Because it’s the big, conspicuous decisions in commerce that make the daily news it’s easy to bypass the immense determinative power of the little ones: millions of small interactions by thousands of people over many years—that appear to go unrecorded.

They are recorded, however, in many ways—by email, computer files, image, text and sound.

The Australian company, AMP, began its historical collection in 1849, when people travelled to the colony by sail, when the photographic image was still uncommon, and an essential requirement for most office jobs was legible, preferably elegant, handwriting. As one of the country’s oldest companies and an early adopter of new technologies, AMP provides through its archives, a rare 160 year view of Australian office life.

History floor. Archivist: Carolyne Bruyn. Writers: Sarah Hille, Carolyne Bruyn. Graphic and interactive designers: Graeme Smith, Ross Gales.

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