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Documentation

Monumentos Arquitectónicos de España Pulse para ampliar

Cataloguing and online visibility of prints from the Monumentos Arquitectónicos de España series

Estimated timeframe: since 2020

Lead researcher: Núria Benavent and Virginia Salve

This project will catalogue and publicise a collection of 149 prints held at the National Archaeological Museum. These prints pertain to Monumentos Arquitectónicos de España, a state-funded series of volumes produced and published between 1852 and 1881 that was initially supervised by the Special School of Architecture and later by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. In 1875 the project was handed over to the publisher José Gil Dorregaray, who was involved in the publication of as many as 32 monographs with explanatory texts, some of which are also in the museum's library. A total of 281 plates were made, 91 of which constitute an unfinished set as they were not printed in any monograph.

The copperplate engravings and lithographs, in both colour and black and white, generally feature elevations, plans and decorative and architectural details of monuments in different Spanish provinces.

Libro de Registro de Excavaciones y Exploraciones Pulse para ampliar

JSEA documents at the National Archaeological Museum

Estimated timeframe: 2019-2025

Lead researcher: Aurora Ladero Galán

The aim of this project is to digitise and catalogue the records of the Higher Council for Excavations and Antiquities (Junta Superior de Excavaciones y Antigüedades or JSEA). Documents generated by this council were discovered when museum records were reorganised during the MAN renovation works. These documents were briefly identified and divided into different categories—correspondence, film stills, publications, reports, JSEA personnel attendance lists, registries, accounts, administrative files, etc.—and an inventory was drawn up, which makes it easier to locate the documents

Ficha catalográfica Pulse para ampliar

Old catalogue cards, other organisational criteria

Estimated timeframe: 2018-2025

Lead researcher: Aurora Ladero Galán

In addition to the work done with the catalogue cards, grouped by object inventory number, there is a large number of documents consisting of other entries organised according to different criteria: source, subject, location, etc. Many of them have been reviewed and included in a nearly 350-page-long inventory that provides access to their contents.

This project aims to digitise and catalogue those documents and, whenever possible, link them to their respective files and related museum holdings in the DOMUS system.

Pantalla de los Tesauros Pulse para ampliar

Documentary standardisation of the DOMUS thesaurus

Estimated timeframe: 2014–2022

Lead researcher: Virginia Salve Quejido (previously Fernando Fontes Blanco-Loizelier and Javier Rodrigo del Blanco)

As part of the terminological standardisation campaign launched by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in the year 2000, this project aims to standardise the thesauri used to describe and catalogue museum holdings and documents in the MAN’s DOMUS app. The team is currently working on the Cultural Context and Generic Classification thesauri. Partial work has been done on the Thesaurus of Geographical Places, Authorities and Museum Relations, and the next one will be the Thesaurus of Materials, Media, Typology and Types of Documents.

MAN disperso Pulse para ampliar

The “scattered” MAN: Cultural assets on loan to other Spanish museums and institutions

Estimated timeframe: 2020–2022

Supervisors: Isabel Arias and Núria Benavent

This project aspires to highlight all the assets which, despite belonging to the permanent collection of the National Archaeological Museum, are currently on temporary loan to other museums or institutions. Some of these cultural assets have been on loan since the MAN was founded, while others are more recent loans requested by these institutions to refresh their museography in recent decades. The project also aims to publicise the MAN’s efforts to share its holdings and its active collaboration with other institutions. The possibility of creating a microsite on the MAN website with access to loaned items, organised by region and museum, will also be considered.

Completed programs

Sala Antigüedades egipcias y orientales,1895-1940 Pulse para ampliar

Online publication on the history of the classification and display of the MAN’s collections

Estimated execution period: 2014-2021

Supervisors: Carmen Marcos Alonso, Virginia Salve Quejido, Concha Papí Rodes, Javier Rodrigo del Blanco y Begoña Muro Martín-Corral

La inauguración del nuevo Museo y la instalación en él de una sala dedicada a su historia ha supuesto la revisión de numerosa documentación de archivo, prensa y fotográfica antigua sobre sus contenidos. El proyecto pretende reunir toda esta información en una publicación completa y de referencia sobre la evolución y los distintos montajes de las salas de exposiciones permanentes, desde las existentes en el Casino de la Reina hasta la última instalación desmontada en 2007.

Mausoleo mameluco Pulse para ampliar

Cataloguing and online visibility of lantern slides from the Emilio Camps collection

Estimated timeframe: 2010–2021

Lead researcher: Virginia Salve

In 1982, the family of Emilio Camps donated a collection of roughly two thousand lantern slides to the museum. Once consolidated and restored, they have been digitised and catalogued. The project aims to promote and highlight this part of the collection assembled by Emilio Camps for use in his educational and professional activities. Some are slides taken by Camps himself during a university cruise on the Mediterranean in 1933, which will round out our knowledge of this landmark educational trip. The remaining slides, by virtue of their characteristics, original photographers and dates (in some cases older than Camps), are exceptional records of the condition of Spain’s monumental heritage between 1880 and 1920.

