Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

500 HISTORY OFJTHE BANKinto consideration the importance of the record from both thelegal and the practical point of view. Such a classificationwas compiled many years ago by experienced officers of thebank with the assistance of the late Z. A. Lash, K.C., thebank's chief legal adviser, and with some slight modificationsis still in use. There are five classes, kept for varying periods,ranging from a year to in perpetuity.When the question of getting rid of time-expired recordsarises, a bank is faced with still another problem of a legalcharacter. Its records are of a confidential nature, andtherefore it cannot proceed to sell itsas so much waste paper.old books and vouchersProvision must be made for theirdestruction, or at least for the obliteration of the records theycontain; this is another item of expense.During the summer of 1905 the decision was reached tomake ampler provision for the care of the library and recordsof the head office, which up till then had been merely asubordinate part of the work of the secretary's staff. Searchwas made for a suitable man, and Mr. Henry O. E. Asman,B.A., received the appointment of librarian and archivist, andhas held this position ever since. This was a period of rapidgrowth, and the office space provided, ample at first, provedin the course of a year or two to be fully utilized. Two orthree years after Mr. Asman 's appointment it was decided toplace in his charge the old records of the branches as well as ofthe head office. At first the duties of the position centredmore in the library than in the archives. When once a satisfactorysystem of classification and record had been applied tothe comparatively small number of documents then in hand,there was little to do but to await and care for the naturalincrease. A good deal of attention was, however, given to thelibrary, which was enlarged and rendered more available as acirculating library for the members of the staff throughout theservice. The need had been felt for some place in the headoffice where enquiries about matters of general information,not necessarily connected with banking, could be answered,