SPANISH PRIMARY SOURCES
Archivo General de la Administración (General Archive of the Administration)
Address: Paseo de Aguadores, 2. 28871 Alcalá de Henares
Phone: (00 34) 918892950
Contact: http://www.cultura.gob.es/cultura/areas/archivos/mc/archivos/aga/contacte.html
Website: http://www.cultura.gob.es/cultura/areas/archivos/mc/archivos/aga/portada.htmlThe General Administration Archive (AGA) holds extensive information on migratory movements during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Although this information is mainly concentrated in the collections of the Foreign Service (Consulates, above all, but also Embassies and Legations), there is also important information in other collections, including those of the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of the Interior, and the now defunct National Movement.
The are many sources that facilitate the study of migratory movements, but the most outstanding in this respect is the documentation of the Ministry of State / Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Consulates, above all, but also Embassies and Legations), whose collections hold documents from the Servicio Exterior de España (Spanish Foreign Service). Without doubt it is the documentary collection containing most information on this period. The documentation is hugely interesting, as it features the records of Spanish consulates, legations and embassies in various American countries which, as we shall see below when detailing the series, offers very specific nominal data on the emigrants. It includes passenger lists, immigrant records, passport records, nationality records, etc. This documentation was generated by diplomatic offices when carrying out their function of controlling Spanish nationals. There is also important information in other collections, including those of the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of the Interior, and the now defunct National Movement.
Images of some record books of Spanish Foreign Service (except for the documentation referred to the Spanish Foreign Service in Argentina), are available on FamilySearch.
Foreign Service Collections
Consular Collections.
In general, the consular collections have a varied and heterogeneous documentary typology, often unbalanced (there are collections with a large presence of certain series, and others almost devoid of them), in relation to Spanish emigrants or residents abroad, as well as the movement of foreigners to Spain, especially based on passport approvals.
We can highlight the following consular collections as ones including a particularly rich and interesting range of documents:
- Algeria: Algiers, Oran.
- Argentina: Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Rosario.
- Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo.
- Cuba; Havana.
- United States: New York.
- France: Bayonne, Bordeaux, Hendaye, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Pau, Toulouse.
- Israel: Haifa, Jerusalem.
- Italy: Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Rome, Trieste.
- Japan: Kobe, Yokohama.
- Morocco: Rabat, Tétouan.
- Mexico: Mexico, Veracruz.
- United Kingdom: Gibraltar.
- Tunisia: Tunisia.
Obviously, these consular collections are complemented by the collections of the Embassies and Legations in the main countries of Spanish emigration, mainly France and Latin America, because, although these are institutions of a markedly political nature, which are the official representation of the Spanish State in other countries, many of their affairs deal with the situation of Spanish citizens who have emigrated and their resident colony.
Of particular note are the following collections:
Servicio Exterior de España (Spanish Foreign Service) in ARGENTINA
This holds documentation from the Spanish Consulate in Buenos Aires, the Consulate in Rosario and the Embassy in Buenos Aires.
The documentation of the Spanish Consulate in Buenos Aires mainly dates back to the fifties. Some examples of the emigration series are:
- SPANISH ASSOCIATIONS. Galician centres and institutions
- MILITARY MATTERS. Deserters (1950)
- CASA DE ESPAÑA (HOUSE OF SPAIN). Report (1950)
- SMUGGLING. Arms in Spanish vessel(1950)
- DEPORTATIONS (1950)
- ARRESTS (1950)
- EMIGRATION (1950)
- RECORD BOOKS. Intestate index (1908-1933)
- RECORD BOOKS. Passport index (1933-1938)
- RECORD BOOKS. Payroll of Argentinean nationalised Spaniards (1938-1938)
- RECORD BOOKS. Record of identity cards (1936-1939)
- RECORD BOOKS. Record of passports issued in the Consulate (1936-1939)
- RECORD BOOKS. Births, Marriages, Deaths, Recognition of children born out of wedlock.
- PASSPORTS. Identity cards and passports (1950)
- REPATRIATION (1950)
- NATIONALITY REGISTER (1950)
- Etc.
Of special interest are the Civil Register series, which hold information on births, marriages, recognition of children born out of wedlock and deaths.
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Equally interesting are the passport index books and the passport registers dating back to the 30s.
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The details they contain are: date, name and surnames, place and province of birth, age, marital status, profession, usual residence, reason for travelling and companions.
