The MBG is the oldest agricultural research center in Spain. It was created in 1921 by the Board for the Extension of Studies and Scientific Investigations (JAE) with the mission of carrying out the biological investigations that solve the agricultural problems of Galicia. Its history makes it one of the unique centers of the CSIC.

Aware of the importance of memory in the identity, and of the uniqueness and historical value of the documentary heritage that we preserve, the library began in 2012 the superficial cleaning and relocation of the collection, gathering much of the documentation generated by the Institution since its foundation until the beginning of the eighties, both textual and graphic, which was in different hands and locations without a defined custody. Trades, memories, letters, many letters, brochures, record books, minutes, field notebooks, photographs … This is how a first attempt at a documentary group was born.

The impulse arrived in 2013, with the scheme in which to fit the documentation: the classification table for institutional funds of Centros CSIC 1940-1980 prepared by the URICI.

There is still a lot to organize and describe in the catalog, which is collective for CSIC files and public access via Internet. Most of the documents are still awaiting the shelter of the new archive boxes, approximately 150 units.

The fund reflects the spirit of the first “missionaries” and brings us closer to other documents, apart from the most relevant officially, also testimony of an era, a mentality, political and social circumstances: the 1920s, the Civil War and its postwar … For the founding director, Cruz Gallástegui Unamuno, and the librarian-secretary Antonio Odriozola, this was his home and in it they left a nearby trail, with a halo of intimacy, less scholarly and solemn.

* Link to the article “El archivo de la Misión Biológica de Galicia” published in the section “Así somos” of nº 24 of the magazine Enredadera

* Link to the article “Los primeros andares del Archivo histórico de la Misión Biológica de Galicia (ABL)… o cómo empezó todo” published in the section “Así somos” of nº 28 of the magazine Enredadera

Much of the work carried out has been emerging from the consultations that come from different institutions and individuals:

• We located documentation on bicycles for the exhibition “Século XX en bicicleta” of classic and antique bicycles that took place in May 2014 at the Pazo de la Cultura of Pontevedra, and of which two bikes were part of a dryer from the Mission. Part of this documentation was also used in the Pinterest board prepared for the celebration of the International Day of the Archives 2014 in collaboration with the Network of Libraries and Archives of the CSIC, under the motto “Vida cotidiana y ciencia a través de muestras documentales en archivos y bibliotecas del CSIC”.

• We provide digitized copies of photographs that were used in several of the commemorative events of the 75th anniversary of the CSIC in November 2014, such as the photo gallery or the video emitted by ‘Informe Semanal’.

• For the exhibition “Do gris ao violeta” organized in March and April 2015 from the Department of cultural and ethnographic heritage of the City, within the program “The memory of women in Pontevedra”, we collaborate with the digitalization of photographs of women workers, mostly before the Civil War.

• In the celebration of the International Day of the Archives 2016, we participated in the Pinterest board related to the commemoration of the International Year of the Legumes proclaimed by the UN, organized from the Network of Libraries and Archives of the CSIC, locating documents related to these crops.

• To celebrate the International Day of the Archives 2017, under the slogan proposed by the International Archives Council (ICA) “Archives, Citizenship and Interculturalism”, we provide an image on the Pinterest board organized by the initiative of the Library and Archives Network of the CSIC, entitled “Secado maíz Cataluña”.

• In the celebration of the International Archives Day 2018, the invitation was received from the ICA (International Council on Archives) and a representative image of our archive , accompanied by a brief description in English and Spanish, was published on its Facebook page, which seeks to promote the importance of archives worldwide.

One archive…thousands stories: Crop treatment

The Misión Biológica de Galicia-CSIC archive reflects everyday life in the oldest institute of agricultural research in Spain, from early 20th century.