The Provincial Historical Archive of Alicante marks fifty years with a major exhibition of its holdings. It was inaugurated this Tuesday by Pilar Tébar, the regional secretary of Culture, who congratulated the center for its work in this large container of documentation from the province that begins in the 16th century and carries visitors to the present day. She described the archive as a bank of memory and a store of not forgetting that welcomes researchers and citizens alike.
Under the title Fifty Years of the AHPA. The Value of an Archive, the exhibition brings together more than a hundred documents on public display to recount the center’s history across five decades and to explain to society what it is and what it serves for.
Among these documents is the case file of the poet Miguel Hernández from Orihuela’s prison and other unpublished items, including records of some of the first women who studied at the Alicante secondary school, one dating back to 1878 and another to 1915, shown in two vitrines. The display also includes the 1905 plan of the first building that housed the institute on Ramales Street and numerous unseen photographs of Alicante from private collections.
Created by ministerial order on 24 September 1974, the Provincial Historical Archive is owned by the State, which transferred its management to the Generalitat Valenciana in 1983. Del Olmo, the director for eight years, notes that the archive’s philosophy is to gather everything offered to prevent loss, but this aim must be managed prudently in the coming years to avoid space shortages.
The archive shared a building with Alicante’s Public Library (today Azorín Library) from its inception until 2008. Those years saw intense archival description and the gathering of foundational fonds such as the province’s notarial protocols and the collections from the provincial ministerial delegations. The second phase, beginning in 2008, started with a move to a purpose-built building on Guillén de Castro Street, which enabled diffusion and didactics. Since then, twenty-four exhibitions have been held, and a classroom welcomes about 20,000 students each year.
While the exact count of documents is hard to calculate, the projection for the fifty years after its 2008 creation is to have space for fourteen deposits, of which ten are already occupied just sixteen years later.
Functions and Values of the Archive
Among the AHPA’s functions is to gather the documentary heritage by collecting public funds and private donations, such as those provided by architects Juan Guardiola and, more recently, Juan Antonio García Solera, or the archives of the Argentine exile.
Another section on the AHPA’s values traces its contribution to society as a memory space and a guardian of citizens’ rights through funds from the Cadastre and the Justice system, as well as funds for democratic memory such as the Institutions Penitenciarias collection relating to Francoist repression.
As memory of society, the exhibit emphasizes notarial protocols from the 17th to the 20th century that recount the story of the monastery of Santa Faz, the Desamortización funds of the Church in the 19th century, the War of Independence, and contemporary funds such as the Jorge Juan Institute, among others.
The Archive also surveys a broad range of research conducted with its funds, from genealogy to heraldry, history, economics or justice, as well as unpublished documents from diverse materials.
Hours and School Visits
In addition to the exhibition, the program includes didactic workshops for students so that younger generations can better grasp the Archive’s importance. At present, 1,200 school visits are arranged, and the exhibit will remain on view for at least a year.
The exhibit is open daily: Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 14:00 and from 17:00 to 19:00; Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10:00 to 13:00.
The public service of documents is provided in person in the consultation room and online via email or the Savex platform for Valencian archives.