From the Spanish Consulate in Rosario, most of the documentation held in the AGA is also from the 50s. There are series that are different from those in Buenos Aires, among them desertion of sailors, stowaways, fugitives, letters of announcement, pardons, whereabouts, passports, prisoners, nationality register, immigrant repatriation, inheritances, testaments, etc. Some of these series make reference to individuals of Spanish nationality who have been condemned abroad, to fugitives or deserters, mostly to avoid military service and to those who applied for repatriation for various reasons. As we can see, the documentation is extremely varied:
- NAVIGATION MATTERS. Desertion of sailors, stowaways (1952)
- MILITARY MATTERS. Deserters (1954-1955)
- REGISTRY AND NOTARY MATTERS. Legalisation (1952-1953)
- EMIGRATION. Letters of announcement (1950-1962)
- EMIGRATION. Spanish colony (1950-1955)
- PARDONS. Fugitives (1951)
- WHEREABOUTS (1943-1955)
- PASSPORTS. Applications, Visas (1955-1956)
- PRISONERS. Assistance for Spanish detainees (1951-1953)
- CIVIL REGISTRY. Certificates (1950-1955)
- NATIONALITY REGISTER (1950-1963)
- REPATRIATION (1945-1958)
- HEALTH. Transfer of corpses (1954)
- INHERITANCES (1951-1954)
- Etc.
The series belonging to the Spanish Embassy in Buenos Aires are considerably older and larger. There is numerous documentation on Spanish associations and regional centres in Buenos Aires; to name but a few, we can find documentation on the Asociación de Españoles en Ultramar (Association of Spaniards Overseas), the Asociación del Clero Español (Association of the Spanish Clergy), the Centro Asturiano de Buenos Aires (Centre of Asturias in Buenos Aires), and on the Asociación Española de Mozos y Cocineros (Spanish Association of Waiters and Cooks). The oldest documentation is from 1910 on the Asociación Patriótica Española (Spanish Patriotic Association) and almost all these series end in 1936-37.
We can also apply the same dates for documentation relating to charities, highlighting information on the Sociedad Española de Socorros Mutuos (Spanish Society of Mutual Aid).
Another series from the Embassy are the registry and notary matters, Casas de España (Houses of Spain) and Spanish Cultural Centres. In the series of correspondence, there is indirect information on the emigrants who arrived in Buenos Aires, deaths of Spaniards, whereabouts, permits for residency in Argentina, embarkation of Spaniards on foreign steamships, and many more matters. In this case, the documentation begins in 1871 and ends in 1927.
Other extremely important series from this Embassy are: emigration (in this series we can find documentation on: Spanish emigration to Argentina, residence permits, data on Spanish colonies, Spaniards deported on Argentinean transport, Spanish emigrants disembarking in Pernambuco, documentation on emigrants and crews, emigration to Brazil, emigration to Montevideo, Spanish political emigrants, permits for residence in Argentina, Argentinean law affecting Spaniards, etc.); extradition; working incidents affecting Spaniards; pardons; whereabouts; passports; Civil Registry; Nationality Register; repatriation, etc.
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Servicio Exterior de España (Spanish Foreign Service) in BRAZIL
With respect to Brazil, AGA conserves collections from the Spanish Consulates General in Sao Paulo and Río de Janeiro and the Vice-consulates in Florianópolis, Pelotas, San Francisco del Sur, Porto Alegre and Río de Janeiro.
In the collection from the Spanish Consulate General in Sao Paulo we find the following documentation:
- CORRESPONDENCE (1929-1933)
- PARDONS (1924-1931)
- REPATRIATION (1920-1942)
- SAFE-CONDUCTS (1939)
Among the records on pardons we find, among other documents, nationality cards, from which we can obtain the following details: name and surnames, place and province of birth, age, names of parents, marital status and profession.
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The series belonging to the Spanish Consulate General in Río de Janeiro are:
- MILITARY MATTERS. Promotion certificates and records, records of exemption from military service (1926-1937)
- ACCOUNTING. Proof of aid and repatriation (1931)
- CORRESPONDENCE. Correspondence relating to pardons (1935)
- EMIGRATION. Letters of announcement, certificates of origin, certificates of residence, declarations and lists of ship crews, passenger lists (1936-1945)
- PASSPORTS. Applications and issues (1937-1945)
- SAFE-CONDUCTS (1938)
- SPANISH COMPANIES (1936)
As well as having similar series to those from Argentina, the Spanish Consulate General in Río de Janeiro has a series called emigration, which contains lists of ship crews and passengers. The documentation from this consulate goes from the 20s to the 60s of the 20th century.
