Municipal Historical Archive

The Municipal Archive is responsible for the following functions:
• Receive documentation and ensure periodic transfer between the different files.
• Receive documentation and ensure periodic transfer between the different files.
• Guarantee the security and conservation of documentary collections.
• Classify, organise and catalogue documentation in accordance with archival principles.
• Ensure and facilitate access to and consultation of documentation through description instruments.
• Promote the dissemination of municipal documentary heritage.

1. Consultation of documentation:
Citizens over 16 years of age, duly accredited, will have the right to freely consult the documentary collections preserved in the Municipal Archive in accordance with current legislation and the internal regulations of the Archive itself.
In any case, free consultation must be denied based on the state of conservation of the collections.
In general, documents containing personal data may not be consulted by an outsider if twenty-five years have not elapsed since the death of those affected, if their date is known and accredited, or fifty years have not elapsed since the date of the document.
In the case of technical project files of currently existing private buildings, it will be requested by entry registration and the following documentation will be attached:
• In the case of students, a letter of introduction from the university will be presented.
• In the case of owner: photocopy of the ID of the interested party; photocopy of the last receipt of the contribution (IBI), water, electricity or gas, or of the deed of ownership of the house to consult; and for future owner: document / deposit contract.
• In the case of administrator: photocopy of the ID of the interested party; and accreditation of the status of Administrator of the property by means of a recent Act of the Community of Owners.
• In the case of a tenant: photocopy of the ID of the interested party and photocopy of the lease or deposit contract, or last receipt for water, electricity or gas.

Researchers who accredit a historical, scientific or cultural interest may access nominative documentation, provided that they undertake in writing not to mention personal data. They must also indicate in writing the object of their research, and will commit themselves that the data obtained will be used exclusively for the purposes stated.

Users must fill in a researcher file established for this purpose, which will include their personal data and research topic. When the documents in the Archive have been microfilmed, digitised or copied by any other reproduction system, consultation will preferably be made on these media, in order to protect the originals.

Access to documentation may be temporarily denied in the event that it has not been inventoried and/or catalogued, before its restoration or in any other case that entails damage to its integrity and security.

2.- Telephone consultation, via e-mail, letter, etc.
3.- Reprography room, where documents can be reproduced by scanner or microfilm.
4.- Advice to the researcher.
5.- Auxiliary research support library.
6.- Laboratory of restoration and conservation of documents.
7.- Guided visits to university students and/or research groups related to the field of archivistics, with the aim of making known the documentary collections of the archive and the history of the city through them.

The documentation that makes up the Municipal Archive is basically that generated by the City Government from the thirteenth century to approximately the 70s of the twentieth century, except for some series such as all those related to the government of the city that continue until practically today.
In the most outstanding documents of the Archive, there are:

• "Codex of the Furs". Manuscript in vitela containing a compilation of Valencian laws, approved by the Cortes between the reigns of James I and Alfonso IV, made by the notary Bonanat Pedra in 1329.
• Codex of "El Consolat de Mar". Valuable codex in vitela written by Jaime Gisbert at the request of the Council on June 4, 1407. It compiles the uses of navigation, collecting the founding privilege of the Consulate, maritime customs and how to proceed in litigious issues arising between merchants and merchants.
• " Book of Mustaçaf". Codex in vitela compiling the regulations governing the mustaçaf trade, made between 1563 and 1568.
• "Book of the Ceremonial". Made at the request of the City Council, by Don Félix Cebrián Aracil between 1692 and 1704. It contains everything related to the development and proceeding of the representatives of the City in all the acts in which they had to take part following ancient customs.

