Area of identification
Reference code
CAT INSPAI 45
Level of description
Collection
Title
Lobo Serra Batlle Fonds
Date(s)
Dates of creation: ca. 1850-1994 / Date of addition: 2000
Volume and support
Approximately 5,000 photographs, of which 4,389 are black and white 35 mm plastic negatives; 31 glass plate negatives, 10 x 15 cm format, in black and white; and 4 glass plate negatives, 6 x 4 format, in black and white. Also includes color images and a ferrotype, cellulose nitrate plastic, cellulose acetate plastic, and albumen paper.
Context area
Name of producer(s)
Lobo Serra Batlle family
Producer history
This is a private fonds that documents the history of the family of the transferor, Manuel Lobo Serra.
1/ Joaquim Batlle Caritg and Consol de Pagès de Puig (great-grandparents of Manuel Lobo): it should be noted that Anicet de Pagès, Consol¿s brother, was a renowned poet from Figueres associated with the literary generation of the Catalan Renaissance.
2/ Màrius Serra Batlle (uncle of Manuel Lobo and grandson of Joaquim Batlle Caritg and Consol de Pagès de Puig).
3/ Family of Màrius Serra Batlle¿s wife, named Gustà-Prat.
4/ Moisès Serra Bartolomé (grandfather of Manuel Lobo): he was an infantry colonel in the Asia regiment, number 55, which had its headquarters in the former convent of Sant Domènec in Girona. He participated in the Rif War (1911-1927) and lived for several years in Melilla. He joined a mountain regiment assigned, among others, to La Seu d¿Urgell. He died during the fighting at the Caserna de la Montaña in Madrid. He was the highest ranking officer to participate in the defense of the garrison at the beginning of the Civil War.
5/ Sara Batlle de Pagès (grandmother of Manuel Lobo and wife of the above). She received many written postcards, with views of the Girona counties and other places, drawings or caricatures, and she herself appears in many of the photographs.
6/ Joan Serra (great-grandfather of Manuel Lobo and father of Moisès Serra Bartolomé): fought in the Carlist Wars.
Archive history
Manuel Lobo Serra kept the family fund at his address in Celrà, at Carrer Indústria, number 7, 2nd floor and organized the fonds by family branches and, behind many photographs or next to it, provided information for this organization.
Once they were acquired by INSPAI, Centre de la Imatge, the photographs were cleaned, installed in permanent conservation material and moved to the Centre's preservation repositories. As for the rest, damaged by dirt, glue or fungi, they were restored in a first phase in 2018 and a second phase in 2022. The fonds was digitized between 2016 and 2018, and a partial description of the funds between 2021 and 2023.
Details of entry
On January 18, 2016, the contract of easement transfer and usage rights agreement was formalized between the owner and the Diputació de Girona.
Content area and structure
Scope and content
Most of the images correspond to social and family events, and family portraits.
Another part is made up of photographs of military life from the middle of the 19th century and related to the Battle of Annual in the Rif War (1911-1927) and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The most transcendent reflect the effects of the Annual disaster (1921), among which is the recovery of the corpses of Spanish soldiers after the Monte Arruit massacre (October 24).
Likewise, there are many postcards, with views of Girona's counties and other places, drawings or caricatures.
As for the related paper documents, some are of military life, but from the period of the Civil War: military history, cards, conduct records, letters to relatives... and wills from 1889 to 1906, and diplomas and decorations of the Carline wars.
Related documentation area
Related documentation
The written documentation, made up of about 800 items on paper, is crucial to the fonds for the descriptions it provides and a better understanding of the whole.
Control of description area
Author and date(s)
Sonia Granel, May 2018.
Review and update: Roger Mirabent and Jordi Algué, September 2022. Reviewed by Sílvia Padrós, October 2023.
Sources
Handwritten inscriptions on the backs of the photographs or on the side ¿ in the same album of a descriptive or chronological nature.
