The Archive

History

As is natural in an institution of this type, the history of the University Archive runs parallel to that of the University of Granada itself, created by Charles V in 1532, as indicated by Pope Clement VII in a Bull of 1531, which is preserved among its funds, (along with other founding documents).

However, university education in this city had its precedents in the earlier Muslim period, when Yusuf I founded the Madrasa. Subsequently, important extensions took place, made possible by events such as the donation of Juan Crespo Marmolejo in 1626 (considered a second foundation because of its importance), or the seizure of the Jesuit patrimony in 1767.

In the first Constitutions (1542), the functions of the Secretary General with regard to the custody of the documents generated by the governing bodies of the University were already set out in section XLVI. In the text of the Statutes currently in force, we can find in art. 197.4: "The Archive depends organically on the Secretary General".

The original core of documents gradually grew as the university institution developed. It then became necessary to draw up instruments that would allow the identification and control of this documentation, and several inventories of the University Archive were carried out between 1599 and 1778. A study of these inventories and a comparison with the current holdings shows that there were numerous losses of relevant documentation. In the second half of the 19th century (1886), the situation worsened with the occurrence of a fire, apparently motivated to conceal a robbery, which seriously affected the room that housed the Archive, located next to the General Secretariat of the University, and which caused the destruction and deterioration of a large amount of documentation. 

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, numerous extensions were made to the university facilities, although no work was carried out on the Archive until the 1950s, when a member of the Corps of Archivists took charge of it, the result of whose work is the
inventory currently in service. 

Throughout its history, the Archive has been located in the Rectorate building (from the old Curia to the current Faculty of Law, until it was moved to the Royal Hospital in 1980), from where it was moved to the Santa Lucía Building, which houses various administrative services of this University, remaining there until 1999.

Currently, the headquarters of the University Archive of Granada is the Scientific Documentation Building, where the documentation consultation room and a storage room are located, suitably equipped for the optimum conservation of the materials. In addition, the Archive also has two other documentation repositories, one located in the basement of the Biosanitary Library and the other in a
warehouse in the town of Atarfe.

The University Archive is a support service for the university community, whose main function is the collection, conservation, organisation and dissemination of the documentary heritage of the University of Granada. As defined in the Statutes of the University of Granada, this service "consists of all documents of any nature, period and material support produced by any body or service of the University, as well as those contributed to them".

Restoration and conservation

Conservation and restoration play an important role in an archive. While the former refers to the set of procedures and measures aimed at preserving documents and preventing possible physical alterations to them, restoration involves a series of processes and techniques aimed at neutralising harmful agents, slowing down the deterioration of documents and carrying out all the actions required to return damaged documents to their original state.

In 1886 there was a fire that seriously affected the University Archive, which occupied a room adjoining the General Secretariat, causing the destruction and deterioration of a large part of the historical documentation and causing the disappearance of bindings and stitching structures.

The documents had loose pages, as well as damp stains and surface deposits of various kinds, deformations, wrinkles, tears and cracks, stains due to biological attack and calcination of the edges.

To this must be added the considerable loss of part of their contents due to the intentional purging by the people who rescued the documents from the fire and who decided to discard the pages most affected by the fire.

The documents that suffered the greatest deterioration were, among others, the Cloister Minute Books, the Enrolment Books and the Acts Books. In 2006, the first Cloister Minute Book was completely restored, as well as a facsimile edition of the same.

The Senate Minute Books contain the minutes of all the meetings that the University has held since its constitution in 1532 and facilitate the recording of the decisions that have been taken throughout its activity.

Since 2015, work has been ongoing on the recovery of these books. In all cases, the action has been based on the prior study and documentation of materials, techniques and state of conservation in order to establish the diagnosis and intervention protocol adapted to each situation.

In the following video you can see the process of restoration of the books directed by Dr. Teresa Espejo Arias, restorer and director.

Video of the Restoration of the Cloister's Minute Books

Working Groups

The Archive participates in the following working groups:

Comisión Andaluza de Valoración de Documentos (CAVD)

Conferencia de Archivos de las Universidades Españolas (CAU)

Bibliography

Selection of documentary references on the AUG, its history and that of the University of Granada:

