As a research centre, the Cátedra has worked on projects to create a digital collection of documents on its spheres of interest from public archives and private archives and collections.

‘Unidad de Carreteras del Estado’ collection in the province of Castellón

The purpose of the Unidad de Carreteras del Estado inventory is to establish a database of the infrastructures created between 1800 and 1985 by the public administration in the province of Castellón. The collection is essential for analysing the province’s road communications system and its structure over time, the importance of minor roads, the evolution of the construction system, electricity and electrical installation companies, and the construction of Castellón’s ports.

The collections cover a vast period and are classified in the following way:

• Roads, 1800–1985. This is the section with the most volumes and covers national, provincial, regional and minor roads.
• Bridges, 1862–1976. This is an artificial subsection of the previous section. It is marked as separate due to the Cátedra Demetrio Ribes’s research needs.
• Railway, 1903–1950. This area documents the elimination of level crossings and the prolongation, installation or improvement of railway lines that connect the province’s ports to industrial areas.
• Ports, 1874–1966. This part contains documents of all kinds on the province’s ports, including construction and extension plans and plans for the civil and road infrastructure they required: sheds, exchanges, warehouses, railway lines, access routes, etc.
• Electricity, 1905–1958. This section includes all the electrical installation and wiring projects carried out to bring electricity to various villages in the province, factories and ports.
• Urban planning, 1915. The documents in this section refer to the construction of pavements and the unification of the streets’ slopes.
• Hydrology, 1942. These documents look at the capacity of the main rivers of the Ebro, Júcar and Guadalquivir basins.

La Maquinista Valenciana archive

The Archivo Francisco Climent is a private archive, with a unique collection of photographs and documents that covers from 1808 to the late 1960s, developed through the two sectors of production monopolised by the La Maquinista Valenciana company over its history: tobacco machinery and maritime and air signals. Its other activities included the casting of statues, such as that of James I of Aragon, the construction of metal structures for bridges, like the one in Alzira, and the creation of endless high-precision machines for various industries, including printing and pharmaceuticals.

The company’s collection is made up of around 1,200 documents, the majority of which are photographs and catalogues, and is divided chronologically according to the firm’s name changes, following organic criteria, with attention paid to its different areas of production in each era.

 

Archivo Francisco Climent, La Maquinista Valenciana collection, 1880 / 1954 / 1978-2007
• Francisco Climent Sebastián (1880–1915). Collections of steam engines, turbines, pumps, machinery for agriculture and local and national industry (1880–1915); tobacco processing machinery (1884–1915); artistic casting (1880–1910); and metal constructions (1900–1920?).
• Enrique Climent Talens (1915–1933). Collections of tobacco machinery (1915–1933); maritime signals (1913–1933); first signals and markers for airports (1930–1933); rail signals and markers (1930–1933); and high-precision machinery (1913–1933).
• Francisco Climent Lattur (1933–1955). Collections of tobacco machinery (1915–1933); maritime signals (1915–1933); aeronautics industry items (1930–1933); high-precision machinery: pharmaceutical, printing industries, etc. (1915–1933); rail signals and markers (1933–1955); and reactivation of iron and non-iron casting to make pieces from complex metallic alloys (1940–1955).

Archivo Francisco Climent, Racional collection, 1955 / 1974
• Francisco y Juan Climent Lattur (1955–1974). Collections of tobacco machinery (1955–196?), maritime signals (1955–1974); and street furniture: street lamps (1955–1967).

Archivo Francisco Climent, Balizamientos Marítimos S.A. (BAMASA) collection, 1974 / 1978
• Juan Climent Lattur (1974-1978). Collections of maritime signals.