'Filling the family coffers': commercial opportunities for estate archives.

A number of estate archives in the UK are held in private hands, owned by the family that created them, and preserved at their expense. They are often stored in a historic property attached to the landed estate. These archives document the history of the family and estate that they belong to; modern records often continue to be transferred to the archives, documenting the current activities of the estate and associated businesses. This article discusses the ways in which an estate archive can contribute towards the financial success of a modern landed estate, through business support (in the form of records management), or by generating income through commercial activities in the archives itself. Hatfield House is used as a case study to illustrate how an archival collection (the Cecil Papers) can be used to provide an income to help to offset the costs of managing and preserving these important historic collections. The article argues that an archive in a historic house must engage with the commercial nature of the organisation within which it sits to remain viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]