Oil History in AzerbaijanDear all who are interested in oil history! This newsletter brings you updates on the Branobel History Project aiming to create an international website with historical source ma-terial, articles and new research on the industrial ventures of the enterprising brothers Ludwig and Robert Nobel around 1870 – 1922. It is a partnership project between Sweden and Azerbaijan. Keep in touch with us, and explore the exciting and innovative origins of the great international oil industry from its roots in Azerbaijan and the contemporary imperial Russia. Historical archives that have been largely anonymous for researchers and inaccessible for westerners during 70 years of Soviet rule will soon be available to be shared and analysed by scholars again, adding new facts and perspectives to international oil history and its early business relations to Azerbaijan and the Caspian oil fields.

Azerbaijani networkA delegation from the Centre for Business History, jointly with the Ambassador of Sweden Mr. Hans Gunnar Adén, visited Baku on 1 – 5 of June 2010 for building a network of direct contacts with Azerbaijani authorities, oil related busi-nesses and organizations, as well as of course key historians and archivists.

In Baku, a Letter of Intent was signed with the National History Archive of Azerbaijan for the development of a joint project to digitalize and publish on the Internet a representa-tive selection of the historical archive material in Sweden and in Azerbaijan on the activities of the Nobel brothers in the development of the oil industry. There is a wide consensus also on the importance to extend the collaboration to incor-porate relevant archive material from Russia, where contacts also need to be established for that purpose.

Of course our visit to legendary Villa Petrolea was an oc-casion to be remembered. Here, Togrul Bagirov surely has paid testimony of the great days of Nobel Oil History. The building and surrounding premises have been meticulously renovated to restore its splendour and today it has become a focal point for activities of the Baku Nobel Heritage Fund and also brings together antiquities into a Nobel Brothers’ Museum. Branobel Company oil well in Baku late 19th Century.

BRANOBEL HISTORY PROJECT NEWSLETTER NO. 1, 18 JUNE 2010

The Centre for Business History in Stockholm (CBHS) preserves and presents the business history of Swe-den. We show how surprisingly current the past is. We handle the history (incl. archives and photos) of over seven thousand Swedish companies to the benefit of management, owners and all stakeholders. CBHS is de-facto leading among business archives worldwide. We have constructed historical websites for several companies and transnational corporations. The most recent one being www.ericssonhistory.com that at-tracts some 25.000 visitors monthly. For more informa-tion about CBHS, visit www.naringslivshistoria.se

sponsored by stiftelsen olle engkvist byggmästare.

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The Ambassador of Sweden (middle) is fascinated by the century old treasures from Branobel industries at Azerbaijan’s National Historical Archive. Here flanked by Alexander Husebye, Managing Director CBHS (left) and Per Dahl, Head of Research CBHS (right).

This image captures but one-tenth of the abundant archive material from the Nobel industries that is kept at the Azerbaijan National History Archive in Baku.

Group of friends in front of Villa Petrolea 1903. From the family album of Henning Bäärnhielm, No. 3 from left, who worked for the Nobel brothers and stayed in Baku until 1920.

What’s next?In the autumn 2010, a delegation from the National History Archive of Azerbaijan is invited to Stockholm for joint plan-ning of the next twelve months’ project activities together with CBHS. The digitalization process must start as soon as possible in order to launch the new website in June-July 2011. The scanning and digital storage of hundreds of thousand original documents requires industrial processing competence and equipment.

Sponsoring is presently being sought for financing the opera-tions in Azerbaijan, while financing of the digitalization of archive material in Sweden has already been granted from the Foundation “Stiftelsen Olle Engkvist Byggmästare”. There are also parallel efforts to bring the Azerbaijani Nobel Exhibition to Stockholm, possibly by the end of 2010. The first image version of the Branobel history website (full version to be launched in may 2011) is going to be previewed in October. The dummy will be presenting a lot of materials and will focus on four themes, viz.: the company; the Nobel brothers; the oil industry; and Baku. A lot of photos, refer-ences to literature and various other resources will also be added.

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ContactThis newsletter is circulated by the Centre for Business History in Stockholm. Editors: Alexander Husebye and co-editor Hans Gustafsson. For contacts with this newsletter pleased write to branobelhistory@naringslivshistoria.se