Call for Papers – ICA/SBA 2026 Conference on Business Archives

The International Council on Archives (ICA), through its Section on Business Archives (ICA/SBA), invites proposals for the 2026 ICA/SBA Conference on Business Archives, The Company We Keep: Navigating Brands, Borders and Boundaries that will take place on 21–22 September 2026 in Brussels, Belgium, at the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR), hosted in the Auditorium and Galerie at Kunstberg / Mont des Arts. The event is organised as a collaborative initiative between organisations from Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

The ICA/SBA Steering Committee welcomes contributions that explore how business archives and company collections operate, adapt, and create value in a world shaped by globalisation, organisational change, and increasingly complex corporate identities.

Conference Focus

This conference examines the strategic, cultural, and operational role of corporate memory. It explores how layered legacies, including sensitive or contested histories, contribute to business success and function as invaluable cultural heritage. Business archives not only document the past but actively support decision-making, competitive intelligence, brand identity, and communication across borders, cultures, and even competing brands.

As professional business archives and company collections continue to grow globally, this conference provides a forum to reflect on their distinct position within the archival landscape and their future role.

Themes

Submissions should address one of the following four themes, each representing a different facet of the companies we keep:

Theme 1 – Layers and legacies. Keeping corporate memory in a fragmented, globalized world of subsidiaries, spin-offs, mergers and divestitures.

Theme 2 – Connections and cooperation across international, cultural or brand divides through company collections and business archives.

Theme 3 – Conflicted custodians, dealing with sensitive histories in corporate collections.

Theme 4 – Show and tell. Share projects, outputs, collaborations and cases that inspire and spark enthusiasm in 7 minutes or less.

Who Should Submit

The conference welcomes contributions from:

Archivists and records managers

Curators and historians

Corporate professionals (including legal, communications, management, and related fields)

The conference aims to strengthen dialogue, share innovative practice, and foster international collaboration, ensuring that business archives remain dynamic and relevant for future generations.