Fotografía tomada durante la campaña de excavación de 1941 Pulse para ampliar

Cataloguing documents from J. Martínez Santa Olalla’s excavation of the Visigothic necropolis of Castiltierra (1941 campaign). Thematic online catalogue

Estimated timeframe: 2019-2020

Lead researcher: Virginia Salve, Isabel Arias y Núria Benavent

This project involves cataloguing and digitising unpublished photographs taken during the 1941 dig campaign. The majority document the excavation process, the methodology used and the exact composition of grave goods; as such, they are first-hand records of vital importance to researchers involved in the scientific study of this necropolis and the reconstruction of the excavation site.

These records will also complete the MAN’s collection of documents related to the four previous campaigns conducted in the 1930s, which have been studied and recently published by Luis Balmaseda and Isabel Arias.

Portada de catálogo Amador Pulse para ampliar

Catalogue of photographs listed in the MAN collection between 1850 and 1950

Estimated timeframe: 2018-2020

Lead researcher: Virginia Salve

This project aims to catalogue and digitise photographic records, investigate their authorship, research the careers of confirmed photographers, and date the images.

Aside from the photographs of J. Laurent and those from the collections of archaeologists like Camps, Siret, Cerralbo, Cabré and Santa Olalla, the authorship of over five hundred photographs has been documented. These are attributed to major photographers or photo studios in Madrid, such as Moreno, Amador, Napoleón and Franzen; provincial photographers like Compañy, Zubillaga, Casiano Aguacil, Bestard i Cànaves, Pérez de Novoa, Ángel García Cardona and Pallejá; and even famous European photographers active in other countries, such as James Robertson in what is now Turkey.

Catálogo temático abierto: José Ramón Mélida Pulse para ampliar

Open themed catalogue: José Ramón Mélida

Estimated timeframe: 2015–2020

Project leader: Aurora Ladero

Open themed catalogue dedicated to José Ramón Mélida Alinari, a renowned archaeologist and director of the National Archaeological Museum from 1916 to 1930. The catalogue contains a wide variety of documents, from Mélida’s correspondence with fellow archaeologists and intellectuals of the day and with members of his family to writings that reflect the organisation of his work and his scientific and literary interests. There are also photographs sent by scholars and friends or taken by Mélida himself on his trips to Egypt, Italy and other places, drawings and press clippings, and typed copies of dig reports from Numancia, Mérida and other excavations he led.

Fotografía antigua, bodegón de piezas Pulse para ampliar

Online visibility of photographic assets related to documentation from the records archive

Estimated timeframe: 2011–2020

Lead researchers: Salomé Zurinaga, Aurora Ladero Galán and María Teresa Alonso Martín

This project entails separating the photographic assets from other documentation filed in the records archive since 1868, so that they can be properly preserved and subsequently inventoried, catalogued and digitised, with the ultimate aim of making them available to the public in the museum's online catalogue. Additionally, in the case of museum artefacts, the documentary holdings are being associated with the corresponding museographic holdings. To date, approximately 600 assets have been catalogued, pertaining to records since 1868 that illustrate the history of the museum’s collections and other processes related to their management.

Fondos fotográficos de Antonio Blanco Freijeiro Pulse para ampliar

Reorganisation, preventive conservation and inventory of the Antonio Blanco Freijeiro photographic collection

Estimated timeframe: 2017-2019

Lead researcher: Virginia Salve

In 1991 the library and archival documentation of the art historian A. Blanco Freijeiro was acquired for the MAN. The photographic holdings comprise prints, negatives, transparencies, and preparatory material for publications, studies, and his work as a teacher and academic.

This intervention in the collection will allow us to examine its content and composition in detail, while its reorganisation and conservation will facilitate its future digitisation and cataloguing.

Digitalización y Catalogación de las Fichas de inventario “Orfebrería  y Ropas de culto” de 1941 Pulse para ampliar

Digitisation and Cataloguing of the Inventory Cards from the 1941 Exhibition “Orfebrería y Ropas de culto”

Estimated execution period: 2017-2019

Supervisor: Aurora Ladero Galán

Digitisation and cataloguing of a set of 310 catalogue index cards relating to the Junta del Tesoro Artístico (Artistic Heritage Board) and Servicio de Defensa del Patrimonio (Heritage Defence Service), and the exhibition held in the National Archaeological Museum in 1941, titled Orfebrería y Ropas de Culto (Liturgical Metalwork and Textiles).

