Collaborating across sectors: saving the Debenhams archive
Background
Following a period of difficult trading, Debenhams entered its final administration in 2020. Founded in 1778 by William Clark, Debenhams had become Britain’s largest department store by the early twentieth century and established itself as a household name. As a consequence of its mergers and acquisitions, Debenhams’ history is intertwined with that of other prestigious British stores such as Harvey Nichols. Debenhams’ business model introduced the “popular” department store model that targeted working and middle-class customers. The breadth of its product offering – such as school uniforms, cosmetics, furnishings, and jewellery – made it a distinctive and reliable shopping experience.
Early Interventions
The extent of Debenhams financial difficulties came to light in 2018, and it first entered administration in April 2019. It was already known that Debenhams had extensive historical records at Head Office as well as branch archives.
The Crisis Management Team (CMT) established contact with senior executives within the business in 2019, highlighting the importance of the collection and offering to help safeguard it. On 9 April 2020, when the business fell into administration for the second time, the CMT approached the administrators FRP Advisory via Hilco Global asset managers who had been engaged to assist in the winding up process. The CMT offered to work with them to find the archives a new home with a suitable archive service.
A few factors helped initial contacts:
- Debenhams had commissioned a report on its archives in 2011 which summarised known records across head offices and branches which could be shared with the administrators.
- The CMT had already worked with Hilco on safeguarding the Thomas Cook archive. The CMT’s efforts in relation to the Thomas Cook archive had resulted in a positive outcome, with the archive going to the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. It was hoped that with Hilco colleagues’ knowledge of the importance of archives as a result of this, the CMT’s engagement in relation to Debenhams would also be fruitful.
In February 2021 FRP Advisory
- agreed to share the 2011 report with branch managers
- helpfully advised that records from London head office were safely being centralised along with branch records, at Debenhams offices in Taunton.
- communicated that physical review could take place once Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were relaxed.
Using intelligence and public interest
The CMT’s intelligence on the extent of Debenhams’ archives meant that the CMT had more knowledge about the scope, content, and volume of archives that needed to be saved. The CMT’s efforts were also enhanced due to the national press attention surrounding the administration, which highlighted the importance of the brand to the public and its long history. Former Debenhams staff voiced concerns about the loss of their history via Facebook group sites. Business historians also expressed their concern for the archives of the company, emphasising their research value for the study of British business history, as well as wider social, economic, and design history. The CMT was conscious of the need to evidence the historic value of the archives in ongoing conversations with the administrators. Statements of support were written by
- Professor Peter Scott, CMT member and expert in retail history at the University of Reading, wrote
- Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan, University of Portsmouth
- Both letters were publicised on the CMT website clearly stating the historic importance of Debenhams for understanding British business history.
Ensuring the Preservation of Branch Records
By December 2020, it was announced that all of Debenhams’ stores were to close permanently. As well as the Head Office’s ‘central archive’, it was clear from information from archive services across the country that archives were present within branches of Debenhams. Some local record offices had already taken in local branch records following contact with branch managers.
Through collaboration with FRP Advisory, the CMT were able to ensure a message was sent to all branch managers to clarify what kinds of records should be retained, rather than destroyed, and that they should all be sent to the same location as the ‘central archive’. Managers were given an email address they could use to ask questions about any records they were unsure about, and so the CMT and colleagues at The National Archives were able to advise branch managers directly.
The CMT also worked with FRP Advisory to help ensure that records that had already been deposited at local record offices by branch managers could be officially signed over to these record offices by deeds of gift. A summary list of records that had been deposited and a standard gift agreement was agreed with FRP Advisory.
Surveying the ‘Central Archive’ and Branch Records Received
In July 2021, the CMT were informed that the Taunton premises to which the ‘central archive’ and branch records which had been sent by branch managers, would need to be cleared and vacated by the end of August 2021. This left a short period of a month for the archives of Debenhams to be found a new home.
- Survey: FRP Advisory facilitated a member of staff from The National Archives’ Archive Sector Leadership team to carry out a survey of the archives on site. This survey was crucial to understand the scope, content, and volume of material in question, and to clarify whether there were records in damaged or fragile condition. All of this information would need to be shared with an archive service interested in taking in the collection, so it could make an informed decision and ensure it had appropriate space and resources to manage it.
- Auction sale: An auction of Debenhams office artefacts and pictures took place. The CMT helped asset managers identify historic items which could be retained with the archive to a tight deadline.
- Temporary safe storage: The CMT needed to ensure that the Debenhams archives could be stored safely temporarily whilst a permanent home could be found with a suitable archive service. South West Heritage Trust (SWHT) was approached due to their proximity to Debenhams Taunton office. SWHT checked the survey report and confirmed that they had enough space to take the archives on a temporary basis. FRP Advisory agreed given the short notice that Debenhams could pay for the transportation costs and the collection moved in August 2021. SWHT were successful in applying for a grant from The National Archives’ Records at Risk fund in early 2022 to help cover the costs they had incurred in storing the collection. This funding project also enabled consultant archivist Janice Tullock to survey the records, identify highlights and future actions.
‘The collection had to be removed from storage on Debenhams premises before the end of August when the site was due to be handed back by the administrator to the owner. The CMT would like to thank representatives from the wider archive sector for their invaluable assistance onsite, the removal firm for making the transfer and especially a regional heritage organisation for kindly providing emergency temporary space at very short notice. Without this joint support and the assistance of the administrator and asset managers, the future of the archive would have looked bleak.’
CMT announcement, Autumn 2021
- A lasting home: Throughout Autumn 2021, a process was set up to find a permanent home for the collection. Expressions of Interest were to be judged by a panel from the archives sector. Archive services were asked to confirm they would be able to take in the records on a permanent basis and make them accessible to researchers. City of Westminster Archives were confirmed as the future home for the collection.
For more on the content of the archive, preservation and the future of the Debenhams archive, see Bringing the Debenhams Archive to The Nation: Collection Highlights and Future Plans.
Lessons Learnt
- Press coverage, public sentiment on social media, and letters of support by experts emphasised the historic importance of Debenhams and its place within society. This support was utilised effectively by the CMT in its discussions with administrators to demonstrate that its appeal for the preservation of the archives was not only legitimate, but also a challenge they could help the administrators to meet.
- Intelligence from archivists who were familiar with Debenhams’ archives allowed the team to make use of their knowledge of the records preserved at Debenhams and to prioritise who and where to contact to locate archives beyond Head Office, saving time and resources.
- Members of the CMT and the asset managers working on the Debenhams case had a prior relationship after working together on the Thomas Cook case. The asset managers’ willingness to work with the CMT and its understanding of the importance of archives helped to ensure records were not destroyed.
- Temporary storage provided by SWHT was vital as safe house for the archives. The Trust acted as a bridge giving time for finding permanent home for the archive. SWHT in turn were able to enhance their work with business archives in support of their award as an Accredited Service. Local contacts with former Debenhams Taunton office staff led to oral history project to safeguard memories which is now preserved at SWHT.
- Collaboration with local record offices helped to distribute labour, preventing the overloading of members of the CMT or the administrators.
- The case demonstrates the value of parties with different kinds of expertise coming together, listening to one another, and overcoming obstacles to ensure a positive outcome under otherwise difficult circumstances.