Archival and Documental Heritage of Javea
Digest of a Meeting held on Tuesday November 15th (from Spanish minutes) - please excuse any innacuracies - purely CB-J's fault.
The Meeting was briefed by Catalina Cardona - Municipal librarian
a) There's not much in the municipal archive and an historical archive does not exist (Historical = documents more than 50 years old) Some were lost in the war and no-one thought it important for the town hall to look after or re-copy such documents
b) There is a law requiring municipalities of 10,000 inhabitants or more to create an archive (la Mancomunidad de Archivos Comarcales de la Marina Alta). This has been going on for the last 5 years with the help of an archivist (input about 1 month per year) He started with compiling information from the 30's; and will be creating a file of the years 50's to 70's.
c) There are two (more correctly one and a half) libraries in Javea. The one in the Port is not much more than a reading room. The one in the old town is too small. There is no library in the Arenal area.
d) They has wanted to make the library a "regional " library, but space has been taken up by offices etc. and that has squashed that idea. There is a lot of catalogued and uncatalogued stuff; donations of book collections from expatriates (also not sorted due to lack of space); and other collections which are still in their boxes. In one instance, a book collection given by well known family was taken back by the donors.
e) Artwork: Paintings/sculptures etc. There are quite a few of these - some donated to the town hall; others given in lieu of payment. They are stored all over the place..in most unusual places. They have even allowed uncatalogued works to be displayed; Artists have therefore been reluctant to leave their work for display.
The meeting therefore proposed:
1. A greater and serious political will to maintain the archives
2. To create a proper historical archive, open to the public
3.To Microfilm those parts of Javea's archive which is stored outside the municipality; for the most part in Segorbe
4. To create a warehouse for paintings , sculptures etc; with properly balanced humidity, light etc to preserve the objects
The Meeting was briefed by Catalina Cardona - Municipal librarian
a) There's not much in the municipal archive and an historical archive does not exist (Historical = documents more than 50 years old) Some were lost in the war and no-one thought it important for the town hall to look after or re-copy such documents
b) There is a law requiring municipalities of 10,000 inhabitants or more to create an archive (la Mancomunidad de Archivos Comarcales de la Marina Alta). This has been going on for the last 5 years with the help of an archivist (input about 1 month per year) He started with compiling information from the 30's; and will be creating a file of the years 50's to 70's.
c) There are two (more correctly one and a half) libraries in Javea. The one in the Port is not much more than a reading room. The one in the old town is too small. There is no library in the Arenal area.
d) They has wanted to make the library a "regional " library, but space has been taken up by offices etc. and that has squashed that idea. There is a lot of catalogued and uncatalogued stuff; donations of book collections from expatriates (also not sorted due to lack of space); and other collections which are still in their boxes. In one instance, a book collection given by well known family was taken back by the donors.
e) Artwork: Paintings/sculptures etc. There are quite a few of these - some donated to the town hall; others given in lieu of payment. They are stored all over the place..in most unusual places. They have even allowed uncatalogued works to be displayed; Artists have therefore been reluctant to leave their work for display.
The meeting therefore proposed:
1. A greater and serious political will to maintain the archives
2. To create a proper historical archive, open to the public
3.To Microfilm those parts of Javea's archive which is stored outside the municipality; for the most part in Segorbe
4. To create a warehouse for paintings , sculptures etc; with properly balanced humidity, light etc to preserve the objects