By Archivo General de la Nación - México
On August 27, 1982, the new headquarters of the General Archive of the Nation (AGN) was officially inaugurated in the extinct Preventive Prison of the Federal District, popularly known as the Lecumberri Palace. On that day, efforts to achieve appropriate conditions for the performance of their work were summarized, starting with their own headquarters, renewed institutional prominence and archival work.
The adventure of conquering a seat for historical memory
Much of the history of the archive has been marked by the incessant struggle to conquer the optimal material conditions for the development of its work. From the creation of the General and Public Archive of the Nation (1823) to its change of name simply to the General Archive of the Nation (1917), for the most part, the collection was kept sheltered in the National Palace and parts of it were moved to sites such as the Convent of Santo Domingo in the nineteenth century or the temple of Guadalupe in Tacubaya from 1920.
In the National Palace the works of organization, cataloguing, description, research and dissemination of the documentary heritage throughout the twentieth century were carried out, but the site was still inadequate. Despite renovations, such as those of 1917, the premises were insufficient for the institution. For this reason, several directors struggled to conquer a headquarters for the national archive. Such was the effort that Julio Jiménez Rueda undertook as director of the AGN between 1943 and 1952.
Julio Jiménez Rueda muy pronto logró el respaldo del presidente de la República, Manuel Ávila Camacho, quien decretó la dotación de un espacio en la Ciudadela para el AGN, dentro de un ambicioso proyecto para constituir un centro de investigación histórica y literaria.
Si bien comenzaron los trabajos de adaptación del inmueble, la institución no fue reinstalada por completo. Don Julio mantuvo la demanda de una sede propia hasta sus últimos días cuando la incorporó en su petición de retiro en 1952 bajo la aspiración de salvaguardar el acervo.
The successive drivers of the institution inherited the challenge of achieving such a long-awaited dream come true. José Ignacio Rubio Mañe (1960-1977), the new director, traveled the world to see the main buildings that housed archives in order to find a solution that responded to our needs.
The project promoted by a presidential decree was supported by meetings, frequent visits to the AGN and the recognition of its relevance in archival and historical matters. However, the investment demanded by the efforts aimed at the construction of the underground train (STC Metro) and the damage to the National Palace suffered during these works at the end of 1960 prevented the achievement of the objective.
The AGN emerged battered from this stage of its institutional life, the files ended up stacked in the corners of the National Palace and in the Yellow House, where they were affected by humidity and the entry of birds that nested in the building. All this put the documentary heritage at risk of suffering further deterioration.
Transfer and work in Palacio de Comunicaciones
Rubio Mañe continued to lament the lack of a suitable place to house the institution. The gravity of the situation required an urgent move. After the planning of spaces in the extinct Palace of Communications (today national Museum of Art), in August 1973 the transfer of the documents housed until then in the National Palace began.
The AGN worked for almost a decade in this headquarters, where the concentration of the funds of the National Palace and the Yellow House was forged, while the rebirth of the institution and its archival protagonism in the public life of our country germinated. The first floor of Tacuba 8, as it was amicably known, was transformed into an elegant headquarters for the archive, but that did not solve the incessant problem of the lack of adequate space.
Current view of the old Palace of Communications, provisional headquarters of the General Archive of the Nation from 1973 to 1977. Currently the facilities of the National Museum of Art are located.
The closure of Lecumberri and its conversion into the headquarters of the AGN
Three years after the AGN was installed in the Palace of Communications, the old Lecumberri Penitentiary, one of the great works built at the beginning of the twentieth century by the Porfirista regime, would close its doors after approving a new legal method of social rehabilitation. The main idea was to demolish the building and bury in the past the tragic events that occurred in that space also called the Black Palace.
Current view of the façade of the government building of the General Archive of the Nation, formerly the building housed the old penitentiary of lecumberri.
Despite the dark past of the prison institution, preserving a construction of this magnitude was significant for characters related to History, such as Edmundo O' Gorman and Alejandra Moreno Toscano, and Architecture, such as Jorge L. Medellín. Once the building was saved, together with Jesús Reyes Heroles, then Secretary of the Interior, the group put on the table the idea of turning Lecumberri into the permanent headquarters of the AGN.
The transformation of the Lecumberri Palace from penitentiary to General Archive of the Nation began to have legal support from February 1977, when the presidential decree published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on May 27 of the same year was ratified, which stipulated the disincorporation of the former Palace of Lecumberri from the patrimony of the Department of the Federal District to be incorporated into the domain of the Federation and destined it to the service of the AGN.
Following the presidential decree issued, in that same February 1977 communications began between Reyes Heroles and Alejandra Moreno Toscano, then director of the AGN, to share the first ideas on the adaptation of the property intended to properly house the archives.
The project would be in charge of the same Moreno Toscano and Jorge L. Medellín, who occupied the Direction of Projects and Works of the Ministry of the Interior. Both launched the projection of the work, each from their respective competence.
The architectural program contemplated, through the studies made to the characteristics of the facilities, to give the best use of the entire property, based on the analysis and solution of aspects related to the possible modifications and adaptations of the construction in order to provide necessary works for the proper functioning of an archive. This had to have the measures of conditioning, protection, security and proper handling, transportation and identification of the documents.
