Between 1930 and 1973, a powerful visual record emerged from the lens of Antonio Linares Ortiz and his son José. The collection captures moments from La Vila and its surrounding region as well as the people, places, and cultural life that defined those decades. It is a documentary arc—an anthropological tour through time—showing political gestures, daily routines, and symbolic acts during the Second Republic and the Civil War, alongside personal scenes that reveal the social texture of the era. The archive stands as a resilient portrait of a community navigating upheaval, optimism, and change over three-quarters of a century.
This vast legacy remained largely hidden until recently. The family entrusted it to Vilamuseu and the Municipal Archives, unlocking a trove that has already yielded remarkable discoveries in just ten months. Roughly 3,000 photographs have been restored and digitized, a fraction of the estimated 200,000 negatives still awaiting cataloging. About 40 images found their way to the Vila Municipal Library for public viewing yesterday, as part of an exhibition coordinated by the Department of Historical Heritage and the University Headquarters, under the leadership of José Antonio Moya, and presenting editions from UA during the 1930s to 1950s.
Antonio Espinosa, director of Vilamuseu, notes,