Dear Colleagues

I have utterly failed my profession.  Over a rather good bottle of red last Friday night I could not convince a friend of the importance of the original document (even though I have countered this several times for clients).  He simply could not see why you could not just have copies and I was unable to find what to him was the killer argument.  I thought this was an interesting fact as it perhaps displayed how the general public fail to understand why archives matter whilst all the time benefitting from their presence. My friend is very intelligent and certainly no cultural barbarian.  So, I thought I would lay this one before my esteemed colleagues.  I also thought that it might provide some of you with useful ideas for when it is your Chief Executive rather than a slightly tipsy chum throwing this one at you.

I look forward to all your comments, which I will then collate and pass on to said friend and see if I can change his mind. All responses welcome both serious and not so serious  

With warm regards

Elizabeth