the world of private banking

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THE WORLD OF PRIVAtE BANKING
information in a readily available format before the question is ever asked. Our
range of leaflets, covering the history of Rothschild involvement in countries all
around the world, best typifies this approach.
Most ambitious of all has been the compilation of ‘Rothschild Interactive’,
a CD-ROM containing some 2000 screens of information on the history of the
Rothschild family and its commercial activities. The CD-ROM is the result of
some two years of research by the staff of the Archive. Viewers will be able to
roam around the family tree, explore biographies of individual members of the
Rothschild family, learn about their interests and artistic collections, their houses
and gardens, investigate their charitable work in many countries and see a range of
cartoons, portraits and literary extracts relating to the family. On the business front
they will be able, by touching a globe, to go to any country with which the family has
been involved and explore the history of that involvement. Alternatively, they can
choose a business sector – be it gold refining, asset management or wine growing
– and view an account of that involvement. The CD-ROM is seen as a valuable
business tool for those who wish rapid access to a body of detailed knowledge
past and present and an attractive corporate gift for clients. It will demonstrate
very effectively the degree to which the Archive has been able to make a positive
contribution to the current life and marketing activities of the Bank.
What the CD-ROM will prove to those who are sceptical of the value of
retaining a substantial archive is the fascination of the history of the Rothschild
family and bank. Even for those bankers who profess no interest whatever in the
past and regard it as an unjustifiable nostalgia trip – and believe it or not there
are such – the realization that clients are far from uninterested – indeed thirst for
knowledge of that history – comes as a powerful correction.
This has been amply demonstrated by the exhibition which the Archive has
researched and produced for display, during our bicentenary year, in the Museum of
London, which has also provided an effective backdrop for the entertaining of clients.
I make no apology for finishing with an account of these intra-institutional,
even commercial, aspects of the work of the Archive. I remain firmly of the view
that, on the day when an archive ceases to be seen as having a living value to
its originating organization, a kind of atrophying begins, slow perhaps, but
nevertheless unremitting and ultimately detrimental – if not fatal – to its long-term
well-being. I am pleased to report that, in this case, the patient is not only healthy,
but positively bursting with life.
More ambitiously some of these leaflets have been transformed into booklets of
varying size and format. For example R. Schofield, Along Rothschild Lines: the Story
of Rothschild and Railways across the World (London, 2002); C. Shaw, The Necessary
Security: an illustrated History of Rothschild Bonds (London, 2006).