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Re: When does a Company's administrative history end?
Catherine,
Our collections encompass over 2,000 companies going back 130 years, and I
run into this problem constantly. It's compounded by the predominantly
subject-based (i.e., type or model of machine) reference and filing we
use. I play it on a case-by-case basis, based on the circumstances or
nature of the change in the business. Apart from the outright cessation of
operations, I've observed the following situations:
- Merger. At least one participant usually loses its identity, thereby
ending its history while the surviving firm's history continues. If all
participants lose their identity into the new firm, all histories end and the
new entity's history begins.
- Acquisition: I'll usually continue the history as long as the
purchasee continues as a distinct entity within the purchasing firm.
- Name change only. History continues under the original name.
If a product line is continued from one company name to the next, records
of individual machines are referenced to the name under which they were built
while all other records are referenced as outlined above. This is done out of
consideration for people who are restoring machines and want to paint and letter
them correctly.
This logic does run into challenges. To name a couple:
- Company "A" purchased Company "B" and then essentially flipped the
organizational chart over, making Company "A" a subsidiary of the company it
had purchased. In this case, both companies' histories were continued with
lots of notes and cross-references until Company "A"' eventually lost its
identity within Company "B."
- Company "B" buys Company "A" and continues Company "A"'s product
line under the Company "B" name, it's fairly common practice for machines
actually built by Company "A" to be repainted and relettered as Company "B"
products, in a form of historical revisionism. If I encounter records of
equipment that I know to be built by Company "A," those records are referenced
to Company "A."
Again, I have to judge each situation on its own merits.
Just to make things even more interesting, we also have many collections of
photographs and slides in which any number of manufacturer's products are shown.
Each collection is identified by its own provenance where known (and for a lot
of them it isn't), and the machines shown in them are cross-referenced to the
other collections for the records of their manufacturers.
Hoping this is of help without confusing things further,
Best wishes,
Thomas Berry, Archivist
Historical Construction Equipment
Association
16623 Liberty Hi Road
Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
Phone
419-352-5616
Fax 419-352-6086
tberry@wcnet.orghttp://www.hcea.net
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2001 7:42 PM
Subject: When does a Company's administrative history end?
> Dear Archives & Archivists LISTSERV,
>
>
When does a Company's administrative history end?
>
> While writing
up administrative histories for some Australian businesses,
> which are
part of the Australian Business Archive Directory I have been
> faced with
a quandary of when does an administrative history end, especially
> for
businesses that have been taken over by another company. Does, for
>
example, Company A's administrative history end once it is taken over by
>
Company B as its operations become part of Company B's and therefore part
of
> its administrative history and yet, for example, Company A's
retail stores
> still operate under the Company A name, creating their own
records?
> Name changes are also another issue.
>
> I'd
appreciate any feed back on this matter.
>
> Regards,
>
> Catherine Nolan
>
> Archivist and Special Projects
Officer
> Email: nolanc@yarracity.vic.gov.au
>
Web: www.yarracity.vic.gov.au
>
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