In addition to the documents mentioned above, the Municipal Archive brings together other series or documentary sets, among which we can highlight the following:
• Charters and Royal Privileges: Documents mostly on parchment from James I to Philip I-II in the case of the Furs and Carlos II in the case of privileges. They are provisions that are granted as a result of a resolution of the Cortes in the case of the Furs or, adopted only by the King in the case of privileges without the need to summon Cortes granting some grace, exemption or prerogative that others do not enjoy.
• Manuals of Councils (1306-1707). Record books showing the minutes, agreements and sessions held by the Juries and the General Council. They are a reflection of the economic, political and administrative life of the City.
• Chapter Books and Acts (1707-). They are the continuation of the Council Manuals after the Nueva Planta decree.
• Books of "Pregones and Calls" (1557-1836). They collect the calls proclaimed by the public trumpet of the City of Order of Justices and Juries, indicating date and place. These are provisions referring above all to health, public order and supplies.
• Letters missives (1334-1816). Record books of correspondence sent by the Juries to other cities, to the monarchs themselves or to different ecclesiastical dignities.
• Royal Letters (1430-1840). Record books where the correspondence of the Royal Chancellery (office of the administration of the royal court) addressed to the city of Valencia was copied. They also include some pontifical letters.
• Books of Aveinaments (1349-1611). Record books of the persons who came to the City of Valencia and of the oath taken for this purpose.
• Claverias. (XIV-XVIII centuries). This group collects abundant documentation ordered in various documentary series that represent the activity of La Clavería, an institution that in foral times represented the treasury or administration of municipal finances.
• Walls and Valleys (XIV-XIX centuries). Since the conquest of Valencia by James I, he had the obligation to preserve walls, fences, public roads, etc., ordering in 1251 the contribution of citizens to the construction, maintenance and repair of these. Later he donated all the walls and fences to the city, taking care of the conservation and repair of its public works. In 1358 a flood of the Turia river that demolished the wall and the bridges promoted the creation of the Board of Walls and Valleys through royal privilege, later called the Factory of Walls and Valleys, which was dedicated to the construction and repair of the walls, moats, towers, bridges, irrigation canals and roads. The documentation generated by the activity of the Factory has generated several documentary series that collect news of all kinds about the works that are being carried out every day in the city.
• Notarial documentation (XIV-XVIII centuries). They are records of documents drafted by the city's notaries.
• Books of the Table of Changes (XVI-XVIII centuries). The Valencia Exchange Board was the first municipal bank, created by privilege of King Martin I on October 20, 1407, to guarantee public and private monetary deposits, as well as to avoid irregularities that occurred in commercial operations. In all the documents preserved from the Table are inserted, among other things, the daily entries of the amounts owed to the Table and the cause of the obligation.
• Books of the University of Valencia. (XVI-XVIII centuries). In 1499, at the initiative of the Juries, constitutions were drawn up for the creation of a General Study, approved by Alexander VI in 1501 and by Ferdinand the Catholic in 1502. The municipality was a promoter and financial supporter of the university, appointed faculty and served its government. The Municipal Archives conserves, among others, books of registration and degrees of the General Study.
- Board of Own and Arbitrators (1766-1835) It contains information on municipal accounts from the Bourbon period, on the heritage assets of the city and on the conveniences or not on the collection of taxes, as well as on their destination.
• Supplies. It comprises several documentary series from the Foral and Bourbon periods, such as those related to the supply of wheat or meat in the city. There is also documentation from the Tribunal del Repeso, a municipal inspection commission from the Bourbon era that was attributed with controlling the purchase.
• Municipal Treasury of the XVIII-XIX-XX centuries. Important and abundant documentation related to municipal finances, containing varied information on ordinances, taxes, contributions, industrial registrations, leases, accounting, etc.
• Register of Neighbors. It is the administrative register where the residents of the municipality are recorded Their data constitute proof of residence and domicile in the municipality. In the Municipal Historical Archive it was kept from 1770 to 1965. Census books from 1935 to 1965 are exempt from public consultation for conservation reasons. From 1875 to 1924 you can search by name and surname through the Census Indexes. Before this date, it is necessary to carry out the search through the address.
