Updated on March 4, 2025

The Information Resources Center is a member of the International Council on Archives (ICA) and Steering Committee member of the ICA’s Section on Business Archives (SBA) from 2008 to 2024. The SBA was formerly known as the Section for Business and Labour Archives (SBL) until it was renamed in 2014. Its involvement in the ICA/SBA allows the Center to join an international network of business archives and other institutions that manage historical documents related to business history.

In collaboration with the SBL and the Business Archives Association of Japan, the Information Resources Center (at the time the Resource Center for the History of Entrepreneurship) held a public symposium in Tokyo on Business Archives on May 11, 2011. The speakers and presentation topics are listed on the symposium page.

In addition to sharing information about business archives in Japan, the Information Resources Center also provides Japanese-language information on international publications through its Japanese-language e-zine, Business Archives Tsushin. 

International Council on Archives (ICA)

The International Council on Archives is an international nonprofit organization for archival institutions and archivists—specialists who work in archives. It was established with the assistance of UNESCO in Paris on June 9, 1948.

"The aim of the ICA is to promote the efficient and effective management and use of records, archives, and data in all formats and to ensure their preservation as the cultural and evidentiary heritage of humanity. This is achieved through international cooperation, the sharing of professional experiences, research, and ideas on the management and organization of archives and archival institutions" (Article 2.1 of the International Council on Archives Constitution, approved on October 20, 2021, and in force as of the constitutional review on September 21, 2022).

The ICA holds at least one major governance and professional program event each year, along with a diverse range of meetings and events involving all sections of the archival community throughout the year.

The ICA Network consists of its members, forums, regional branches, professional sections, expert groups, and ICA fellows. Membership is divided into the following categories:

• A) National Archives
• B) Professional Associations
• C) Institutional Members
• D) Individual Members

Section on Business Archives (SBA)

The Section for Business and Labour Archives was renamed in 2014 from its former name, the Section for Business and Labour Archives (SBL), which was originally formed in 1990 from a previous committee that had dealt with issues related to business archives.
The goal of the SBA is to support the preservation and use of business archives worldwide.

• SBA Steering Committee Members
  The SBA Steering Committee consists of approximately 10 members who are responsible for the administration of the SBA. Steering Committee meetings are held in conjunction with the annual international symposium once or twice a year and virtually throughout the year.
  

• Activities
  The SBA is engaged in a range of activities to expand its international presence, increase public interest in business archives, and provide practical support for business archives.
  In 2004, the SBL Bureau published "Business Archives in International Comparison," a survey of the current state of business archives worldwide. This survey was later updated, and the SBA Steering Committee published its third edition in 2021.

▼2024 – In September 2024, the SBA Steering Committee meeting took place in Warsaw, Poland. Following this, a two-day international symposium and workshop, “Business Archives & Resilience,” was held at the Kozminski University.

▼2023 – In September 2023, following the Steering Committee meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland, a two-day international symposium, “Archivist Conference 2023: Engaging with Our Audiences,” was held at Diageo’s Johnnie Walker Princes Street.

▼2022 – Due to the continued global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, SBA was unable to hold any in-person or online gatherings in 2022. However, at ICA’s biennial conference, “Archives: Bridging the Gap,” held in Rome, Italy, in September, a presentation was delivered by an SBA Steering Committee member. Additionally, a small number of committee members who attended the conference discussed SBA’s activities for the coming years.

▼2021 – Amid the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, the international symposium “Making the Intangible Tangible,” originally scheduled for June 3–4, was canceled. Instead, SBA supported a web-streamed symposium on June 3, focusing on the Jubilee of the F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and the creation of its history book. The event featured the team of authors behind 125 Years of History and was delivered under the auspices of SBA.

▼2020 – In 2020, an international symposium titled “he Weather Report: Outlooks and Trends in Business Archives” was planned to take place on September 22–23 at A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S in Copenhagen, Denmark, with preparations beginning in September 2019. However, due to the global outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019, the SBA Steering Committee held an online meeting on May 26, 2020, and decided to cancel the symposium.

