As with most anything, knowing and understanding the past can inform the future. That core belief propels Grace Eng, Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s head archivist, who joined the company in 2017 after overseeing the records management and archives program for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Today, she runs PG&E’s corporate archive and is part of the utility’s Enterprise Records and Info Management team.
“Whether it’s an accounting ledger or minute book from the 1800s, photographs documenting the installation of a gas pipeline in the early 1900s or a hard hat from the 1940s, these items are all evidence of our work at PG&E,” Eng told American Gas. “At the core, the archives allow us to learn about and better understand our work history, which can inspire us in the work we do now.”
Although the corporate archive reaches back 100 years and more, Eng says it also serves as a key resource for work happening today. “PG&E’s archive is not just our wonderful artifacts … We also support activities on a day-to-day basis with contracts, photographs or maps that help in business matters,” she said. — Carolyn Kimmel