L’esperienza di R.I.Stor.A.M.I. per la conoscenza e la valorizzazione degli archivi e dei musei d’impresa. R.I.Stor.A.M.I.’s Experience in Promoting the Awareness and Appreciation of Corporate Archives and Museums

This essay explores the contribution of economic history towards the study of industrial heritage through an interdisciplinary framework grounded in archival research. Focusing on initiatives promoted by the Italian Association for Industrial Archaeological Heritage (AIPAI) and on the establishment of the International Network for the History, Archives and Museums of Enterprise in Southern Italy (R.I.Stor.A.M.I.), the paper conceptualizes the firm, entrepreneurship and labor as dynamic and open systems embedded in long-term economic, social and cultural change. Particular attention is devoted to corporate archives and business museums, interpreted not merely as repositories of administrative records but as forms of narrative capital and intangible productive assets. By addressing the persistent archival divide between Northern and Southern Italy, the article challenges the asymmetrical interpretations of the Italian industrial development, while highlighting Southern Italy as a site of resilient entrepreneurial experiences in this field. The analysis underscores the strategic role of memory, archival preservation and multidisciplinary cooperation among scholars, institutions and firms in redefining business history as a field capable of informing both the historical interpretation and the contemporary development strategies.