▼2019 – In September 2019, the Levi Strauss Archives in San Francisco, USA, hosted the Steering Committee meeting along with a two-day international symposium, “Business Archives & the Next Gold Rush.”

▼2018 – In May 2018, SBA collaborated with the State Archives Administration of China (SAAC) by sending a committee member to participate in a two-day international business archives symposium, “Archives Facilitate Enterprise Innovation and Development: International Conference on Business Archives,” held at the headquarters of the Bank of China in Beijing, China.
In November, SBA co-hosted a two-day international symposium, “Can You Believe It...? Business Archives and Trust,” with the Business Archives Council (BAC) at The National Archives (TNA) in London, UK.

▼2017 – The Centre for Business History in Stockholm (Centrum för Näringslivshistoria) in Sweden hosted the first meeting of 2017 with the Steering Committee convening followed by a two-day international symposium at Eric Ericson Hall titled “The Future Role of Business Archives.”
The second meeting of the year took place in Mumbai, India, where the Godrej Group hosted the Steering Committee meeting along with a two-day international symposium, “Going Back to the Future: The Role of Corporate Archives in Reshaping Brand Identity and Corporate Culture.”

▼2016 – In April 2016, The Coca-Cola Company headquarters in Atlanta, USA, served as the venue for the Steering Committee meeting and a two-day international symposium on the theme of “ Sustainability..”
Additionally, in August, SBA organized the session “The SBA and Sustainability of Business Archives in Digital and Global Environments: Encouraging 'Glocal' Engagement in Archive Services” at the ICA Congress in Seoul, South Korea.

▼2015 – In June 2015, the Steering Committee meeting and a two-day international symposium, “Creating the Best Business Archive: Achieving a Good Return on Investment,” were hosted by the Intesa Sanpaolo Group Archives and was held in Pirelli's Headquarter Auditorium in Milan, Italy.

▼2014 – In April 2014, the Rothschild Archives in London, UK, hosted the SBL Bureau meeting, while Unilever served as the venue for a two-day international symposium, “From Factory to Facebook: New Ways to Engage with Business Archives.”

▼2013 – In April 2013, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd in Basel, Switzerland, hosted the SBL Bureau meeting and a two-day symposium, “Crises, Credibility, and Corporate History: Tackling the Archives' Conflict Between Scientific History and Marketing.”

▼2012 – In April, the SBL held a two-day conference titled “With Constant Care... The Business Archivist in the 21st Century” at A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S in Copenhagen, in conjunction with a Bureau meeting.
In August, the ICA Congress was held in Brisbane, Australia, and the SBL organized a session to showcase new trends in business archives.

▼2011 – In May, the Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Foundation collaborated with the SBL and the Business Archives Association of Japan to host a Bureau meeting and the international symposium, “The Value of Business Archives: Their Use by Japanese Companies and New Global Trends,” in Tokyo, Japan.
Presentations were made by SBL members from around the world and a member of the Business Archives Association of Japan.

▼2010 – In May a Bureau meeting and the international seminar, “Corporate Memory: A Tool Serving Management” were held at Saint-Gobain Archives in Blois, France.
In August, the SBL collaborated with the SAA’s Business Archives Section on a program at the SAA 2010 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

▼2009 – IIn June, a Bureau meeting was held at the Central Archives for Finnish Business Records (Suomen Elinkeinoelämän Keskusarkisto, ELKA) in Mikkeli, and the international seminar, “Company Archives in Change,” was held at the National Archives of Finland in Helsinki, Finland.

In December, a Bureau meeting and the international seminar, "Business Archives: Current Practices and Problems," were held at the Reserve Bank of India Archives in Pune, India. In addition, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the SBL attended and spoke at Argentina’s Archives Day in September.