Meaning and value of the library's historical collection
"One of the missionaries, Alice Bushee, who will later become a Spanish teacher at Wellesley College, organizes the library of the mission school which, together with the Institute, has been established at Fortuny, 5. The collection currently consists of 3000 volumes and the students of bothinstitutions. "
The quote comes from “One hundred years of education for Spanish women. History of the International Institute ”Carmen de Zulueta (1992) and the event she describes took place in 1904.
Of very diverse origins, the nucleus of the historical collection has to do with the history of the institution, legacies of intellectuals or donations made by people and institutions in some way linked to the Institute's activity. Added to all this is the purchase of a very significant private collection at the end of the sixties, that of the famous literary critic, Melchor Fernández-Almagro (1893-1966).
Due to their importance for our history, those published from the end of the 30th century to the end of the XNUMXs of the last century stand out. to the books of Gulick Collection, Fundamentally of religious themes, there are also those donated by people linked to the figure of Alice Gordon Gulick who from 1903 to 1926 selflessly contributed to the founding project through the League of the International Institute. Names linked to the early history of the Institute such as Helen Sanborn, Caroline Borden or Katharine Coman have appeared on the donation labels preserved in some of them. In other cases, signatures, ex libris and stamps have helped to identify books whose provenance was unknown. In this way, some copies have come to light that belonged to Susan Huntington, director of the Institute from 1910 to 1918, Homero Serís and the “Institute for Girls in Spain” itself, to highlight a few.
Mrs. Huntington established links with the main intellectuals of the time, began collaboration with the Board for the Extension of Studies and made the Institute one of the most important cultural centers in Madrid. This fact had its repercussion in the Library. An example of this would be the first edition of "Platero y yo" donated by the author according to the label and with the bookplate that was designed in memory of Francisco Giner de los Ríos. Another example, testimony to the relationship with María de Maeztu, professor at the Institute and later director of the Residence for Ladies, is Paul Natorp's 1914 issue “Religion and Humanity”, translated and prefaced by M. de Maeztu.
No less interesting is the library science collection that picks up the Anglo-Saxon tradition. It is the result of the courses that began to be taught in 1928 at the Residencia de Señoritas with the collaboration of the International Institute. The idea of organizing these courses, which would be pioneers, stems from a wholly North American initiative. It is Mauda Polley, librarian of the Institute, who will initially be in charge of organizing them. After the parenthesis of the war they were resumed in 1942 and were performed until 1979.
In 1970 it was incorporated into the collection of the personal library of the historian and literary critic Melchor Fernandez Almagro bought a few years before. In addition to this acquisition, the library is significantly increased by the legacies of María Vignier, widow of Fernando Vela (a collaborator of Ortega y Gasset and secretary of La Revista de Occidente in its first stage) and Gonzalo Lafora (psychiatrist and disciple of Ramón y Cajal and Luis Simarro). The authors included in these collections ensure that the literary scene in the Spanish language of the time is widely represented. Of the nearly 6000 signatures identified so far, most belong to these three collections.
Other collections worthy of mention are those from the Association of Graduates of the International Institute or the Association of University Women.
In relation to periodical publications, poetic and literary magazine titles stand out, such as Litoral, Index, Greek Horse for Poetry or Sur.
To give visibility to these collections, periodic exhibitions are held in showcases, but it is planned to start a digitization project of some of the most relevant copies that will be visible on the website.
The richness of the library is not only in the material value for its representation of the Spanish cultural panorama of the first half of the XNUMXth century, but above all as a bibliographic testimony of the life and history of the institution and of the people who contributed to making it possible. .