• Civil Registry. In which the facts concerning the marital status of the people are stated. It comprises births from 1841 to 1870, marriages from 1841 to 1869 and deaths from 1841 to 1870. Searches are made through indexes by name and surname.
• Numbering and Signage of Streets and Squares. It comprises the files for signage and name change of streets and squares in Valencia from 1859 to 1989
• Charity and Health. It collects files on charitable establishments, begging, public hygiene, relief houses, epidemics, food and beverage control... from 1774 to 1941 approximately.
• Cemeteries Documentation on works in cemeteries, graves, niches, pantheons, list and translation of corpses and parts of the cemetery from 1790 to 1913 in general terms.
• Fairs, Festivals and Shows. It includes, among others, records of fairs and sketches of faults from 1708 to 1986.
• Public Instruction. On primary education, higher education and artistic and literary education of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
• Monuments, Archive, Libraries and Museums with documentation from 1876 to the present. It contains records of purchases and donations, exhibitions, inaugurations, works and restorations in monuments, museums and archives and their collections.
• Urban Police, Example and Urbanism. It contains documentation referring to licenses for public and private works, urban reforms, as well as urban planning and management of the city from 1722 to 1986.
• Rural Police. It collects documentation on the Turia River and the irrigation channels, Albufera and Devesa, ring roads and paths, walks and trees, exploitation, damage and infringements between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries.
• Drinking water. Documentation on water conduction, public services and individuals related to water.
• Graphic background. It comprises plans of the city from different periods, the most s being the plan of Antonio Manceli (1608) and the plan of Father Tosca (1704). There are also maps and plans of specific areas of Valencia, emblematic buildings and copies of cadastral plans from the decade 1930-1940. The posters announcing the Fallas and July fair of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries also represent an important part of the graphic collection.
• Photographic archive. Composed of negatives and positive photographs from the last third of the nineteenth century to the 80s of the twentieth century approximately. Most of the collection corresponds to the photographer Vicente Barberà Masip, who worked in the City Council during the first third of the twentieth century. The photographs show various aspects of the city of Valencia, especially views of buildings or streets, and various political events, public events or festivals in the city. We can highlight, among others, the photographic report of the transfer of the remains of the writer Blasco Ibáñez in 1933 from France to Valencia and his burial, or the photographs on the occasion of the Valencian Regional Exhibition of 1909.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the existence of documentary sets that, although they have not been generated directly by the municipal government itself, are strongly related to it, and constitute an important testimony in the life of the Valencian municipality. These documentary sets are:
• Commercial Court . It collects information on supplies, commercial companies, leases, shipwrecks, sea protests, bills of exchange, etc. He understood mercantile business in the first instance and its creation is from the nineteenth century, following the promulgation of the first Spanish State Commercial Code in 1829.
• Documentation Llotja (XVIII-XIX centuries). It has information regarding the Board of Trade, with files, orders, offices, minutes, deliveries, receipts, etc.
• Annexed villages (nineteenth century) Documentation generated by 14 current neighborhoods of the city, which during the nineteenth century were constituted as their own town halls, ending up annexing to Valencia at the end of the nineteenth century. These 14 municipalities are: Patraix, Benimaclet, Beniferri, Benifaraig, Benimamet, Orriols, Mahuella, Borbotó, Vilanova del Grau, Poble Nou del Mar, Campanar, Masarrochos, Carpesa and Ruzafa.
• Guild documentation (XIII-XIX centuries). Guilds were corporations formed by teachers, officers and apprentices of the same profession or trade, governed by ordinances or guild statutes to defend their interests. In Valencia they reached great importance, being very large in number. In the Municipal Archives there is a large collection of documents from the following guilds: armeros, obreros, cereros and especiers, ear runners, llontja corridors, tanners, sederos, zurradores, walls and valleys, pear trees, plateros and tailors.
• Medieval Hospitals. Hospitals in the Middle Ages had a more welfare function, welcoming helpless people, than purely healthcare. In the Municipal Archive there is documentation (mostly account books) referring to the following hospitals: Saint Lazarus (1406-1509) for the care of lepers, En Clapers (1361-1480), Dels Beguins (1401-1604) and La Reyna (1410-1496).