THE director of the Cuenca Archives, Almudena Serranointerviewed Europa Press in the week which marks the 450th anniversary of Philip II’s transfer of the city’s old castle to the Inquisition, on land now occupied by the building he guards daily, with more than 7 kilometers of documents and that right now in October is on pace to surpass the 8,000 queries it faced last year.
Serrano defends the profession as “important, fundamental and foundational” work because of the “integral value” of the documentation that a space like this houses. When an archivist handles documentation, ancient or contemporary, “he is aware that he is dealing with unique moments”. “Each document is unique, like people, no two are identical even if they are twins,” he emphasizes.
Here he emphasizes the “historical importance” of any archive, also for its administrative value, because there is documentation that “never loses its validity.”
Taking as an example a notarial deed from the 16th centuryexplains that a document signed 400 years ago may continue to have validity that a jurist may need to achieve to justify a specific act. “There are times when notaries ask us for 19th century protocols to make simple copies,” he explains.
800 year old papers
At the headquarters of the Cuenca Archives rests, as the oldest document, a parchment from 1218 which reflects a donation, a transfer of some orchards from the Huécar River to the Cathedral of Cuenca.
Among the oldest examples, we also find within its walls “a collection of very important manuscripts on parchment”, documentation that is “fundamental for researchers”.
He defends here that the Spanish archive network is “almost” one of the most important in the world, because it brings together “historical, municipal, provincial or general archives” which demonstrate that the Spanish administration has always been “very bureaucratic “.
“Each institution has always had its rules to respect, and they have been obliged to keep documents as testimony to their management,” he says.
This is why these facilities constitute an inexhaustible source for researchers and, moreover, the reason for thousands of queries every year.
More specifically, in the case of the Cuenca archives, In 2023, 29,000 copies of documents were delivered after 8,000 consultations, a figure that is already approaching the end of September.
“People realize the importance of files when they need them and see how a new world opens up knowing that their query will be resolved,” he adds.
From file to screen
Almudena Serrano, aware of the treasure she has kept for decades, opened her profile on the social network X to the world to show what the walls of the building that is her office preserve.
An “improvised” movement which arouses “many glances” through a story which aims solely “to teach people, to arouse curiosity based on what I tell in a minute and a half”. The director’s ambition is for the inhabitants of Cuenca to become aware of the value of what is archived.
Most of the requests received by his team, he explains, concern Treasury or Cadastre through documents, plans, aerial photographs, owner files or certificates of ownership.
A chapter which “presents a great interest” for citizens since it is an area where what they are looking for is “to resolve administrative problems with the neighbor, with the border or with the town hall”, thing “very common”.
Documents from tax settlement offices, proof of transfers, inheritances, donations or documented legal acts are testimonies that will sooner or later need to be consulted in the future.
The Eternal Path to Justification
The Cuenca Archives are immersed in an endless but progressing process in terms of digitizing their heritage, and although finding the end point is “impossible”, they have begun to replicate “the most requested judicial documentation in the cloud” .
Access door to the Provincial Historical Archives of Cuenca
The way forward will then be to make all digitized funds available to citizens via the Internet. So, The documentation of the Cadastre Management of Cuenca and the planimetric documentation of the entire province are now digitized..
Furthermore, the scroll collection will also be accessible with a single click, because although “it stands the test of time very well”, that “does not mean that it can be accessed manually”.
A document “can be viewed digitally with much better quality” and also helps “protect the preservation of the original document”.
All this in a “complicated” process for which it does not have the necessary human and financial resources. “Neither us, nor any archives in Spain.”
Open doors and intact vocation
The Cuenca Archives have an open door vocation, and almost 20,000 students have passed through its facilities, not only from the province, but also from other autonomous communities.
A “very enriching” experience to which it is difficult to devote quality time and which has managed to students of all ages, from preschool to collegelearned more closely about the work of archivists.
Almudena Serrano guarantees the continuity of the profession throughout the centuries to come. “There are always people who are interested and want to dedicate themselves to it.”
He emphasizes here that “all professions have their professional vocation”, since in all areas of knowledge, “the best thing that can happen to you is to devote yourself to work that you really enjoy”.
“There is a pool of archivists,” defends Almudena Serrano after nearly four decades in the archives service.
A more personal and eternal justification
A union protected by the structure of the State which also has its demands, starting with the need for more staff.
“The work done in an archive is not to store documentation and wait for someone to come and ask for it. The work done with documentation involves extracting all possible information contained in the documents to provide the most accurate information possible.
At that moment, he asks himself: “If there are 7 kilometers of documentation here and I don’t know what I have, what service can I provide to the public?” None”.
For this reason, he says that this job consists of “working on documentation, having it classified, organized and made available, knowing what is in each box”.
These personnel problems are at the origin of the cancellation of cultural activities open to the public which were carried out in the past.
A deficiency that Serrano now strives to fill with greater cultural dissemination in the first person, on social networks or in the press, and always ready to give a lecture when the opportunity arises.
In this sense, he wanted to show his gratitude to the press of the city and the province. “They are always with us, always aware of what we are doing. “They are very devoted to us.”
A diffusion of the activity through all the available tools which manages to arouse interest, to the point of accumulating a waiting list to show the interior of the Archives to those who requested it on the occasion of the International Day of these installations last June.
A waiting list that could be reduced in the short term, since, according to what has been announced, there will be days in October when the old inquisitorial prison will reopen its doors.
