Memory and Yearbooks: An Analysis of Their Structure and Evolution in Religious Schools in 20th Century Spain

Abstract

Along the 20th century, the majority of religious schools in Spain, ruled by religious orders and congregations, published school reports yearly. The richness of these annual reports as a primary source is obvious as they are documents created by the schools that provide really rich information about their evolution, the buildings, the school activities, sports and some other ludic activities, the evolution of the teachers, short stories from the students, photographs of the scholar groups, commercial advertising, religious activities, catholic groups, etc. In this paper we analyse the structure and the evolution of the school reports produced by a wide group of schools belonging to diverse religious institutes (Escolapians, Marianists, Marists, Lasallians, Salesians, etc.) since the 1930s until the end of the 20th century. As a conclusion, the school reports provide the possibility of reconstructing the history of a certain school as well as transmitting an institutional representation that turns itself into a discourse, a representation of a shared universe between the schools and their receivers.

This paper is the result of a research project financed by the Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness, project number EDU2013-44129-P. The authors are members of the Group for Historical and Comparative Studies in Education, Garaian, recognized by the Basque Government, registry number IT 911-16, and of the Unity of Education and Research “Education, Culture and Society (UFI 11/54)” at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. We are grateful for the help received from Brother Alain Houry , archivist at the Central La Salle Archive in Lyon, and Brother Josep M. Pons Riba , Provincial of La Salle Catalonia.