United Front of Alicante Archives: Emerging from Basements to Increase Public Visibility

Historic day for the Alicante archives. The four institutions with repositories in the provincial capital have signed an agreement for cooperation and collaboration to work together on archival matters. They take inspiration from museums, both in organising joint activities and in working together to provide mutual assistance.

It was this Tuesday that the four archives formalised the joint declaration. These are the Provincial Historical Archive of Alicante, the Municipal Archive of Alicante, the General Archive of the Alicante Provincial Council, and the Archive of the Provincial Council of Alicante. They have all scheduled various activities to further increase their visibility ahead of June 9th, their international day.

Thus, this milestone for the province begins with new educational activities for students, open days, unprecedented exhibitions, book presentations, and meetings among archivists, detailed the Deputy for Innovation and Document Management, David Aracil.

This fosters "more than just cooperation" among the different archives and institutions to conserve, preserve, and disseminate the "documentary treasures the city holds," also stated the Alicante Councillor for Culture, Nayma Beldjilali. "They are more than mere repositories; they are necessary places and tools."

In this vein, this signing also served as a call for the repositories themselves to "emerge from the basements" and remain safely housed in secure locations, noted the Regional Secretary for Culture, Pilar Tébar, joined by other institutional leaders.

Tébar emphasised this in light of the Valencia storm, a flood that also devastated the repositories. She also highlighted the work being done at Feria Valencia to restore and recover all these documents affected by the flood, many of which have developed "mould and fungi."

A similar situation was experienced by the city of Alicante in 1987, severely impacting the General Archive of the University of Alicante. "It was in a basement, and many documents could not be saved," recalled Deputy Aracil, who was well aware of the situation during his academic tenure.

In line with this, the Secretary-General of the UA, Pep Ochoa, echoed Pilar Tébar's words: "let them emerge from the basements"; also highlighting the value of the archives, especially at a crucial time for the institution as the Losu demands their "democratisation."

"Let this not be just a signature," was the rallying cry of this first meeting among the different archives, who hope that such actions will endure over the decades.