Museo de Pontevedra

Like the Graphic Archive and the Library, the creation of the Museum's Documentary Archive dates back to the founding of the institution in 1927, increasing throughout its history with testamentary bequests, donations, deposits and purchases, both personal and from different institutions and associations. The nature and subject matter of its contents is also very diverse, and the dates of the documents range from the 12th century to the end of the 20th century.

As with other areas of the Museum, the first major additions to the Archive were those from the Archaeological Society and members linked to it, such as Dr. José Casal y Lois. These two sets represented the beginnings of the rich archive and a fundamental piece for the study of the history, art history and society of Pontevedra at the end of the 19th century. On the one hand, these were joined by the personal archives of founders, directors, patrons, collaborators and benefactors of the institution such as Castelao, José Filgueira Valverde, Francisco Javier Sánchez Cantón and Antonio Odriozola. On the other hand, the Museum followed the tradition of the Archaeological Society in the collection of family archives, such as those of the house of Sotomayor or the Mendoza-Méndez Núñez family, the more than one thousand medieval documents of which the royal privileges are noteworthy, or the extensive collection of manuscripts of writers and scholars such as Concepción Arenal or Father Martín Sarmiento, as just a small example of a long line of authors.

Another very important section is the Musical Archive, composed of sound recordings in various formats, from the old wax cylinders (or Ariston records) to the most modern vinyl records, and documentary collections, such as that of the founder of the Aires da Terra Choir, Perfecto Feijoo, that of Antonio Iglesias Vilarelle or that of the famous violinist from Pontevedra, Manuel Quiroga. A curious collection in this section is the set of around 50 choir books from the 17th and 18th centuries, mainly made in Zaragoza.

The archive also manages the administrative documentation generated daily by the museum, which is essential for the study and cataloguing of the pieces that make up its collection.