see where the
government model applies.
In addition, all Catholic Dioceses in the United States are incorporated in one
form or another as not-for-profit corporations. With administrative centers
(chanceries or pastoral centers) and branch offices (parishes, hospitals, social
service programs), the structures are very similar to corporate models found
throughout American business.
Outreach an Imperative
For Catholic Diocesan Archivists, it is important to provide both the
traditional methods of outreach and essential service. Like theft archival
counterparts everywhere, they too are subject to budgetary cutbacks that
threaten their efficiency - and may even jeopardize theft ability to fulfill
theft mandate. And like their business counterparts, the heightened visibility
and increased use achieved through traditional outreach -although beneficial -
may not be enough protection from the fiscal ax.
True, most Catholic Diocesan Archives are mandated to provide records management
services, if even on a small scale. Parishes record vital information which
document their memberså reception of sacraments, and Canon Law dictates that
copies of these records be maintained in the Diocesan Archives. Larger Diocesan
Archives provide more comprehensive records management programs, with formal
records policies, training programs, and management of off-site storage for
non-current administrative records.
However, like many religious denominations in America, the Catholic Church is
suffering from a decline in active member participation and flat donations -
forcing cutbacks in administrative personnel as numerous parishes and schools
have been closed. The case of the Chicago Diocese is particularly illustrative
of this trend.
Essential Service: A Minor Miracle?
Traditionally, the Chicago Diocesan Archives had been the epitome of a passive
repository, even after its 1986 merger with the Diocesan Records Services. With
a three-person staff, it adequately fulfilled its mandated obligations, but
failed to leverage its records expertise to achieve an untouchable niche within
the Diocesan administrative hierarchy. As such, it was potentially at risk when
the Diocese entered the turbulent 1990s.
Since 1986, the Diocese has closed or merged 85 parishes and 90 schools,
resulting in numerous layoffs. During this downsizing, however, the Diocesan
Archives has discovered that by aggressively collecting and servicing the
sacramental and student records of those closed entities, it has been able to
successfully argue for increased resources to handle the increased services it
provides. As a result, its budget has increased 183%, and staff levels have
risen from three to eight By identifying a key need in the organization, and
quickly moving to close the gap, the Archives has more than survived a period of
downsizing -it has prospered.
In the volatile world of the corporation, the concept of essential service can
be a hedge against the double-edged threats of downsizing and organizational
change. The key is to identify what essential service may afford the archives a
more secure place within the corporation - and to provide that service even if
it extends your resources. Corporate archivists should keep in mind a paraphrase
from the movie Field of Dreams: "If you provide an essential service, resources
will come."
to top of 1994
ELECTRONIC OUTREACH IN THE ARCHIVES: BRINGING THEM IN AT DIGITAL EQUIPMENT
CORPORATION
by Craig G. St. Clair, Corporate Archivist, Digital Equipment Corporation
Suppose you opened an archives and nobody came. An archives can have the best
cataloguing and preservation plan, the best storage facilities, the most adept
and enlightened staff - but without researchers it is in trouble.
This is particularly true in a business environment, where the archiveså
existence depends on continually demonstrating a healthy number of service
requests. Service, the concept of delivering accurate information in a timely
fashion to in-house clients so they can do their jobs, is critical to the
archiveså mission. Luckily, employees are hungry for information that will make
their jobs easier. If you let them know you are there, they will come.
The Digital Corporate Archives became fully operational in 1994. With the
addition of permanent staff and a relocation to permanent facilities, the task
of setting up a corporate archives began to revolve around day-to-day functions:
appraisal, accessioning, arrangement, description, cataloging and filling
requests for information. Letting employees know that the archives was open for
business, that it was ready to accept new material and eager to distribute
information, was a primary goal.
How do you communicate to 73,800 employees scattered in over 800 sales offices,
manufacturing plants and engineering facilities around the world? To a great
extent, the answer lies in Digitalås huge computer network, a system linking the
corporate headquarters in Maynard, Massachusetts to company facilities from
Syracuse to Singapore to Stockholm.
