Historic Education Records Now Public
The University of Lleida (UdL) and Lleida Provincial Council have launched a digital platform providing open access to the Fons de l'Escola Normal de Lleida, the oldest archival collection held by the university, covering the period 1841–1950. The initiative, presented on Tuesday at the Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs (IEI), aims to preserve and democratise access to a vital resource on the history of teacher training in the region. The digital archive, known as Lleida-HD, enables users to explore, search, and reuse digitised materials related to the Escola Normal, which trained primary school teachers for over a century. It includes student matriculation records, academic transcripts, teaching qualifications, and pedagogical documents that trace the development of educators across Lleida’s comarques, the Pyrenees, and the Aran Valley.
Searchable Archive for Research and Education
The platform features a search function by surname and municipality, allowing families, researchers, and educators to reconnect with local educational histories. According to Meritxell Simon-Martín, Ramón y Cajal researcher in the Department of Education Sciences at UdL and principal investigator of the CuSePro research project, the goal is to help the territory 'reclaim and reinterpret' the manuscripts within. Among the standout materials are 11 diaries from participants in professional selection courses held in 1932 and nearly 2,000 student assignments from that era. These documents offer rare insights into the experiences of aspiring teachers during the Second Spanish Republic and the period of educational reform that followed.
Having all this documentation locked in an office makes no sense; it’s most useful when everyone can access it.
The project builds on archival work that began in 2009, when UdL’s Archive and Document Management Service initiated preservation, digitisation, and descriptive cataloguing. Lleida-HD integrates archival science, educational history, and digital humanities, creating new possibilities for linking documents, individuals, institutions, and teaching practices.
Collaborative Research and Wider Context
The archive also supports the R+D+i project CuSePro, 'Los cursillos de selección profesional (1931–1936): a comparative, gender-based study of teacher training during the Second Republic', led by Simon-Martín. This research places Lleida’s records within a broader national framework, connecting them with other educational archives across Spain. The current phase of the project is supported by a 2025–2027 collaboration agreement between the Diputació de Lleida and UdL. The initiative reinforces the university’s commitment to preserving its documentary heritage and making it available for teaching, research, and public knowledge transfer. For more information and to access the archive, visit the official Lleida-HD platform.
Reported by ACN, escolanormal.udl.cat, badostain.net, bid.udl.cat, biblioguies.udl.cat, Autor desconegut, udl.cat, Ràdio Balaguer.
