Archives and Libraries

Archives and Libraries.

The essential components of the documentary heritage have been especially recognised under the Valencian Cultural Heritage Law, in which it is interpreted as “any expression in natural or conventional language and any other form of graphic, sound or image expression given on any type of material medium, including computer media”.

Orxeta is very aware of its valuable documentary heritage, much of which is made up of documents generated by Orxeta’s Council during the last four centuries (to this should be added some documents preserved from the time when the municipal was an important estate governed by the Order of Santiago), as well as those which relate to the activity of the Parish Church of Saint Jaume. One of the Council’s priorities, in terms of material culture, has been the recovery, organisation, conservation and diffusion of this collection.

Today, various lines of work are being carried out in order to achieve this including:

• The refitting of the Municipal Historical Archive by installing modern and more up to date facilities, where all the different municipal collections can be kept in the best possible conditions of security and controlled atmospheric conditions (humidity, temperature and light).

• The temporary transfer of the Parish Church Archive to the Municipal Historical Archive, with the consent of the church authorities, due to the serious problems presently detected in this collection.  These problems are a result of the inadequate storage conditions which have caused the physical deterioration of the collection, such as the rusting and corrosion of the inks and biological damage (mould, bacteria, insects and even mammals), etc….

• The Reorganisation and centralisation of all the documental collections in the new building, created for this purpose.  Here the collaboration and generosity of the villagers is fundamental in collecting together a wide and varied range of documentary evidence, which once they have been digitalised and returned to their owners, will form a valuable part of the historic legacy of Orxeta.

• The transcription of the most badly deteriorated documents, and to begin the acquisition of appropriate copying equipment such as low level photochemical microfilmers.

• The organisation and classification of the whole collection, numbering and archiving all the documents.

• The creation of necessary descriptive tools that will aid the understanding and access to the information contained in the documents in a quick, clear and efficient way.

•  To make the collections public through different means and by publication.