  • ARIAS DE SAAVEDRA, Inmaculada, CALERO PALACIOS, María del Carmen, VIÑES MILLET, Cristina. Historia de la Universidad de Granada. [Granada] : Universidad de Granada, [1997]
  • BARRIOS AGUILERA, Manuel. Graduación y limpieza de sangre en la Universidad de Granada, 1663-1788. Materiales para su estudio. En: Chronica nova, nº 13 (1982-1983), pp. 53-102
  • CALERO PALACIOS, María del Carmen. La Universidad de Granada : los documentos fundacionales. [Granada] : Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Granada, D.L. 1995. (Historia y patrimonio ; 6)
  • CALERO PALACIOS, María del Carmen , SÁNCHEZ MARÍN, José A. El Colegio de Santa Catalina Mártir : estudio de sus constituciones. Texto latino y traducción . Granada : Universidad de Granada, [1997]. (Historia y patrimonio ; 8)
  • JIMÉNEZ VELA, Rosario, DOMÍNGUEZ-FERNÁNDEZ, Carmen, MARTÍNEZ-OSORIO, Pilar, y MARTÍN VEGA, Consuelo. El Archivo de la Universidad de Granada. Boletín de la ANABAD, 2-3 (2019), p. 378-387
  • JIMÉNEZ VELA, Rosario, y MARTÍN VEGA, Consuelo. El Archivo Universitario de Granada . En: Boletín de la ANABAD, Nº 3-4 (1997), p. 123-132
  • JIMÉNEZ VELA, Rosario, y MARTÍN VEGA, Consuelo. Archivo Universitario de Granada . En: Archivos históricos de Granada. Granada : Ficciones, 2001, p. 163-175
  • JIMÉNEZ VELA, Rosario, y MARTÍN VEGA, Consuelo. El fondo de Santa Cruz de la Fe y Santa Catalina Mártir : aplicación de la ISAD(G) a su descripción . En: Actas de las I Jornadas de Archivos Históricos en Granada. Granada : Diputación Provincial : Universidad de Granada, 1999
  • JIMÉNEZ VELA, Rosario, OBRA SIERRA, Juan de la, MARTÍN VEGA, Consuelo. Patrimonio documental de la Universidad de Granada. Granada: Universidad de Granada, 2007. (Historia y patrimonio de la Universidad de Granada; 22)
  • LAPRESA MOLINA, Eladio. El archivo de la Universidad de Granada a través de sus inventarios. En: Boletín de la Universidad de Granada, 1953, pp. 53-88
  • LAPRESA MOLINA, Eladio. La bula fundacional de la Universidad de Granada. En: Boletín de la Universidad de Granada, 1932.
  • LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ, Miguel A. El Colegio de Santa Catalina Mártir (Granada, 1537-1802). Separata de: Archivo Teológico Granadino, 54 (1991), pp. 91-228
  • LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ, Miguel A. El Colegio Real de Santa Cruz de la Fe de Granada. Salamanca : Universidad, imp. 1979. (Serie Resúmenes de tesis doctorales / Facultad de F. y L., Universidad de Salamanca ; t.L. 162/1975)
  • LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ, Miguel A. Maestros y graduados (1532-1542). Granada, Universidad de Granada, 1982
  • MARÍN OCETE, Antonio. Documentos históricos de la Universidad. En : Anales de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, 1925
  • MARTÍN ZÚÑIGA, Francisco. La inspección de centros privados en el primer tercio del siglo XX y el espacio escolar: El caso malagueño. En: Dávila Balsera, P.; Naya Garmendia, L.M. (coords.). Espacios y patrimonio histórico-educativo: VII Jornadas Científicas de la SEPHE y V Simposio Iberoamericano. País Vasco: Universidad del Páis Vasco, 2016. p. 479-497
  • MONTELLS Y NADAL, Francisco de Paula. Historia del origen y fundación de la Universidad de Granada. Granada, 1870
  • OROZCO DÍAZ, Emilio, BERMÚDEZ PAREJA, Jesús. La Universidad de Granada desde su fundación hasta la rebelión de los moriscos (1532 - 1568). En: Carlos V (1500-1558) : homenaje de la Universidad de Granada. Granada : Universidad de Granada, 1958, p. 563-593
  • PRIETO CANTERO, Amalia. Los archivos universitarios españoles. En: Boletín de la Anabad, XXIX, 2, 1979
  • RAMALLO ORTÍZ, Juan Antonio. Catálogo de los profesores de la Universidad de Granada (1845-1935). Granada, 1976
  • SUÁREZ DE TORO RIVERO, Edelmira. El Archivo de la Universidad de Granada. En: Universidad y ciudad: la Universidad y la historia y la cultura de Granada. Granada, Universidad de Granada, 1995
  • UNIVERSIDAD y ciudad : la universidad en la historia y la cultura de Granada. Granada : Universidad de Granada, [1994]. (Historia y patrimonio ; 4)