Interested in setting up an archive for your business but don't know how?

What is a business archive? 

Do you know how to set up an archive for your business? 

Date: Thursday 20th March 2025 

Time: 12.30 - 1.30pm 

Location: Online 

If you are starting to think about how to preserve your business’s past but not quite sure what an archive is and what it might entail, please join the Section for Business Records to learn from those who are happy to share their knowledge and own experiences of setting one up. 

Managing a business, in good and bad times, can be tricky for different reasons.  Decisions are being made all the time by staff every day, often based on compelling arguments to convince senior managers to invest in a new service or product.  

A business archive is typically created to preserve what a company has done in the years since it was first established and understandably, setting up an archive is not a priority for many business owners at the start, who wants to invest what revenue they bring in, to invest in day-to-day operations.  To convince senior management that they should invest in protecting their organisational memory can be a genuine challenge. 

Helen Swinnerton, of History Ink, will provide you with an overview of: 

• The varied benefits of an archive to businesses and their communities, looking at why different businesses have archives and how they value them. 

• The key steps in setting up an archive with practical examples of approaches Helen has taken in a range of businesses. 

The webinar will then focus on Reckitt, the company known for long-established products such as Dettol, Vanish and Strepsils. Grace Chapman of Reckitt will explain: 

• How a business case was developed for starting an archive. 

• How buy-in from key stakeholders was gained.  

This crucial support ultimately transformed Reckitt's heritage archive from a warehouse of material with virtually no resilience to a functioning service utilised across the business.   

Join us to help you start your archive journey! 

How to attend: 

Please book via Eventbrite  

Who should attend this webinar? 

This webinar is ideal for: 

• Businesses which don’t have an archive  

• Employees who have been recruited or have been tasked to set up an archive  

Do you need to pay? 

Members of the Archives and Records association: FREE 

Non-members: £5.