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The following documentation from the Servicio Exterior de España (Spanish Foreign Service) in Brazil is conserved:
- VICE-CONSULATE IN FLORIANÓPOLIS
- VICE-CONSULATE IN PELOTAS
- VICE-CONSULATE IN SAN FRANCISCO DEL SUR
- VICE-CONSULATE IN PORTO ALEGRE
The series are similar to those detailed for the Consulates in Sao Paulo and Río de Janeiro.
Servicio Exterior de España (Spanish Foreign Service) in CUBA
The documentation from this Foreign Service is more scarce than that of the previous countries. From the Spanish Consulate General in Havana, only the series on records of exemption from military service are conserved, dating from 1926 to 1953.
On the other hand, among the documentation from the Spanish Embassy in Havana, we can find series between the 40s and the 60s on Spanish exiles, refugees in Mexico and Guatemala, vagrants and the protection of Spaniards.
Servicio Exterior de España (Spanish Foreign Service) in MEXICO
This is one of the most complete collections found in the Foreign Service. In the documentation from the Spanish Consulate in Mexico we can find, for example, birth certificates, nationality certificates, proof of identity and matriculation, identity cards, passports, applications for registration in the Consulate Register, Civil Registry, etc.
The following documentation is available on the Spanish Archives Portal:
- Collection of the Spanish Consulate in Veracruz: Passenger and emigrant lists.
- Collection of the Mexican Secretariat of the Interior: National Register of Foreigners in Mexico (digital copy, original kept in the General Archive of the Nation of Mexico).
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Servicio Exterior de España (Spanish Foreign Service) in URUGUAY
In the Instrumento de Descripción (10)089.001 (Description Instrument) we can find the following documentation on Spanish emigrants in Uruguay:
- ASYLUM (1855-1898)
- SPANISH ASSOCIATIONS AND ASYLUM (1867-1898)
- LETTERS OF NATIONALITY (1928-1931)
- CASAS DE ESPAÑA (HOUSES OF SPAIN) IN URUGUAY (1940-1942)
- SPANISH CULTURAL CENTRES (1943-1949)
- NATIONALITY CERTIFICATES (1855-1924)
- DEATHS (1942-1945)
- DESERTION (1917-1925)
- EMIGRATION (1914-1942)
- PERSONAL RECORDS ON SPANISH RESIDENTS (1924-1950)
- EXTRADITION (1922-1924)
- DEATHS (1923-1931)
- LISTS OF NATIONALISED SPANIARDS (1921-1924)
- Etc.
It is important to highlight the important collection of Record Books of Foreign Service bodies, which was systematised several decades ago in a single inventory, IDD (10)005.000. Of particular note are:
- Nationality record books.
- Record books of the issuance of nationality cards or certificates.
- Passport approval/endorsement books.
- Intestacy and deposit record books.
- Military examination books.
The organisation "Family Search" has digitalised a large part of this collection, particularly the record books in good condition with information on people from the 19th to the mid-20th century.
Ministry of State/Foreign Affairs Collections
In the collection of the Ministry of State/Foreign Affairs there is a series of Passport Files, which are of particular interest for the study of the entry of foreigners into Spain during the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. It still offers a description with little detail. Volume: 65 boxes.
In the same collection there are general migration Files, by country, of interest for the study of the conditions of migration of Spaniards to different countries (regulations of each country, incidences and consular protection). This series in particular is mentioned very briefly, with very little information on specific chronologies (but mainly the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century). Volume: 14 boxes.
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In general, the collection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers a wealth of documents for research on Spanish colonies abroad, and on issues of economic and political emigration to and from Spain. The documentation generated by its geographical (America) or thematic (Politics, Consular Affairs) Directorate General offices offers the researcher ample information on the migratory processes that affected Spain between the 1930s and 1980s.
Ministry of Labour
1.- Interministerial Commission for the Dispatch of Workers to Germany (CIPETA)
The documentation generated by the Interministerial Commission for the Dispatch of Workers to Germany (CIPETA), kept in the collection of the Ministry of Labour is an essential source on the temporary migration of Spanish workers in the context of the Second World War. It is made up mainly of the personal records of workers, but it also has a very interesting (incomplete) file of workers, including a photograph identifying them.
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2.- Ministry of Labour Collection: Series and fragments of a series on Foreign Migration
In 1991, an interesting set of documents on migratory movements between 1922 and 1966 became a part of the General Administration Archive, made up of small, rather heterogeneous fragments of a series, but which are a relevant testimonial sample of the documentation generated by the Ministry of Labour in relation to the management and supervision of Spanish emigration abroad. The description available is brief and general for the moment. Of particular note are the following sections:
- Files of bonds to emigrants to Venezuela (1953-1955). This is the most voluminous fraction of a series.
