BRANOBEL HISTORY PROJECT NEWSLETTER NO. 2, 11 OCT. 2010 sponsored by stiftelsen olle engkvist byggmästare.
Azerbaijani archives’ delegation After launching our first newsletter three months ago the Branobel History Project has made important progress. By now, we are actually designing and developing the new in- ternational website that will make historical source material widely available for research on the fascinating oil industry of the Nobel brothers in Azerbaijan 1873-1922. In parallel with that, a special database is being assembled for hosting the The Centre for Business History in Stockholm (CBHS) multitude of digital documents that will soon become easily preserves and presents the business history of Sweden. We handle the archives and photos of more than seven and safely accessible via Internet. thousand Sweden-based companies from 1740 to the present. The CBHS has taken a lead in presenting his- The partnership between CBHS and the National Archives tory, for example in producing historical websites for of Azerbaijan has deepened and strengthened. During the several companies and transnational corporations, the first week of September a top level Azerbaijani archives’ most recent one being www.ericssonhistory.com that delegation headed by Dr. Atakhan Pashayev, Director of Na- attracts some 25.000 visitors monthly. For more infor- mation about CBHS, visit www.naringslivshistoria.se tional Board of Archives of the Azerbaijan Republic, visited Stockholm for project discussions upon invitation by the The National Board of Archives of Centre for Business History. Dr. Pashayev was accompanied Azerbaijan Republic represents 79 ar- by Dr. Anar Mammadov, Deputy Director of the National chives all across Azerbaijan, of which History Archive in Baku, and Mr. Bahram Atabeyli, Honor- seven are State Archives located in ary Swedish Vice-consul. Baku. One of them is the National History Archive where the old com- pany files of Branobel are kept and preserved. A new Summing up, the conditions on the ground are favourable National Archive building was inaugurated in 2008 by for the successful implementation of this project as a bilateral the President of the Republic. For more information, joint venture. The commitment and trust between the project visit www.milliarxiv.gov.az partners is high. We hope that matching contributions by Azerbaijani sponsors will materialize soon for making possi- ble the scanning and digitalization of the Azerbaijani source material in Baku, being a precondition for a significant Azeri participation in the project.
Cooperation agreement On 8 September, a reception was offered by the Ambassa- dor of Azerbaijan in Stockholm, H.E. Rafael Ibrahimov. A ceremony was held for the signing of a Scientific Coopera- tion Agreement between the CBHS and the National Board of Archives of the Azerbaijan Republic in the presence of members of the Nobel family as well as other invited key persons and institutions. This formal agreement with the State of Azerbaijan as one of the parties ratifies high level support to the novel ambition of the two project partners: to join digitalized archive material from two or more countries Nafta railroad tank waggons in front of the Branobel office in into one database, www.branobelhistory.com, making the Baku. page 1 of 2 historical material internationally presented and accessible without charge.
Donation of old documents The Embassy of Azerbaijan in Stockholm recently received a donation to the Azerbaijani Authorities from members of the Oleinikoff family consisting in a collection of old private archives from Ludvig Nobel. The Embassy and the donors have agreed to make the material available for scanning and incorporation into the database of the Branobel History Website. We thank you for your collaboration! Confident handshake after signing Cooperation Agreement. We invite more holders of Branobel related material to Dr. Atakhan Pashayev (left) and Alexander Husebye (right). look into their collections. Interesting material is welcome for scanning and making digital copies to enrich the project database. Please contact CBHS’ Head of Research, Per Dahl or email to [email protected]
More news A travelling Nobel exhibition from Azerbaijan will be on display at the National Museum of Economy in Stockholm from December 9 until the end of January 2011. The project team of CBHS has assisted with contacts and liaison for enabling this event that is sponsored by the Azerbaijan State oil company SOCAR and Statoil.
A reference group of scientists is now being constituted in H.E. Ambassador Rafael Ibrahimov and Mr. Nils Oleinikoff. Baku and in Stockholm for guidance on priorities in the Photos above: Michael Folmer. selection of source material to be digitalized. For the curious, a preview dummy version of the forthcoming www.branobelhistory.com website is expected to ‘go live’ on the Internet during mid-October 2010. But of course, only with limited functionality so far.
Sponsoring is continuously being sought for financing the scanning operations in Azerbaijan, and for various parts of the website presentation. The tasks in Sweden so far have to a large extent already been financed from the Foundation “Stiftelsen Olle Engkvist Byggmästare”.
Forest of oil drilling towers in Baku.
Contact This newsletter is circulated by the Centre for Business History in Stockholm. Editors: Alexander Husebye and co-editor Hans Gustafsson. For contacts with this newsletter pleased write to grindstuvägen 48 – 50 | se-167 33 bromma, sweden [email protected] tel: +46 8-634 99 00 page 2 of 2