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A penalty for longevity, personal or institutional, is the necessity to re‐think basic tenets every so often, least they become outworn shibboleths, a block to progress. Records managers are so accustomed to thinking of themselves as belonging to a ‘new’ discipline whose value is only just coming to be recognised, that they forget just how long it has, in fact, been in existence. The classic texts on records management — Schellenberg, Leahy and Cameron, Benedon are now sorely dated although all, especially Schellenberg, contain valuable ideas and insights. One makes no reference to computers, a second deals only with physical protection and back up, and the third, listing them under ‘non‐conventional filing systems,’ dismisses them as not being ‘a practical means of information retrieval’. Such statements are by their very nature hostages to fortune, as indeed this article, in its way, also. Yet its author is comforted by re‐reading his own contribution to Peter Emmerson's How To Manage Your Records (1989) and noting that most of the issues he raised there are still pertinent.

Examines the archives held by the voluntary sector and the role the sector could play in future provision for English archives in general in light of the new fund from the Government enabling the voluntary sector to expand its operations in the delivery of public services. Concludes that a new methodology will be needed and that it must be based on an inclusive and even‐handed approach to the workers in all the different sectors.

This paper aims to explore the apparent under‐estimation of the importance of the archives of “serious” British music.

It considers what music archives are, their value, management issues, access and preservation efforts, and what needs to be done to ensure their survival. A case example of the Eastbourne Recorded Music Society is presented.

The author concludes that, at all levels, something much more concerted than individual initiatives for cataloguing or digitising specific collections needs to be done if the archival heritage of British music is to survive as it should.

Aims to raise issues relevant for the records and archives of any third sector organisation.

This article describes the setting up and implementation of an archive programme in a long‐established UK voluntary society, the Elgar Society, which has an active plan for future development. It examines some of the difficulties involved as well as opportunities offered in the context of managing the archives of a voluntary society while operating as a volunteer, honorary archivist in an unfunded and time‐limited capacity.