On a Mission: Travelling with a Purpose in Spain in the 1930s

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Notes

[1] Referred to subsequently as the Misiones and the Liga.

[2] Like the Misiones Pedagógicas, the project for the Bibliotecas Populares had begun before the Republic, and there are pamphlets of 1918/19 and 1920, published by the Residencia de Estudiantes, reporting on the activity.

[3] Ciencia y Acción dates from 1923. Holdings in the Hemeroteca Municipal date from October 1930.

[4] Ciencia y Acción of May 1931 has, for example, articles on the composition of fertilizer, on the change of regime (and its implications for campesinos), an article on how Spain's lack of a middle class has had a negative effect on the development of its agriculture (when compared with other European countries), an article on the market in corn, one on ‘Los campos de demostración’ (where campesinos can see new procedures they can carry out), one on ‘Los trigos mejorados’ (including advice to campesinos that they have to take account of the market). This number also contains the statutes of the Liga, a question-and-answer section on disorders of vines, and an article on the advisability of washing wool before sale in order to get a better price for it.

[5] There is a difficulty in securing detailed information on the population of settlements at the time of these journeys. The figures I have supplied are currently based on the 1997 AA atlas. If anything, the figures for population of settlements in the 1930s may well be higher than in 2004, since the tendency of rural settlements is to decline in size.

[6] The Biblioteca Nacional lists seven works by Antonio Monedero Martín, revealing his political and agricultural interests: Monedero 1906; Monedero 1907; Monedero 1912; Monedero 1920; Monedero 1921a; Monedero 1921b; Monedero 1928.

[7] This is the first edition of the pamphlet on bibliotecas populares, containing instructions on how to organize such a library, and recommending which books should be purchased. These recommendations will be analysed in a later piece of work on the extension activities of the Residencia. The reading list was by no means limited to Spanish authors: indeed, foreign writers figure prominently in the works of summary, popularization, and general reference, and outnumber Spanish authors. The first edition of the pamphlet sold out immediately. A second edition, produced in June 1920, dealt with adult education and gave the account of a number of bibliotecas populares in Asturias.

[8] See Sinclair (2004), ‘Interior and internal Spain: visions of the primitive at the cultural interface’, paper at ‘Habitat’, Romance Studies Colloquium, Gregynog, September 2003.