- List of emigrants by air (1959-1960).
- Files on emigrant repatriation (1959-1962).
- Embarkation lists of Spanish emigrants (1959-1962).
- Migration files (1925-1936).
- Files on patents to shipping companies for the transport of emigrants (1928-1935).
- Files on emigrant repatriation (1925-1936).
- Dossiers on labour markets, legislation and immigration situation by country (1925-1936).
- Files on trafficking in women and embarkation of women (1929, 1933-1934). In a single installation unit.
- Medical reports of emigration inspection in travel (1959-1962).
- Pre-declarations for disembarkation abroad (1959).
- Embarkation lists (1960-1964).
- Lists of emigrants to Germany (1963).
- Disembarkation lists (1964-1966).
- Recruitments, recruits and contingents by country (1964-1965).
It runs to a volume of 210 boxes.
Other documents relating to the significant internal migrations within Spanish territory, mainly in the 1960s, were also deposited at the same time, along with the documentation on foreign emigration.
Ministry of the Interior/Governance Collections:
Reference should be made to the annual Reports of Civil Governments and Government Delegations (1960-1984), included in the Ministry of the Interior/Governance collection. Although they cannot be considered direct sources on the migratory process, as they deal with multiple aspects of provincial life, they do provide relevant, summarised information on the population movement, both internally and externally, in the corresponding section, generally called "The human environment in the province", relating to vegetative growth and migratory movements.
In that same collection, and within the documentation generated by the former General Directorate of Social Assistance, there is also a documentary source of great interest for the study of the repatriation of Spaniards who arrived in the Soviet Union due to the Civil War. This is the documentation generated by the Coordinating Commission of the Repatriates from Russia (1956-1961). On the one hand, there are reports and correspondence on the return expeditions and the situation of Spaniards in the USSR, and on the other, a series of personal files of returnees, with information on their stay in the USSR. It is accessible through the inventory IDD (08)003.002. Volume: 29 boxes.
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This collection also contains a series of police information files generated by the General Directorates of Security and the Civil Guard, which may provide interesting data on Spaniards who left Spain as a result of the Civil War or political repression.
Collection of the Delegation in Mexico of the Spanish Republican Relief Board (JARE)
This is an essential document collection for the study of the exile of Spaniards in Mexico following the Civil War. These files cover all the vicissitudes faced by the exiles on their arrival in Mexico in the first half of the 1940s. The most important documentation of the JARE (and of the successor organisations CAFARE and CTFARE) is made up of the files on aid to Spanish exiles and their families. It also provides information on exile in Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
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Collection of the Supreme Council of Military Justice (1947-1956)
This collection contains records of the opinion of the Supreme Council of Military Justice on requests for the return to Spain of exiled Spaniards who wished to avail themselves of the Decrees of 9 October 1945 and 27 December 1946, which granted pardon to all persons "responsible for crimes of military rebellion, against the internal security of the State or public order, committed up to 1 April 1939", with the exception of "acts of cruelty, death, rape, profanation, robbery", etc. It is a first-hand source for the study of the return of political exiles in a context of continuing repression.
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FET-JONS National Foreign Service Delegation
The migratory and child protection impact of the Civil War can also be found in the reports and correspondence on the repatriation of minors to Spain, managed by the FET-JONS National Foreign Service Delegation, but above all in the series of files on the repatriation of minors (1938-1956), currently accessible through a database comprising 20,345 records.
The collection also provides very interesting information on the support or hostility towards the single party of Spaniards abroad, especially in the period of the 1940s.
Collection of the National Delegation of Trade Unions of the Movement
Finally, we cannot fail to highlight the collection of the National Delegation of Trade Unions, which includes two services of interest for the study of Spanish migration during Franco's regime: the Foreign Relations Service and the National Framework and Placement Service.
- The former provides mainly information on the work of the Trade Union Labour Attachés abroad between 1953 and 1977: Belgium, Brazil, United States, Equatorial Guinea, Holland, England, Italy, Venezuela, Germany, France, Switzerland and Morocco. This group includes: files on staff of the attaché offices, general affairs, labour organisation membership fees, settlements, payment receipts, inventories, reports, correspondence. It has a volume of approximately 300 boxes.
- For its part, the National Framework and Placement Service has generated documentation of varying wealth, but which can certainly be useful for the study of economic emigration during Franco's regime. It offers information on international agreements and conventions on emigration, reports and circular letters, reports of the Service, job offers, statistics and so on. All this combined with abundant documentation of the internal management of the institution. Approximate volume: 200 boxes.
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