Catalogación Tipos españoles de la casa J. Laurent & Cía Pulse para ampliar

Cataloguing and online visibility of the collection of photographs from the series “Tipos Españoles” by the studio J. Laurent & Cía

Estimated execution period: 2017-2018

Supervisor: Javier Rodrigo del Blanco

In 1894 the MAN acquired more than a hundred photographs of the 1878 Paris Exposition by the photographic studio J. Laurent & Cía., in the form of albumin prints tinted with watercolours. They depict typical Spaniards, individually, in couples, grouped in genre scenes or representing trades, which had been exhibited in Paris and were later displayed in the MAN, in the lobby on the top floor leading to the ethnography galleries.

Their date, their documentary value, and the importance of their creator, make them exceptional documents in the sphere of photography and ethnography, and therefore after they have been restored, studied, catalogued, and digitised, they will be made available online in the form of a thematic online catalogue.

Ficha de inventario Pulse para ampliar

Digitisation of Old Inventory Files

Estimated timeframe: 2012-2018

Lead researcher: Aurora Ladero Galán

The goal of this programme is to recover and organise all the information in the old inventory files of the museum’s collections and preclude the need to physically handle these documents. To date, a total of 33455 files have been digitised, all pertaining to what was formerly called Section Two, which includes the current Medieval Antiquities and Early Modern Era departments and Section One, now the departments of Prehistory, Protohistory, Greek and Roman Antiquities, and Egyptian and Near Eastern Antiquities.

Online Visibility of Old Negatives Produced by the Museum

Estimated timeframe::2010-2018

Lead researcher: Virginia Salve Quejido y Begoña Muro Martín Corral

From the time of the museum’s founding until 35mm polyester negatives became the norm, around 1960, the institution produced approximately 15,000 negatives on glass plates, acetate film and nitrate film which document its history and that of its artefacts. For conservation and safety reasons, these negatives are being digitised and catalogued in order to upload them to the museum’s general online catalogue and make them visible to the public.

colección de Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla Pulse para ampliar

Digitisation and cataloguing of magic lantern glass negatives and slides from the collection of Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla

Estimated execution period: 2016-2017

Supervisor: Virginia Salve and Mónica Martín

The project consists of cataloguing and digitising in DOMUS approximately 700 glass negatives and slides for “magic lanterns” with very diverse subject matter, which will be made available online for viewing on Cer.es.

Exposición Histórico Natural Pulse para ampliar

Thematic online catalogue of the documentary holdings of the 1893 Natural History and Ethnography Exhibition

Estimated execution period: 2015-2017

Supervisor: Javier Rodrigo del Blanco

This exhibition was the last of the three great commemorative exhibitions marking the opening of the Palacio de Biblioteca y Museos Nacionales, the building which now houses the M.A.N. The project will digitise, inventory and properly catalogue the 32 existing photographs and provide context in the form of additional texts on the architecture of the museum, the concept of Ethnography at the time of the Expo, how the exhibition was arranged, the criteria of the time, and the current location of the pieces shown, which are now scattered among several different institutions. The result will be the creation of a subsidiary website on “Collective Catalogues” and the online publication of a joint catalogue which will also include newspaper reports and other original documents from the period.

Prensa histórica Pulse para ampliar

Online thematic catalogue of historic press reports about the M.A.N.

Estimated timeframe: 2014-2016

Lead researchers: Carmen Marcos Alonso, Aurora Ladero Galán y Concha Papí Rodes

Project with the aim of collecting news about the National Archaeological Museum, whether in the written press or audiovisual media. It will gather both news kept in the Museum Archive from 1869-2009, catalogued and digitised, and images and film about it kept in the Filmoteca Nacional (National Film Archive), including the state-produced, NO-DO newsreels. Into its second stage, after 2015, the search for news will be continued in the document collections of institutions like the National Library, the Municipal Newspaper Archive of Madrid, EFE News Agency, RTVE (Spanish Radio and Television Corporation) and other large nationwide television channels.

Acetre nazarí de la Alhambra Pulse para ampliar

Review of Long-Term Loans from Other Institutions at the MAN

Estimated timeframe:: 2013-2016

Lead researcher: Virginia Salve Quejido

The National Archaeological Museum houses a vast, heterogeneous collection of archaeological cultural assets whose origins, provenances and methods of entry are quite different. The Documentation Department has decided to review the artefacts on long-term loan to this institution in order to quantify their number, identify the pieces within the collection, determine their legal status, and update their administrative information in the DOMUS program to facilitate proper management of these works.

