The Municipal Archive of Monforte del Cid is the service responsible for the management, treatment and custody of municipal documentation. Its tasks include the organization, conservation and dissemination of the documentation generated by the city council of Monforte del Cid in the exercise of its functions.
It preserves documentation from any era and support, properly organized for use in municipal administrative management, information to citizens, culture and research.
The historical archive has a storage area for the preservation of documents and a researcher's room with four reading places, a small auxiliary library and a computer for consulting the documentary collections.
Historical documentation is preserved in the warehouse, kept in compact mobile cabinets under optimal conservation conditions.
The first references to the existence of an archive (as an installation) are found in the acts of the Chapters of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. We do not know its location at that time, but it has probably always been in the Consistorial House, where the Management Archive is today. As for the new facilities of the Historical Archive located on the second floor of the Municipal Library, they were inaugurated on May 19, 2008. In any case, we could trace the origin of the Archive to the creation of the Council de Monfort, towards #s. XV, period from which date the first documents kept in the Historical Archive.
The first inventory preserved in the archive is from 1930. The last one drawn up on paper is from 1991 and was made by Héctor *Leite García through a grant from the Ministry of Culture. This inventory was revised and computerized from 2001.
In short, we could say that the history of the Monforte del Cid Archive is that of the town hall itself, since it reflects the evolution of the same, to the extent that it holds all the documentation produced and received by the institution throughout of time
We currently have a fully computerized inventory that is permanently up-to-date, as well as databases of the most voluminous and consulted series (major and minor works, contracting, Plenary proceedings, Government Commission, etc.).
The archive service of Monforte del Cid covers the management of the archive in its different phases (management, administrative and historical archive), the archivist staff being present in practically the entire life cycle of the document.
It should also be noted that the archive is one of the services involved in the management of electronic documents and records as a configurator user of the management platform, drawing up guidelines and standardizing access points, as well as other tasks aimed at the effective digital transformation and the launch of the single electronic archive.
Documentary funds
The municipal archive contains all the documentation generated by the town hall of Monforte del Cid from 1495 to the present day. The fund is organized based on an organic-functional classification table, given the characteristics of the production entity. Based on it, an inventory structured in a relational database has been created, as well as others that collect and describe the records of the documentary series present in the general inventory. The archival description has been carried out using the *ISAD international standards (#G) although the *BDs of the series are structured according to the activity that produces them and the procedure followed for the formation of these files. Currently, the city council is immersed in e-Administration and works with an automated file management platform. Given the characteristics of the system, we have drawn up a new functional classification table establishing the correspondence with the old one by assigning a unique alphanumeric code.
COURT: documentation from the year 1646 to 1958. (The Civil Registry from 1870 to the present is kept and managed in the office of the Court of Peace of Monforte del Cid).
FALANGE: documentation from 1939 to 1946
PARISH OF OUR MRS. DE LES NEUS: documentation between 1739-1836 (factory account books).
UNION BROTHERHOOD OF FARMERS AND LIVESTOCKERS/ AGRICULTURAL CHAMBER: documentation from 1906 to 1988.
- Personal collection in digital support of José Pascual Agulló Salas (1921-1935): this is a miscellaneous collection, which highlights, among other documents, plans for the Sant Pasqual fair, a school magazine produced in Monforte from the beginning of s . XX, casino brochures, esparto statutes, etc.
- Cinema *IBAMIR (1957-1978): donation made in 2014 by the Miralles Berenguer family of the documentation of the old Cinema *Ibamir from 1957 to 1978. It is a documentary fund of undeniable value, given that it collects documents of the cinema par excellence of our municipality, with a record of the films shown, the daily collection and the information of all the projections that were made in the old cinema. The building project for the theater has also been given, as well as documentation not related to the *Ibamir cinema but also of interest to the municipality. The value of this documentary fund is unquestionable, as it shows us the evolution of family businesses in Monfortino that speak of the business history of our municipality, an ethnographic and social legacy of undoubted value.
- Personal fund Fernando Martínez Beltrán (1941-1995): this is part of the personal fund of Fernando Martínez Beltrán ¨Juanón¨, renowned writer, film and theater critic and playwright creator of the Teatre de Cambra company ¨Jorge Juan¨; of Monforte del Cid. The donation of the fund was made by his sister, together with two original portraits of Fernando, where it is worth highlighting the original correspondence he maintained with a well-known Spanish actress, Ana Mariscal.
Services and activities
People who wish to consult documents deposited in the Municipal Archive must request them through a standardized form: Request for consultation. This instance can be submitted in person at the Registration Assistance Office (1st floor of the City Hall) or electronically, accessing the Electronic Office. Once the request has been received, the consultation of documents will be carried out in person and by making an appointment during the opening hours of the Municipal Archives. The appointment can be made by phone or by sending an email.
