Municipal fonds

We manage and conserve municipal records from various historical periods:

• The fonds of the old municipality of Sant Andreu de Palomar, from 1870 to its absorption by Barcelona in 1897.
• Barcelona City Council fonds from 1936 to the present day.

With regard to the former, it should be pointed out there are very few records, apparently as a result of the various disturbances that occurred in the first half of the 19th century, during which nearly all of them disappeared.

The latter consists of documents from the old Deputy Mayor’s Office (1936-38) and the District Council (1960-79), though they are of nominal value as neither body had many functions.

There are also records that refer to industrial activities carried out by the central bodies and which accompanied the transfer of functions to the districts with the municipal decentralisation carried out in 1984. These documents largely consist of the forerunners to the activity licences and works inspections.

Finally, we should also mention the documents from the current period, which began with the decentralisation project and citizen participation in 1984, and the new territorial division of Barcelona into ten districts. The biggest series and most consulted by members of the public are business activity licences, licences for major and minor works, and urban development projects.

Private fonds

We keep documents from entities and individuals linked to Sant Andreu. Given its interest and significance, we highlight the fonds of the Board of Aigües de la Sèquia Comtal, donated by the last water administrator in 1991. Part of the fonds is digitised (the minutes books and some of the files) and can be consulted via the online catalogue.

Another important fonds is that of a social institution, Previsió Obrera de Sant Andreu, which contains a lot of documents produced from 1906 on by this benefit society, which was founded to put an end to the precarious state of workers in Sant Andreu and La Sagrera, who used to retire or fall ill without any means of economic support.

Among the personal fonds, we can draw attention to the 138 handwritten scores, dated from 1919 to 1958 and signed by Joan Sardà i Vila, a pianist, teacher and composer of different musical styles, such as zarzuelas, entr’actes and folk dances for cobla orchestras and sardanes.

Other private fonds of interest are those of Dr Joaquim Vellvé i Cusidó, a pharmacist born in Sant Andreu in 1883, and Joan Termes i Piera, another local man who exercised his theatrical vocation in various district theatre groups. He was an actor and dramatist who wrote 37 plays in the course of his life, 10 of which we keep thanks to the donation from his grandchildren.

We should also mention the contribution of Sr Salvador Casas, who the reference room is named after. His personal fonds consists of documents dated between 1925 and 1999.

Collections

We have a collection of district posters and leaflets, most produced by Sant Andreu District Council and some by district associations and other entities.

We also have an auxiliary library, as well as magazines and periodicals produced in Sant Andreu which, in many cases, have come from residents’ associations and other entities.

If you want to find out all the information we have at the Sant Andreu Archives, consult the fonds table.