PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Ventura Solsona, Samuel (1896-1972)Other forms

Fechas de existencia:

Villahermosa del Río (Castellón, España) 1896-03-12 - València (España) 1972

History:

Spanish archaeologist, archivist, and librarian.

He was born in Villahermosa del Río (Castellón, Spain) in 1896. Member of the Corps of Specialist Archivists, Librarians and Archaeologists by public examination since July 26, 1921. He was assigned to the Archivo General de Indias, where he remained until the start of the Spanish Civil War.

In July 1936, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he took refuge in his hometown, and from June 1937, served as secretary of the Junta Delegada de Incautación, Protección y Salvamento del Patrimonio Artístico of the province of Castellón. As secretary of the aforementioned board, he helped save numerous works of art from religious buildings, which were handed over to the Servicio de Recuperación Artística Nacional, created by Franco, when Castellón was occupied by the national side in 1938.

He was assigned to the Archivo Histórico Provincial in Toledo between 1938 and 1939, and he wrote a report, dated December 1938, describing the archive's situation, the facilities it occupied, and the condition of its documentation.

After the Spanish Civil War, he was purged and sanctioned with forced relocation to Tarragona, where he took charge of the Provincial Archive, Library, and Museum. From 1942, he ceased his responsibilities with the archive and library and focused on the direction of the Museo Arqueológico Provincial and the Museo Paleocristiano de Tarragona, centers he successfully made accessible to the public.

He was a board member of the Patronato Provincial para el Fomento de los Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos and of the Comisión Provincial de Monumentos de Tarragona. Additionally, he directed archaeological excavations at the Roman amphitheater in Tarragona. He retired at the age of 70 in 1966 and passed away in Valencia in 1972.

Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

Date of the event: 1936 - 1939