In the dependencies of the historical archive you can access the consultation of the historical documentation. In it we have three reading places, an auxiliary library and a computer with databases for locating documents, INTERNET access and a CD-ROM reader
Given the diversity of the documentation kept in the municipal archive, its staff offers advice to locate the documentation that best suits the researcher's informational needs. Also and taking into account the historical characteristics of the municipality and the existence of documentation about it in other archives, the staff of the municipal archive guides the researcher to redirect him to other centers where he can find the document he is looking for .
The Municipal Archive will reproduce the documents by paying the corresponding municipal fees. Reproductions of documents whose access is restricted or limited will not be provided. Likewise, requests to reproduce documentation in poor condition will also be denied.
Diffusion and activities
Carrying out this kind of activity is a good claim in order to bring the archives and local history closer to the citizens, also as the culminating act of the celebration of an anniversary or anniversary. Thus, for a few years, from the municipal archive we have organized several exhibitions on our own initiative or as a collaborating entity:
- 35th anniversary of the discovery of the Iberian Ox: on February 19, 2009, an exhibition was held, at the initiative of the municipal archive, which combined photographs and documents from the historical archive, made on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the discovery of the Iberian Ox of Monforte del Cid. This exhibition commemorated such an exceptional find, a discovery that has undoubtedly marked a before and after in the archaeological history of our municipality.
- Jorge Juan and Monforte: On the occasion of the celebration in 2013 of the III Centenary of the birth of Jorge Juan and Santacilia, several events were organized throughout the year, the culminating event being an exhibition on the illustrious scientist and humanist, his historical and scientific contribution and his relationship with Monforte de Cid. A tribute act was also held on the day of his birth and a cycle of conferences on the figure of Jorge Juan.
- Quintes and Recruitment in the province of Alicante, 1770-2001: in this traveling exhibition organized by the Archive of the Provincial Council of Alicante, the municipal archive of Monforte del Cid intervened as a collaborator. During its passage through our municipality, we collected material to contextualize it and show images and objects of the many people from Montfortino who had performed the Obligatory Military Service, the famous ¨Mili¨.
- Festivities of Moors and Christians of Monforte del Cid: this 2015 exhibition shows the historical evolution of the quintessential festivals of our municipality, which have been in existence for more than two centuries. In it we were able to see dresses, objects that accompany them, documents, bibliographic material, photographs, videos, etc. For the festive exhibition there was the participation of the three troupes: Moors, Christians and Contrabandistes, with the Ntra parish. Mrs. de les Neus and with the collaboration of people from Monforte who selflessly provided material and helped with the assembly.
- Photo exhibition: 100 years of the name of Monforte del Cid: the Evolution of a town: in this visual exhibition, the centenary in 2016 of the name change of Monforte del Cid was commemorated, reflecting through images the evolution of our town over the last 100 years.
- 100 years of Loyal and Fidel, Official Book of Moors and Christians Festivals: In 1922, the first festival program of which we have evidence was published. The party was celebrated again three years ago, but it will be in 1922 when the breakdown of expenses is presented for the first time, with the inclusion of the edition of a program of celebrations. The exhibition captures the evolution of the magazine from that first program to the present day, an evolution marked by different temporal milestones, which paradoxically will culminate in 2020. Without parties that year due to COVID-19, it did not mean the 'absence of the magazine that, despite the adversity, has continued to edit and above all to reinvent, culminating in a new publication with its own name, LLEIAL I FIDEL, in clear allusion to the distinctive of the royal heritage that our population holds.
They have been made on the occasion of the production of documentaries in which the municipal archive has actively participated or on the occasion of the realization of events by other departments. From the Municipal Archive we intend to continue with the organization of exhibitions through which we can get to know the history of our town a little more closely through its documentary and visual heritage, since this historical legacy guarded in the archive gives direct testimony of the events of the past and the development of the present.
On the occasion of the celebration of the 9th of June, International Day of Archives, for a few years we have held open days in the premises of the municipal historical archive. Through different characteristic aspects of the archive, we carry out a guided exhibition in the researchers' room. We showed the organization of the archive, the deposit, the supports and restored documents, as well as the means of disseminating the documentary heritage: exhibitions, books and historical research articles, among others. We also approach the history of Monforte del Cid through a small sample of documents that reflected historical events known to all *monfortinos. Finally, we present the donations and assignments made by residents of the town that have enormously enriched the archive's funds.
This activity is currently no longer carried out, but through it we were able to disseminate documents and curiosities about the history of Monforte, its traditions, its people, etc. The pieces prepared by the archive as well as other articles of interest on the funds of the same can be consulted on the blog of the municipal archive:
- https://archivomonfortedelcid.blogspot.com/
History of my town and Heritage 2.0: these programs have been developed by TELEMONFORTE, collaborating in several of them with the municipal archive. They are available on the YouTube channel of the local television, on the website of the IBER museum, as well as on the Facebook page of the town hall of Monforte del Cid.
- https://www.youtube.com/user/telemonforte/videos
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C/ Juan de la Torre, 8, Monforte del Cid
