BUSINESS RECORDS AND The HISTORIAN

We have been considering the preservation of business records today from three points of view: that of the owner, the custodian, and the user. The term ‘user’ really comprises two different kinds of people: the owner and his staff, who may wish to use the records for purposes bearing directly on the conduct of the business; and the student of history, who sees in them the raw materials out of which his work must be fashioned. Professor Sayers has been speaking of the Business Archives Council, its activities in advising owners on the problems concerning the preservation of records and access to them. My task is to consider the wishes and needs of historians in more general terms.