Archives Organisation Project

A major transformation

It was in this period that work started on improving the archival infrastructures, to equip them with means and resources and standardise the archival function.

1986. A standard archival model

The Barcelona City Council Archives Organisation Project (1987-1988) was started by Mayoral decree with the aim of carrying out an exhaustive analysis of the documentary situation in local authority offices and its dependent bodies and then drawing up a plan for moving towards a standard archival model.

The archivist and historian Ramon Alberch i Fugueras, who directed the project, was appointed as Barcelona City Council’s chief archivist from 1990 to 2004.

1988. Closer to the neighbourhoods

A network of district municipal archives was set up as a result of the city government’s determination to decentralise and also as a way of reclaiming the historical character of the old municipalities and neighbourhoods that make up today’s Barcelona.

1990. New rules

The Rules Governing the Organisation and Operation of the Municipal Archives System were approved with the guiding principles that would govern archival action in municipal offices, the Administrative Municipal Archives, the Historic Archives of the City of Barcelona (AHCB) and the network of district municipal archives (AMD).

1991. Selection and removal

The Municipal Document Selection and Removal Committee, set up by Barcelona City Council and made up by archivists, council staff, jurists and historians, began its work.

1992. AIDA arrives

The AIDA (Integrated Document and Archive Administration) system was set up, which included the following elements: a functional document classification framework, conservation calendar, and computer software for active, semi-active and inactive documents.

1998-2006 Alterations and improvements

Casa de l’Ardiaca was renovated between 1991 and 1998 to consolidate the building and improve the conditions for consulting and conserving archive documents.

A second stage involving the expansion and remodelling of the Administrative Archives’ facilities began in 2003.

And in 2006, the new centre for the AHCB’s photographic section was opened at the Sant Agustí convent.

View of the reference room in one of the archives, with two people seated at a table consulting documents.

Sant Gervasi Municipal District Archives reference room. Carme García Navarro

A handful of sheets of paper placed on a table with hands around them.

The AIDA system was created in 1992. Carme García Navarro

View of the reference room in one of the archives with rows of tables, chairs and several people seated at the tables consulting documents.

The new reference room at the Historical Archives of the City, the result of initiatives carried out in the 1990s. Eva Guillamet

The reception to an archiving room which shows, on the right and in the foreground, a table with a computer and a person sitting behind it, and in the background on the left, a larger table with several people seated around it looking at documents.

Reference room at the new main office of the Photographic Archives of Barcelona which opened in 2006. Eva Guillamet