4. Structuring the programme
The identification of appropriate topics goes some way towards providing the archive with the means of organising a coherent recording programme. To be most helpful, a content plan for the programme might be drawn up and projected so as to provide an overall and comprehensive scheme that will enable the archive to plan its work over several years. As an example, such a plan is set out below which was designed to meet the needs of a national archive in the field of economic history.
Studies of the main traditional industries: rubber, tin, opium, palm oil and timber. These projects could document more fully the organisation, structure, practices, conditions and changes within each industry and the nature and scale of their association with particular communities.
Projects should also be organised to record traditional methods and conditions in agriculture, fishing and the local craft industries.
The establishment and development of the various shipping interests and activities must be documented. Separate projects should cover the local infrastructures set up by major European shipping lines and the creation and conduct of locally financed and developed shipping networks (e.g. the steamship companies, the coastal tramps, the lighter and sampan trade).
Studies of banking and finance should be developed to cover:
- The development and organisation of local branches of European banks;
- The foundation and methods of small local family banks and their growth and development into major public companies;
- The methods, roles and importance of traditional moneylenders;
- The creation of the stock exchange;
- The organisation of capital support for the major national industries.
Systems for the collection and distribution of local raw materials and of foreign consumer goods should be studied and the methods by which European based companies operated through local middlemen need to be documented.
The changes or adaptations that had to be made in trade and business during the Second World War need to be investigated. The means by which new trade and markets were developed and the extent to which traditional commercial activities were maintained are of special interest.
By prescribing the general historical objectives of the programme in this way its implementation can also be organised most effectively.
As indicated in section 2, the age of the potential informants is a fundamental criterion by which to establish an order of priorities for the archive's work. An equally important consideration is the need to record as quickly as possible those key individuals who, for one reason or another, have made a singular or distinctive contribution to the archive's field of study.
