The Historical Archives of the University of Barcelona:resource for research in the history of universities

Abstract

This article begins with an introduction to the history of Historical Archive of the University of Barcelona. It explains the main facts from its beginning to the present, among which its various transfers until to its final location in the university historic building. Afterwards it treats of the historical collections of the University of Barcelona from three different perspectives: it describes the collections organization scheme of the Historical Archive as element that provides the global comprehension of documents of university as a whole and facilitates the description of collections; it identifies the most emphasized historical collections so much for the epoch to which they correspond like for its content, and it suggests topicsof study that can be made with historical collections. The third section of the article refers to the service provided to researchers and the society in general and it comments specifically the different services: service of information and reference, of consultation, of reproduction and of lending. Finally, a few conclusions which outline the importance of the historical collections for the knowledge and study of the educational system from Catalonia and Balearic Islands and the importance of the subcollection of Universitat Literaria de Cervera.