Fotografía de Sala Pulse para ampliar

Cataloguing of Luis Vázquez de Parga’s Documentary Resources

Estimated timeframe:2011-2016

Lead researcher: Concha Papí Rodes

When a new exhibition design was created in the galleries in 1954, the then director Joaquín María de Navascués assigned curator Luis Vázquez de Parga the task of supervising the preparation of a location inventory of the pieces in their new positions. The result was 28 albums with photographs and lists, which were used as working tools until the layout was changed again in 1965. The project entails digitising approximately 5,000 documents, cataloguing their contents and associating the information contained in photographs and lists.

Thematic Online Catalogue of Photographs Donated by the Bey of Tunis for the European History Exhibition of 1892

Estimated timeframe: 2010-2016

Lead researcher: Virginia Salve Quejido

This project involves cataloguing and digitising nearly four hundred albumen prints of Tunisian monuments, landscapes and cities that were exhibited in 1892. At the same time, research is also being conducted to determine where each photograph was taken and by whom, in order to correlate them with the lists of the exhibition catalogue and create a complete thematic online catalogue.

Carteya Pulse para ampliar

Inventory of photographs of the site of Carteya, Cádiz, from the Santa-Olalla collection

Estimated timeframe: 2015

Lead researcher: Fernando Fontes Blanco-Loizelier

Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla excavated the Roman site of Carteya from 1953 to 1961, although he never published any of his finds, and many of his photographs are held at the MAN. This project catalogued and digitised those photographs, invaluable aids for reconstructing his excavation methods and processes, contextualising certain artefacts and recreating a landscape that has since been substantially altered. The team from the Autonomous University of Madrid that is currently excavating Carteya and participating in the project also found these photographs tremendously helpful for understanding the site.

La Bastida Pulse para ampliar

Thematic online catalogue of documentation of the site of La Bastida, Murcia, from the Santa-Olalla and Siret collections

Estimated timeframe: 2014–2015

Lead researcher : Virginia Salve Quejido, Fernando Fontes Blanco-Loizelier and Begoña Muro Martín-Corral

This project entailed cataloguing and digitising approximately 400 photographs of excavations supervised by Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla between 1944 and 1950 at this Argaric settlement and necropolis, as well as transcribing and publishing the field journal and several drawings of Louis Siret’s excavation in 1886. These unpublished records provided valuable background information on the site for the team from the Autonomous University of Barcelona that is currently leading the excavation of La Bastida, and which collaborated on this project by helping to identify some of the documentary assets. The catalogue was completed with articles on Argaric culture and the photographic methods and biographies of the excavators.

Documentación fotográfica en sala Pulse para ampliar

Online Visibility of Cultural Assets in the Permanent Exhibition

Estimated timeframe: 2014-2015

Lead researcher: Virginia Salve Quejido

In preparation for the upcoming reopening of the museum and the launch of its new website and virtual tour, we are working to make all of the artefacts on display available to the public: approximately 15,000 items will be accessible, with different levels of information and images visible in CER.ES, the collective catalogue of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.

Fondo Siret Pulse para ampliar

Thematic Online Catalogue of Documents from the Louis Siret Collection

Estimated timeframe: 2013-2015

Lead researcher: Aurora Ladero Galán y Concha Papí Rodes

Continuing with the lengthy process of identifying the contents of the Siret Archive, analysing its overall state of conservation, digitising the documents and cataloguing them on DOMUS, this program aims to present all this information in the form of a thematic online catalogue. The documentation will be classified by archive documentary series and will make a total of 2,819 documents with 31,320 images available to online viewers.

Almacenes Pulse para ampliar

Updating of Call Numbers Assigned to Cultural Assets

Estimated timeframe: 2011-2015

Lead researcher: Javier Rodrigo del Blanco

The major overhaul of the museum’s facilities has modified its internal distribution, making it necessary to create a new layout structure adapted to this new physical context. These new spaces have been equipped with furniture that is better suited to our new criteria governing the display and conservation of cultural assets. This project addresses the need to identify each space so that the artefacts can be located accurately and quickly.

Diario Camps Pulse para ampliar

Online Visibility of Documentation Related to Emilio Camps’ Study Travels in Italy and France in 1930

Estimated timeframe: 2007-2015

Lead researcher: Virginia Salve Quejido y Sonsoles Espinós Ortigosa (I.N.A.P.)

In 1930 Emilio Camps, curator at the museum, set out on an educational tour of Italy and France. During his travels he kept a detailed journal, with sketches and photographs, and collected approximately 2,000 postcards (some produced from his own photographs) of the objects, monuments and places he visited. This project involves cataloguing and digitising all that documentation, as well as transcribing the travel journal and publishing it in digital format along with a critical analysis and commentary.

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