PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Artigas Ferrando, Miguel (1887-1947)Other forms

Fechas de existencia:

Blesa (Teruel, España) 1887-09-29 - Madrid (España) 1947-03-10

History:

Spanish librarian and scholar.

Born in Blesa (Teruel) in 1887. He started studying Latin with the parish priest Manuel DOmingo Cortés, who recommended him to expand his formation in Teruel's seminary. After studying Teaching in Zaragoza's University, he licensed in Philosophy and Letters in Salamanca's University. Then, he obtained his doctorate in Madrid's Central University in 1910.

He entered the Cuerpo Facultativo de Archiveros, Bibliotecarios y Arqueólogos in 1911, alterning destinations in various university libraries (Sevilla, Barcelona), and in the Biblioteca Nacional (BNE) in Madrid. He expanded his studies in Germany, thanks to a scholarship of the JAE, but there he was surprised with the start of the First World War, so he had to return to Spain.

He won, through an exam, the position of director of the Biblioteca Menéndez Pelayo (Santander) in 1915, and under his governance, he promoted the creation of the Sociedad Menéndez Pelayo, and the Boletín of the same. During this period he had a very active participation in Santander's intellectual life.

After Francisco Rodríguez Marín's retirement, he was named Director of the Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE) in 1930. With the beginning of the Civil War, the BNE closed its doors, and it surprised Miguel on his holidays in his Aragonese land, being destined to the Biblioteca Universitaria of Zaragoza, even though he lived with his family in Pinseque, a village close to Zaragoza. In 1938, his eldest son passed away, who was an Alférez Provisional in Teruel's first line, at the age of twenty.

Finished the Civil War, he returned to Madrid, and he was reinstated in his charge as Director of the BNE. Later on, the new Ley de la Jefatura del Estado of August 1939, created the Dirección General de Archivos y Bibliotecas, and Miguel Artigas was named its first Director General, but without having to renounce to the BNE's direction, being ministry José Ibáñez Martín.

He was member, among others, of the Real Academia de la Lengua, the Historia one, the Real Academia de Buenas Letras of Barcelona one, or the New York one. He passed away prematurely at the age of 59 in the Spanish capital.

Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

Date of the event: 1936 - 1939