ABSTRACT

In the nineteenth century those working with archives turned to the established national and regional societies, such as the Royal Historical Society, The Surtees Society and the British Record Society, as well as to local record and archaeological societies. Professional associations should help a profession to develop its theoretical and intellectual techniques, to become autonomous and self-regulating and to evolve a community destiny and language. The PRO, while intimately involved with the BRA through individuals, remained aloof from its work and that of successor bodies, such as The Council for the Preservation of Business Archives (CPBA) and the SoA. When the CPBA started in 1934, the BRA was keen to subsume the special interest in business archives within itself: however, the independent strength of the CPBA founders ensured that a separate organisation developed. It was perhaps unexpected, therefore, that when a group of local archivists sought to form a special section within the BRA in 1947, they were turned away.