Fons Elias Pagès

Images in collection

Elias Pagès Fonds

The Elias Pagès family fonds is a family photographic fonds acquired by INSPAI through a donation made by Dr. Pere Peya Fusellas. The fonds is remarkable, on the one hand, because it contains different photographic processes such as silver gelatin exposure by contact, albumen prints, aristotypes, silver gelatin chemical development and photomechanical offset printing; and, on the other hand, because it contains photographs set in countries where different members of the family, who emigrated from Catalonia for work reasons, lived, most often in relation to fishing.

Most of the subjects are related to the two branches of Pere Peya¿s family, the maternal and the paternal side. The images include, among others, studio portraits, daily life, trips and professions of the different members of the family. The fonds contains images of diverse geographical locations, either because they document the journeys made by the different members of the family or because they illustrate the diversity of countries where they lived. As a result, the fonds contains images of Girona counties such as Estartit and Torroella de Montgrí, the rest of Catalonia, and also places in Italy and South America such as Costa Rica.

Area of identification

Reference code

CAT INSPAI 66

Level of description

Collection

Title

Elias Pagès Fonds

Date(s)

Dates of creation: 1850-1970

Volume and support

1,000 photographs on paper in various formats, from 4.50 × 5 cm to 30 × 40 cm, in color and black and white, made with different photographic techniques, including silver gelatin and some offset photomechanical printing. 26 films in 8 mm and super-8 format.

Context area

Name of producer(s)

Elias Pagès family, Peya family and Fusellas family

Producer history

Pere Peya Fusellas was born in 1949 in Girona, on Carrer Pedret, 1, where the Fusellas wine warehouse that belonged to his mother¿s family was located. He studied medicine in Barcelona and specialized as a public home care doctor, which today would be equivalent to a family doctor. He started his career filling in as a substitute in different towns in the region of Girona until finally, in 1972, he obtained a permanent position in the towns of Flaçà, La Pera and Sant Joan de Mollet, where he worked until he retired in 2014. The family history is divided into two branches. On the paternal side, the history of three brothers, who were coral fisherman, is noteworthy. During the ban on coral fishing in L¿Estartit, the three brothers traveled to other areas where there was no ban on this type of fishing. One went to Italy and Greece, settling in Italy (Pere Peya still has two cousins who are cardiologists living in Rome). Another brother moved to Costa Rica, on the Caribbean Sea. Other relatives emigrated to California, South America and Argentina, among other places. As a result, the fonds contains images set in some these places. An example is the home of Elías Pagés in San José, Costa Rica, built by the Spanish merchant Elías Pagés in the early 20th century. Elías Pagés was the owner of Almacén Alambra in San José, which sold fine fabrics. In 1973, the Pagès family sold the house to Jorge Vega Rodríguez. The maternal family branch comes from the family that managed the Fusellas wine warehouse in the Pedret neighborhood in Girona.

Archive history

Pere Peya received the family fonds of both the maternal and paternal side. At the time of the donation, the fonds was being kept at his private address. Initially, Pere Peya made a donation from the family photographic collection of 1,000 images of his maternal and paternal relatives. Later, he donated 26 family movies.

Details of entry

On November 5, 2020, Pere Peya Fusellas contacted the Diputació de Girona via a document proposing the donation of the fonds under Diputació de Girona General Register entry number E-2020/29449, expressing his desire to donate fonds. The aim was to publicize it and make it available to the public with free access through the management centre of INSPAI, Centre de la Imatge of the Diputació de Girona. On April 6, 2021, the contract for the donation of the Elias Pagès family photographic fonds and transfer of usage rights to the Diputació de Girona was signed. On May 14, 2021, an agreement was signed to increase the donation of the Peya Elias Pagès fonds.

Content area and structure

Scope and content

The Peya Elias Pagès family fonds is a family-type private photographic fonds, owned by Pere Peya Fusellas, which documents the daily life of the two branches of his family. This is an important collection of analog photography and photomechanical printing, involving interesting antique processes such as albumen prints, silver gelatin contact developing, aristotypes and silver gelatin chemical developing. The subject matter includes family events, homes, trips, occupations (such as coral fishing), studio portraits and scenes from everyday life. The geographical area is mainly the region of Girona (L¿Estartit, Torroella de Montgrí), Catalonia, Spain, Italy and South America (Costa Rica). The diversity of geographical areas is related in many cases to trips and homes linked to the coral fishing trade of some of the donor¿s relatives. The photographs are of high technical quality and extreme importance in terms of the photographic media and processes that were used to make them. It is also important to highlight the diversity of noteworthy and recognized photographers from the late 19th century and early 20th century, authors of some of the photographs in the fonds, such as Pau Audouard, Valentí Fargnoli and Napoleón, among others.

Conditions for access and use area

Conditions for access

Free and open access.