The construction of the new headquarters
With an initial budget of 272 million pesos granted for construction, adaptation and equipment of the AGN, cleaning and demolition works began in June 1977. Subsequently, in October 1978, another stimulus was received with which an execution time of two years was estimated to deliver in optimal conditions a space that would house the government building on its main façade and transform the seven arms of the bays into galleries where the classified collections would be located.
The use of each arm of the star was considered under the architectural and archival advantages. It was sought to be able to form in each extension a space that would allow to make a general classification of each documentary fund and for each cell a general classification of each documentary fund and for each cell a more particular classification. The general criterion for the works in this section was to suppress everything that was useless for the new function and to provide the facilities with new foundations, walls and ceilings with roofs that avoided humidity for the documents, scarce natural lighting was sought, but sufficient and adequate for the conservation of the acquis, avoiding the risk of spreading a fire and facilitating its extinction with the separation into cells.
The remodeling project contemplated adding the opinions and opinions of the Department of the Federal District, the Secretariat of Human Settlements and Public Works and the Institute of Anthropology and History. His works highlighted the considerations of proceeding with the demolition of the parts lacking architectural value, restoring the areas that merited it and modifying the structure of what was appropriate. Such was the case of the roofing of the interior courtyards with the creation of a dome that took advantage of the panoptic shape for communication directly to the galleries and the addition of an eighth arm that connected to the lobby.
The Central Hall that formed the dome also joined the accesses to the intermediate gardens between the galleries where four small buildings with a similar design were located. These, after being restored, gave life to the spaces used for the Graphic Information Center, microfilming laboratory, newspaper library and library. To these buildings were added the north and south towers that were initially intended to be a congress unit and a restaurant-cafeteria, respectively. Finally, the buildings that occupied the space of the old penitentiary hospital were used for the unit dedicated to technical processes.
Preparatory work for the transfer
After concentrating in a single building all the archives scattered under poor conditions and giving them a unification for their control, cataloging and conservation, Dr. Alejandra Moreno Toscano had to focus on the transfer of 1,046.31 cubic meters of documents, a figure counted when all the documents were gathered in the Palace of Communications according to the reports prepared for the moment.
The previous work of moving the documents began simultaneously under their first classification or inventory and ordering them as their future location had been proposed. To this end, young students of social sciences were summoned by different means to organize, catalog and prepare the funds for the transfer, as well as to promote interest in documentary sources. Similarly, numerous institutions provided free support in cataloguing and advice, among them was El Colegio de México, Centro de Investigaciones Superiores del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Facultad de Ciencias Políticas (UNAM), Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas (UNAM), Departamento de Investigaciones Históricas del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and the Museo Nacional de Historia.
Archival protagonism of the AGN at the time (1976-1982)
The headquarters with the magnitudes already described allowed improvements in the ways of working for the AGN, which gave rise to three new objectives: the ordering of the acquis and its disposition for consultation, the establishment of a system for the rescue of other historical archives in the states and municipalities or in the hands of individuals and the establishment of rules for the archives of the public function in order to guarantee its correct operation and the preservation of its historical documentation.
Under these objectives, the first year of the organization and cataloguing work sought to promote the prominence of the AGN with actions such as expanding the service, issuing certified copies of land and specifying the transfer of 350 cubic meters of archives of the Yellow House and all those of the National Palace, identified at 60 percent, with which the collection of the Newspaper Library was formed, catalogs and indexes and a first general inventory were published, in addition to the catalog of illustrations, plans and maps.
Other tasks carried out were those that emerged during the National Seminar on Correspondence and Administrative and Historical Archives in the Public, State and Municipal Administration, where a National Permanent Committee of Administrative and Historical Archives was created headed by the AGN. The institutions grouped sought to vindicate the professionalization of the archivist, establish a National System of Administrative and Historical Archives, a network system for the administration of archives, issue and implement regulations, promote the protection of private archives and defend the role of archives for the functioning of the Public Administration and historical research.
At the same time that all these processes happened prior and parallel to the transfer, each of the bays of Lecumberri were analyzed in terms of space and size to receive those papers and files that at some point did not keep any relationship and order and that now had a defined space and cataloging, as well as an adequate conservation. The result was the general guide of funds of 1981 that was practically the instrument that guided the accommodation of each fund in the new headquarters and left it ready for its brand new premiere.
The inauguration
August 27, 1982 was a day of celebration. Previously, a tribute was paid to Francisco I. Madero and José María Pino Suárez and the Conalep School of Archives was inaugurated. One of the first acts of the event was the unveiling of the commemorative plaque by President José López Portillo that immortalized for posterity the premiere of the new headquarters. This is how Mrs. Alejandra Moreno Toscano, director of the AGN, received the institution.
For the inauguration, a photographic exhibition was prepared that documented the changes made to the building and a painting exhibition. In the reflection that accompanied the transit, it was rightly pointed out: "There will be those who remember it as the Black Palace of Lecumberri. And this is a real fact that is part of our generational change. But, from now on, all Mexicans will always consider it, and thus use it, as a place of study and research, as a nucleus from where the History of Mexico is recovered."
