2025 Brass Program - Beyond the Ledger: Exploring Corporate Archives & Business Histories: Event Description

Welcome to the RUSA BRASS 2025 Annual Program
Beyond the Ledger: Exploring Corporate Archives & Business Histories

American Library Association's (ALA) Annual Conference 2025  - Philadelphia
Monday, June 30, 2025 - 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM

PRESENTERS:

Annette Bochenek  - Assistant Professor of Information Studies - Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies

Tim Mahoney - Special Collections Librarian (Manuscripts) - Baker Library Special Collections & ArchivesHarvard Business School
 

PROGRAM SUMMARY:

Corporate archives and business histories can be untapped sources of information for researchers  Through a panel of speakers, we will share a brief history of how business archives developed and some details on their current characteristics, and then discuss how the unique materials that these archives contain can be used by librarians and the researchers they support  As collections are filled with materials not found elsewhere, corporate archives and business histories are distinctly valuable to researchers who may not realize that they exist nor know where to find them  Panelists will discuss the types of information that a business archive may house, some of the challenges inherent to accessing and searching business archives, and strategies that researchers can use to build a comprehensive and inclusive picture of the history of a business  Corporate archives and business histories can include materials about pivotal political moments, social and cultural trends, and the lives and times of employees, among others  By enhancing their understanding of how, when, and where to find these collections, librarians and archivists will be better positioned to support anyone conducting research in business, economics, genealogy, archival research, and even fields like sociology, political science, and history.

Learning Objectives:

• Attendees will be able to describe the history of business archives and their value in business research.
• Attendees will be able to identify the types of questions that business archives typically receive and how they serve communities of all types, including underrepresented perspectives.
• Attendees will be able to employ their understanding of business archival research to their own organization (or intended type of organization) in order to better use existing resources or to refer users to archives suited to their needs.

Preview

Corporate archives and business histories can be untapped sources of information for researchers. Through a panel of speakers, we will share a brief history of how business archives developed and some details on their current characteristics, and then discuss how the unique materials that these archives contain can be used by librarians and the researchers they support. As collections filled with materials not found elsewhere, corporate archives and business histories are distinctly valuable to researchers who may not realize that they exist nor know where to find them. Panelists will discuss the types of information that a business archive may house, some of the challenges inherent to accessing and searching business archives, and strategies that researchers can use to build a comprehensive and inclusive picture of the history of a business. Corporate archives and business histories can include materials about pivotal political moments, social and cultural trends, and the lives and times of employees, among others. By enhancing their understanding of how, when and where to find these collections, librarians and archivists will be better positioned to support anyone conducting research in business, economics, genealogy, archival research, and even fields like sociology, political science and history.