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Preserving company historyBy Jill Carlson
Whether they are called archivists, historians or records retention managers, their goal is the same: to preserve history at some of the area's oldest companies, including American Family, Madison Gas and Electric, Fiskars and CUNA Mutual Group. Corporate archiving has taken on greater importance in recent years, because of an ever-changing, mobile work force. Employees used to stay in their jobs from the time they graduated college until retirement, but that is no longer the case; consequently, portions of company knowledge and history are easily lost or forgotten. Lighting the way Pam Duane has the impressive title of senior enterprise records retention and regulations coordinator at MGE. She is one of a staff of nine in the records retention department, housed in the old Northwestern Depot on Blair Street and has worked at MGE for 27 years. The archive at MGE includes the original stock certificate #1 from 1896, an old jacket worn by one of the meter readers, a hat also worn by meter readers that looks similar to a police officer's hat, logo patches and many photos. Several leather-bound ac-counting ledgers with the numbers entered in beautiful penmanship date from 1896. "People took more care with their writing back in those days," Duane said. When long-term employees retire, photos from their careers are obtained from the MGE collection. For the 100-year anniversary of the company in 1996, a kiosk of photos and other items was assembled in the lobby for customers. "It's important to have the history so that we know where we've been," Duane explained. The contents of the archives are also used at annual meetings and for other events. Former employees or their family members have donated some of the collection. A recent addition is a rope and pole set used as a safety measure when climbing electrical poles, which was donated by a man whose father was a longtime MGE employee. On the cutting edge Fiskars Brands Inc., a manufacturer of scissors, craft tools and other supplies, dates to 1649 in Finland and at 357 years old is the second oldest company in the world. The U.S. headquarters in Madison, where the company has had a presence since the late 1980s, is home to more than 120,000 catalogued items that show the history of the company in packaging, marketing pieces, photos and videos. Douglas Mullin has been the media asset supervisor at Fiskars for seven years. While much of the collection is digitized, Mullin said the company keeps original paper copies. "It's important to maintain a company archive to keep that cultural history relevant and to inform the employees about what's special about the company," said Mullin, who said they are trying to leverage the company archives in more ways such as product photography, presentations within the company and training materials. Insuring the future Pat Peirce, records retention manager at American Family Insurance, started as an archives clerk in 1969. American Family records originally were kept in an unheated, unlit warehouse, and when something was needed from the collection, someone from the supply room was sent with a flashlight to find it. When Peirce was assigned the job of archiving the insurer's history, she began cataloging the items, and now they are housed in a separate temperature- and humidity-controlled room in acid-free containers. The original charter with names of the first insurers from 1927 is one of the prized pieces in the collection. The first policy written and the first claim paid are also in the archives. Peirce said that signs and clocks donated by American Family insurance agents, photos and newspaper articles make up a large portion of the archives. "It's important to determine what you want your archives to be, because what you keep is based on that," explained Peirce, who said it can be overwhelming trying to figure out what to keep. "It's important to document the company's history to see how it grew," she said. Originally, Peirce hand-wrote the catalog, but now all documentation of the contents is computerized. Pursuing history The Society of American Archivists began in 1936 and is the oldest and largest professional archival association in the United States. According to Nancy Kunde, UW-Madison records officer and chairwoman of the SAA Standards Committee, the SAA has about 5,000 members. According to the Chicago-based Society of American Archivists, most entry-level archivist positions require an undergraduate degree and archival coursework. While most undergraduate majors interested in archiving are in history or library science, public administration and political science degrees also may be useful. In Pam Duane's case, she applied for a job at MGE and as she puts it, "this is where I landed." Duane has a master's degree in library science. UW-Madison offers an Archives and Records Administration (ARA) program through the School of Library and Information Sciences in conjunction with the Wisconsin Historical Society. Douglas Mullin from Fiskars already had a master's in history and just recently graduated from the ARA program with a master's in library science. He said the two most valuable things he learned in the ARA classes were access and pragmatism. He said archivists are anal-retentive people who don't want to throw things away, and he learned that there isn't a need to save everything. He learned what items were best to keep in a business archive and how to be pragmatic in making those choices. Building an archive Knowing what to include in a business archive can indeed be overwhelming. The SAA suggests that when starting a business archive, the key issues to address are the selection of qualified personnel, the definition of what the collection will include, and determination of who will have access. The archivist must determine whether historic information is readily available, whether historical records have been haphazardly collected over the years and what format management needs. The archivist must be kept up-to-date on business archives literature and be aware of the importance of these items to the company history. The archives should have sufficient storage in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment. It's also important to compose a corporate statement of purpose for the archives so that company employees understand there are business benefits and that the collection of material is an ongoing process designed to help corporate planning and growth. A business archive also creates a reliable internal information system. It manages the information and significant records concerning a company's key strengths and weaknesses. Without the ability to select and retrieve archival materials and information, a company forfeits access to its own history lessons. With an archives, that same company gains the advantage of remembering what others forget, according to the SAA. Some companies realize the need for a corporate archive when a significant anniversary such as a centennial is coming up. The anniversary provides a reason for the company to reflect on past accomplishments, take stock and plan for the future. When Procter & Gamble celebrated the 100th anniversary of Ivory Soap, the corporation realized the need for an archive. In 1985, when CUNA Mutual Group, a provider of financial services to credit unions and their members, celebrated its 50th anniversary, the public relations department assembled historic material commemorating the achievement. After the anniversary, a formal archive was created. jilly@chorus.net madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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