Such a great event brought together representatives of the three branches, members of the presidential cabinet, governors, representatives of archives, officials of different secretariats of State, the Board of Neighbors of Venustiano Carranza, archivists of the states, rectors, members of the National Archives System and the academic community, among others.
The opening ceremony was followed by an extensive tour of the newly reorganized archives. The delegation was able to know the result of the combined efforts for the rebirth of the institution, feel significant samples of the protected documentary heritage and witnessed its expansion with the formal delivery of the photographic archive of the Mayo Brothers to the Graphic Information Center.
The works of the first decade in Lecumberri
With Lecumberri as a base of operations, the capacity to provide public access to the collection to citizens was enhanced by five, according to Alejandra Moreno at the opening ceremony. The documents organized and disseminated by the institution, as well as the previous institutional solidarity in the work, led to a growing consultation of the funds by national and foreign users.
Throughout the decade, the AGN carried out an intense work of dissemination. Through the bulletin, the funds incorporated in the transition were announced, such as those of the IMSS or the Department of Labor, the expropriations in the Lázaro Cárdenas fund, the Mexican Export and Importing Company and the colonial documents of community assets in the process of classification. Recent funds such as that of the Directorate-General for Energy, in the field of mineral and energy resources, incorporated in November 1982 in the process of identification and management, were also announced; as well as the most outstanding material of the newspaper library. Documents of funds in temporary custody were published, as well as documents of electoral campaigns and political parties on the eve of the 1910 revolution. At the end of the decade, the results of the work begun in 1983 were also shared, when 47 files of the Ministry of Commerce related to patents of the nineteenth century were found, which were organized, preserved and disseminated for consultation.
During the first decade of work of the AGN in Lecumberri, the library and the newspaper library were consolidated, which later ended up integrated. The collections passed first to a gallery and then to a place arranged in a special way, where the Francisco Díaz de León fund was incorporated. At the end of the 1980s, the Center for Archival Documentation of Latin America and the Caribbean (CEDALAC) was created and hosted activities for the Official Gazette of the Federation. In the last years of the twentieth century, its funds were reconfigured with the separation of the Documentation Center of Government Management, as well as with the integration into the collection of the newspaper El Nacional, the magazine Tiempo and the formation of the Center for Archival Technical Information (CITA).
As a leading institution in archival and historical memory, the AGN continued with the publication of catalogues, technical training materials, information leaflets and archive inventories. In addition, he provided technical advice on cataloging, microfilming and restoration processes, in parallel to the construction of regulatory and technical criteria.
From its new headquarters, the AGN accompanied the national archival development with the Technical Advisory Committee of the Correspondence and Archive Units, gave continuity to the construction in practice of the National Archives System begun in 1978 and followed up on the National Archives Registry with the participation of municipal, state and even ecclesiastical archives.
The institution contributed to the organization of the parish and diocesan archives. He also spearheaded the construction of rules governing public archives at the federal, state and municipal levels. As a result, the following decades saw a significant growth in state legislation and systems that synthesized the accumulated experience and laid the groundwork for new rules.
A constant struggle for greater conquests
The efforts of decades of archival construction at the national level have been the basis of new conquests that legally and materially support the relevance of the AGN. Since the enactment of federal legislation on transparency, information and accountability, as well as the issuance by the institution of rules to regulate archival work, a stage of new achievements was inaugurated. The experiences of state laws paved the way for the formulation of the Federal Archives Law (2012) and its extension to all levels of government with the General Archives Law, approved in 2018, which laid the legal foundations of the National Archives System and gave the AGN greater agency capacity in the public sphere. The recognition of the centrality of the institution's work has led to the construction of the necessary infrastructure to meet the goals for the twenty-first century, which involved a renovation of the historic headquarters and the construction of new buildings (2012-2018).
In the move from palacio de Comunicaciones to Lecumberri, the gradual transfers of documents to the new buildings were governed by scrupulous planning for the greater care of the heritage. Today, the more than three hundred funds and millions of documents totaling approximately 56 linear kilometers are in special warehouses and specialized archival works are equipped with the best technology to facilitate access and consultation to citizens.
The AGN exemplarily fulfills its leading role in archival matters at the national level. The General Law on Archives (2018) has allowed it to play this role with greater agency capacity by turning the AGN into a non-sectorized public body with its own legal personality and budget. Thus, the AGN not only preserves and guarantees access to the documentary heritage it protects, but also promotes archival development, regulatory compliance by the obligated subjects in public institutions and historical archives.
Forty years have passed since that inaugural moment of the new headquarters of the AGN. Today historical times are physically and materially connected. This rote exercise to look at the long struggle for dignified conditions for archival work and to play the role that corresponds to it in the public life of our country allows us to feel the strength that the institution has acquired. The hardest moments, together with the rigor and tenacity placed in the performance, promotion and regulation of archives, have forged its character, as well as in the protection of the documentary heritage and the historical memory of our people. The future is promising, as we stand firmly on our historical experience.
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