In August 2018, Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) Records Management and Collections staff worked together to process and permanently transfer several boxes of records from the Alabama Department of Commerce to the ADAH archival holdings.
The Department of Commerce has a long history dating back to 1968, a period of economic decline for Alabama’s economy. Governor Albert P. Brewer created the Alabama Program Development Office to recruit new industry to the state. In 1969, this agency merged with the State Planning and Industrial Board, which had existed since 1935, to become the Alabama Development Office (ADO). The State Planning and Industrial Development Board split from ADO in 1979 and reformed as the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA). In 2012, Alabama Act 2012-167 changed ADO’s name to the Alabama Department of Commerce.
Today, the Alabama Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) promotes economic development of Alabama’s business and industrial resources by:
- Advocating for minority-owned, woman-owned, veteran-owned, and rural small businesses in Alabama
- Recruiting new businesses and foreign direct investment (FDI) to the state
- Promoting the state’s exports and helping Alabama businesses establish international trade relationships
- Maintaining partnerships with economic development coalitions in Europe and Asia
While working with Commerce staff on a revision to their Records Disposition Authority (RDA) approved by the State Records Commission in October 2018, ADAH staff collaborated with Commerce to clean up records stored in the agency’s basement. They determined which records had met their minimum required retention per the RDA and could therefore be destroyed and which records were permanent and could be transferred to the Archives.
Commerce transferred records identified as permanent or potentially permanent to the Archives on a temporary basis for further processing. These records included publications and publicity files such as newsletters, annual reports, press releases, posters, and prints; trade mission files, including itineraries, reports, and mission booklets describing the efforts of small businesses to form trade partnerships abroad; economic development files documenting the establishment of industries in the state, such as the Mercedes Benz manufacturing plant in Tuscaloosa County; and various administrative files, including one box of photographs and slides.
At the end of the processing project, ADAH staff formally transmitted sixteen boxes of records and artifacts.
Researchers interested in the Department of Commerce’s archival collections can access these materials by visiting the ADAH Research Room.
For the Record 