The
book contains lessons, speeches and articles from
the years 1997-2003, mostly still unpublished, or
else published in magazines not readily available.
It enriches the subject of archives and business
culture five years after the publication of Manuale
di archivistica d’impresa by Paola
Carucci and Marina Messina, issued in 1998.
Giorgetta Bonfiglio-Dosio sets out to present
more than a simple review of cases; she also offers
an original point of view on specific matters concerning
the science of business archiving, including:
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methodologies of record
processing |
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conservation and enhancement
strategies |
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techniques of communication
of archival products.
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The author has a broad experience both within
archival administration and as a professor at the
University of Padova. She addresses several highly
relevant issues, and in particular:
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history of business archives
(Archivi d’impresa: un bilancio
e una riflessione, and Archivistica d’impresa:
un mondo multiforme) |
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principle categories for
documentation used in business archives (Dall’archivio
di famiglia all’archivio di impresa
and Le tipologie documentarie degli archivi
di impresa). |
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Archivi d’impresa: un bilancio e una
riflessione and Archivistica d’impresa: un
mondo multiforme
In these articles, the author reviews the history
of business archives and of the literature on this
subject, with emphasis on important milestones:
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the 2002 meeting in Trieste
and Udine; |
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the two meetings held
in Genova in 1982 and 1984; |
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Some of the issues discussed at the round-table
are still of current interest: the survey
as the essential first step in understanding a still
unexplored documentary heritage; and the need for
active organizations to preserve and enhance their
cultural heritage. Bonfiglio-Dosio also underlines
the inadequacy of archival legislation at that time:
in the 1970s, the law paid little attention to business
records as historical documents; consequently, rules
were drawn up based on family archives legislation.
The author describes the spirit of that meeting,
where, for the first time, business records were
recognized as historical sources, and therefore
worthy of preservation and protection so as to allow
their use by historians and researchers.
Dall’archivio di famiglia all’archivio
di impresa and Le tipologie documentarie degli archivi
di impresa
This section is one of the most innovative features
of the volume. The articles focus on accounting
records, which the author regards as explicit
and detailed historical sources. Accounting records
serve purely practical needs and aren’t intended
to convey an immaculate image of the business to
future generations. These observations correspond
to a particular tradition of Italian traders: since
the Middle Ages, merchants have adopted their own
system of memory recording and transmission based
on accounting records; this allowed them to avoid
some of the bureaucratic expenses of the notaries.
Giorgetta Bonfiglio-Dosio suggests that the interest
of the State in passing legislation about bookkeeping
has diminished: indeed, current Italian laws prescribe
that accounting records must be kept for just ten
years. Giuseppe Paletta correctly notices that entrepreneurs
keep their records only when they are aware of their
social role and believe that, through those records,
they will leave a trace of their business activity
to the future.
The book also provides a wide survey of documentation
categories found in business archives,
including account and labour records. This is the
starting point for an invaluable atlas of diplomatics
of business records: for each main category –
ledgers, journals, stock books, letter books, payroll
– a precise institutional and diplomatic profile
is carried out. Each table includes the photographic
reproduction of the record, its archival and extrinsic
description, a bibliography and a short comment.
The critical annotation is supplemented by a useful
legal appendix that chronologically
lists the single statutes, as well as the texts
of the legal articles concerning each record category.
The reader may therefore view the development of
laws concerning record keeping, from the French
code of the early 19th century until very recent
times.
In the last essay, the author explains the difference
between business and economic archives.
With reference to the work of Filippo
Valenti and Stefano
Vitali , Bonfiglio-Dosio describes the business
archival science as a discipline that studies industrialization
from the point of view of memory organization.
The sheer volume of non-documentary materials held
in a business archives poses many challenges, concerning
their processing, description and preservation;
challenges that can be resolved only through strong
interdisciplinary cooperation.
The final chapter analyses current laws on private
archives, also relevant for business archives, and
defines the concept of business in the context of
Italian jurisprudence.
Based on its clearly expressed observations and
useful suggestions, Archivi d’impresa.
Studi e proposte is highly recommended for
both students and professionals in the field of
archives management and coordination.
Massimo
Negri