The Business Archives Council of Scotland was established in 1960 as an independent voluntary archive body concerned with the active preservation of the records of Scottish business and industry.
Today it operates as an active network of archivists, academics and businesses to connect all those with an interest in Scottish business archives & history.
Since its inception, the Council has been active in many fields:
- promoting the maintenance and use of archives as corporate assets
- promoting records and information management within business
- holding conferences and events to raise awareness of business archives
- providing professional support to those caring for business archives
- holding training days to advise on aspects of managing business archives such as appraisal
- publishing a journal, Scottish Business and Industrial History, to promote business archive research
- liaising with other heritage bodies to ensure that business archives are recognised as a cultural asset
- responding to government consultations
- through the offices of the Surveying Officer – offering consultancy services to business on archives and records management, rescuing the archives of business that have closed and surveying the archives of active businesses
In 1977, the work of the Council was at a level that a permanent employee was required. The post of Surveying Officer was created to undertake the day-to-day work of the Council, most notably in the areas of co-ordinating rescue work and undertaking surveys. By 2011 when the Surveying Officer post fell into abeyance, the Council had undertaken over 600 surveys and worked with literally hundreds of businesses and organisations to help them care and make better use of their archives. In 2014 the Surveying Officer post was re-established and is now funded by the Ballast Trust and partly based at the University of Glasgow who hold the Scottish Business Archive, many of whose collections were brought in by the BACS.
As a registered charity, we are governed by an Executive Committee who have oversight of the activities of the Council.
