The scene is a common one in Brazilian companies: as the business grows and technology moves on, old documents, equipment and objects fall into disuse. They end up being thrown away with little thought, or they land in a corporate “junk room”, where they lie forgotten for months and, more commonly, for many years.
In a company's day-to-day life, it is not always easy to see value in things that are obsolete or have no immediate use. And in today's reality, in which offices are becoming ever more compact, the pragmatic need to free up physical space asserts itself daily. So the dilemma remains: is it worth keeping this material? And what should be done with it?
Care for institutional memory is still uncommon in Brazil. But the companies that have taken the trouble to manage their collections professionally know that they can draw on their history to add value to what they do in the present. In this way, they can project their development into the future within a clear identity and a coherent narrative. History also becomes a communications asset.
According to the survey “A História e a Memória Empresarial nas Organizações no Brasil”, carried out by Aberje in 2021, the companies that invest in Institutional Memory projects in Brazil list these reasons for doing so:
- 48% are betting on preserving corporate identity and institutional coherence.
- 43% believe that institutional memory is a catalyst in supporting the business and an element of cohesion between social responsibility and history.
- 38% point to fostering employees' sense of belonging and pride.
- 33% indicate turning the company's experience into knowledge made available to society.
In other words, preserving the company's history can mean business opportunities.
What to do with the corporate collection?
Throwing it away is definitely a very bad idea, even though the space problem is also quite real. That is why it is possible to turn to private fine art storage.
Clé Reserva Contemporânea works with the specialised storage of objects and artworks, and is the only storage facility in Brazil with fully climate-controlled warehouses fitted with fire safety systems monitored by staff around the clock.
From a small space in a shared area for keeping a few boxes to an entire room for exclusive use, from 25 m² to 600 m², there are countless solutions available for the safe keeping of a corporate collection.
Clé also has a network of partners working on everything from the conservation, restoration and cataloguing of collections to entire institutional memory projects. One of these companies is Expomus, a pioneer in Brazil.
If your company needs to preserve its history, our specialists can help you find the best solution. Contact us.
