When: 5 December 2018
Location: Rare Books and Special Collections, 4th Floor McLennan Library Building, 3459 rue McTavish, Montreal, QC, H3A 0C9, CA
Description
Anders Sjöman, Head of communication and editorial services at the Centre for Business History in Stockholm
Introduction: Frédéric Giuliano, Archivist, McGill University Archives
Anders Sjöman is a great storyteller. He made a convincing case for the value of archives to businesses. He works with the Centre for Business History in Stockholm to safeguard and share the archives and stories of Swedish companies. In the world of business, the focus is often only on what comes next, and the history that brought you to where you are is not valued. A quote from Henry Ford captures that attitude quite succinctly: "History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history that we make today." (Chicago Tribune, 1916).
Despite Henry Ford's lack of enthusiasm, companies everywhere capitalize on their brand and their established dates, and McGill (Est. 1821) is no exception. When a company or organization actively uses and works with its own authentic history, it is called history marketing. It is this service, along with a full range of archival services, that the Centre for Business History does so well. Helping businesses and organizations to find their narrative, identify their goals, and share the true stories of how they reached where they are today, including how that will help them get to where they are going tomorrow.
The business fonds in the McGill archives can be consulted in the Rare Books and Archives Reading room Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM. Contact archivist Frédéric Giuliano for reference guidance.
The accompanying exhibition was realized by Frédéric Giuliano, no archival materials were harmed in the making of this exhibition!
