Municipal fonds

We keep the municipal records produced or received by local government bodies and municipal authority offices, past and present, within their geographic area.  

That means we manage and conserve the following documents:

The fonds of the old municipalities of Sarrià (1747-1921), Sant Gervasi (1727-1897), Vallvidrera (1714-1890) and Santa Creu d’Olorda (1766-1916).

The Barcelona City Council fonds from 1949 to the present day.

Old Sarrià town fonds

Sarrià was the last town added to Barcelona, in 1921. Although it was a small town, with around 10,000 inhabitants, it had had time to experience urban and architectural growth.

This is a very extensive fonds, which also conserves the step towards electrification of the area and modernisation of the services. It contains a total of 822 boxes and brings together records dating from 1740 to 1922, although most are from 1845 to 1921.

In the initial period, you will find records relating to territory that would later form the old town of Les Corts, which separated from Sarrià in 1834.

Sant Gervasi Council fonds

Despite being a small town when it joined Barcelona in 1897, with around 10,000 inhabitants, this proved to be an interesting fonds maintained in perfect condition. It had not deteriorated in any way and none of the files had disappeared.

It contains 336 boxes, the most interesting series of which are those on urban development and private building work, plus those on the residents’ register and military service, with 28 boxes.

The Sant Gervasi de Cassoles fonds contains practically the only administrative records conserved from the municipality, making it first-hand evidence of local government in the mid-19th century and indispensible for any study of the old municipality of Sant Gervasi de Cassoles.

Vallvidrera Council fonds

The municipal funds of this old village contains 35 boxes up to 1890, when Vallvidrera Council joined Sarrià. The records were part of the Sarrià Archives from then till 1921.

The most interesting sections of this fonds are General Administration, which contains the minutes books and Finances.

Santa Creu d’Olorda Council fonds

A village that was divided with part of it joining Sarrià Council in 1916. That part is the one round the parish church and the Can Mallol sector, a total of 2.21 km2.

The fonds does not contain a full set of records from the old village but they are the only ones conserved and serve to illustrate the processes of annexation and separation involving the old municipalities of the Barcelona Plain. The documents incorporated into the Sarrià Archives cover the period from 1766 to 1916, although the municipal minutes from 1916 are missing.

Barcelona City Council fonds

The oldest records from this fonds are those of the Municipal Council from District III, from 1949 to 1983. For the most part, they consist of correspondence between the central bodies of the City Council and the District.

The large number of records begins in 1984 with Barcelona’s new territorial division into ten districts and the definition of district municipal council powers. The most consulted series are licences for business activities, major works, minor works, inspections and urban projects.

Private and institutional fonds

One of the most remarkable comes from the Vergés Piera family. It contains their notarial and testamentary documents from the 18th to the 20th centuries.

The Jové family fonds, acquired in 1993, contains photographic, bibliographic and text documents on the historical development of the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi neighbourhoods.

From the Tibidabo Amusement Park institutional fonds, given to the Archives in July 2014 and which contains strictly administrative documents, we highlight the 10,859 photographs incorporated into the fonds between 1900 and 2002 as well as, for their historical value, those photographs which show the partial urbanisation of the Collserola range and what today is Avinguda del Doctor Andreu (1905-20).

Collections

We have a collection of photographs from 1870 on the various neighbourhoods of Barcelona’s districts, as well as posters, postcards, graphic images, etc., produced by local associations and other entities.

We also have an auxiliary library, as well as magazines and periodicals produced in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi 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 Sarrià-Sant Gervasi Archives, consult the fonds table.