Andalucía library adds more than 140,000 archive editions of SUR and Ideal newspapers to its historical collection

SUR has handed over more than 36,000 historical editions of the newspaper to the Biblioteca de Andalucía (library of Andalucía), as part of a large donation from publishers comprising of thirteen collections of local press from Granada, Malaga, Jaen and Almeria provinces.

In total, the library, which is part of the Andalusian regional government's department for culture and sport, based in Granada, has added more than 140,000 copies of SUR and Ideal newspapers published between 1932 and 2023 to its collection.

"The Ideal of Granada and SUR of Malaga newspapers are fundamental for the knowledge and study of the political, social, economic and cultural development of contemporary Andalucía," said the regional spokesperson for culture, Patricia del Pozo, during the presentation of this donation on Tuesday 22 July in Granada. Del Pozo highlighted their value as "an essential source of information for documenting the events of the past, as well as for tracing the various currents of public opinion".

Accompanied by the deputy for culture and sport, Macarena O'Neill, the secretary general for historical and documentary heritage, Mar Sánchez Estrella, as well as the managing director of SUR and Ideal, Antonio González García and the editorial directors of both newspapers, Manuel Castillo and Quico Chirino respectively, Del Pozo highlighted the importance of this donation for "the safeguarding of Andalusian newspaper heritage" and to "guarantee its accessibility for consultation and study by researchers and other interested members of the public".

In addition to the copies corresponding to SUR (from 1937 to 2018) and Ideal (1932-2023), the donation has included eleven other local press collections: La Tarde (1960-1966 and 1969-1976); Granada 2000 (1988-1990), El Español (1943-1946), La Gaceta de Málaga (1988-1990), El Sol (1989) and Boinas Rojas (1937-1940), as well as the local editions of Ideal in Malaga (1937-1980), Jaen (1939-2023), Almeria (1977-2023), El Ejido (2007-2013) and the Costa Tropical (1995- 2021).

"The diverse and heterogeneous origin of these newspapers makes this donation, generously made by the companies Corporación de Medios de Andalucía and Prensa Malagueña, a representative collection of the different political sensibilities, journalistic styles and local realities of Andalucía in the 19th and 20th centuries," said Del Pozo.

The collections donated to the library by both publishing companies are bound and chronologically ordered, which will facilitate both their conservation and their consultation in the library by users.

Once indexed and catalogued, the regional government plans to digitise these newspaper collections in order to make them accessible to everyone and guarantee their optimal preservation. At present, the library has a total of 459 collections of Andalusian press headers digitised and available at the click of a button, including El Defensor de Granada, published between the end of the 19th century and the first three decades of the 20th century; El Guadalete, printed in Jerez de la Frontera between 1852 and 1936, as well as several daily and weekly publications that emerged in the heat of the political and intellectual upheaval of the Cortes de Cádiz and the 1812 Constitution.

The donation by SUR and Ideal adds to the total of 958 collections of Andalusian magazines and press held by the library. These collections make the library a cultural space that can be consulted for the study of Andalucía's past as well as a reference centre for the region's newspaper and periodicals heritage.

The Biblioteca de Andalucía, which was set up in 1988, focuses on providing access to, conserving and protecting documentary, periodical and bibliographic materials related to the region, as well as providing information services of interest. Among its functions assigned by law is that of acting as a centre of preference for the resettlement of collections from other institutions, as well as being a depository centre for Andalusian newspaper and periodicals heritage and works on Andalucía.

Although this service is guaranteed by the compulsory legal deposit (in force since 1958), many collections prior to this date are incomplete or non-existent, which is why donations such as the one made by Corporación de Medios de Andalucía and Prensa Malagueña make it possible to fill important historical gaps and significantly enrich the documentary collections of the region.