Building an Electronic Mousetrap
Digital employees receive company information via two electronic vehicles:Live
Wire, an on-line news and information service about Digital that is updated
daily, and Readerås Choice, an on-line subscription service that delivers a
variety of publications and information to employees based upon individual
employee profiles. While Live Wire acts as an information bulletin board that
can be consulted by any employee at will, Readerås Choice automatically
distributes information to employees.
Both systems are highly effective in reaching employees. Over one million pages
of LIVE WIRE are accessed by employees each month. Readerås Choice can send
messages to all Digital employees, or can target a specific population based on
managerial level, geographic region, or area of interest.
In June the Digital Archives began to send electronic messages on a quarterly
basis to company employees world-wide. To avoid repetition, the messages carry
different themes which highlight various areas of archival activity and
interest. The first message outlined the archives collection policy, giving
employees a general sense of the types of records the archives collects and
urging employees to contact the archives about records they are holding.
The second message emphasized that the archives is more than just the repository
for older, non-current records - Ãancient historyå -and urged employees to
contact the archives if they regularly produce reports, periodicals or
publications that have long-term value.
Other electronic mailings planned for the next year include brief descriptions
of recently processed collections which are now available for research,
highlights of rare or unusual materials discovered by the archives, suggestions
and examples on how to best use the archiveså collections, and case histories of
how archival materials have contributed to major company projects.
The electronic mailing campaign is an unqualified success. The messages have
prompted numerous offers of rich collections and information requests from a
variety of company projects. Outreach like this brings responses from both
Ãunofficialå company historians and employees who are genuinely interested in
the archiveså function. Often, employees have collected materials for years and
are eager to contribute to the companyås official repository for historic
documentation. These individuals have a sense of the companyås past, an
appreciation of its accomplishments, and a clear sense of how their work fits
into the companyås overall operations.
Reaching Out Via the On-Line Catalog
No discussion of electronic outreach at the Digital archives would be complete
without a mention of the recently upgraded on-line catalog for the Digital
Library Network. The catalog is the archiveså primary finding aid, providing
access to processed collections via MARC format records.
In a larger sense, the on-line catalog is the archiveså most powerful and
consistent form of electronic outreach. The catalog lists the holdings of six
Digital reference libraries, the lending library, and the Corporate Archives,
and brings this information directly to the employeeså desktop via a
client-server based network.
The result is a one-stop shopping spree of information. Searches on any one
topic will turn up materials held by the various Digital libraries and the
Corporate Archives. Future plans call for adding the holdings of company
research libraries in England and France. The idea is to integrate as many of
Digitalås information resources as possible in one union catalog. This will
allow employees to make connections for information in repositories they would
not initially consider.
The catalog is open to all Digital employees but access restrictions still apply
to archival materials listed on-line. Employees must apply to the archivist for
access to the actual collections.
Limitations: Who Doesnåt it Reach?
While electronic outreach is extremely effective in quickly reaching the
employee population, it has its limitations. The archives cannot solely depend
on electronic messages to build collections or promote research, for ultimately
the success of the company-wide advertisement-style approach still relies on
attracting the employees interest and sparking individual initiative.
With this method, there are always nagging questions. Who did not remember to
respond, or thought their material was unsuitable? How can you tell if the
archives is capturing all the information which is potentially valuable? It
should be made clear that this type of outreach is no substitute for a
comprehensive accession program tied to records management and employee
education via presentations, publications, and institutionalized procedures.
Still, what these electronic messages lack in fail-safe consistency they more
than make up in quick and gratifying results. Sending Ãarchival advertisingå to
tens of thousands of employees in an instant can scratch an archivistås creative
itch and supply a rush of technological power. And in the end, it warms any
archivistås heart to hear an employee say, "I have been collecting this
information for years; now I know where to send it so it will be safe." Or, "I
have been looking for this information for months." Or simply, "Iåm sure glad
youåre here."
to top of 1994
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