The philosopher Xavier Rubert de Ventós has donated his personal archive perpetually to Pompeu Fabra University, which will soon be adding it to its Library. It is a collection of great cultural and scientific value in the field of philosophy, the history of ideas, and the humanities in general. Through this donation, the collection is sure to be disseminated and a cultural asset of great academic value, both to research and to teaching, will be preserved.

The donation contract was signed by Xavier Rubert de Ventós and Jaume Casals, UPF rector, at a ceremony that took place on 26 April on the Ciutadella campus. It was attended by the donor’s children, Fran and Mario Rubert; Jaume Badia, UPF manager; Mercè Cabo, vice-rector for the Services, Technology and Information Resources Area; Montserrat Espinós, director of the Library; Eduard Vallory, president of the UNESCO Centre of Catalonia, and the lawyer Jorge Calsamiglia.

“I have every confidence in the people who are to take care of my personal archive, it will be in good hands”, said Xavier Rubert de Ventós during the signature. For his part, Jaume Casals emphasized that “Xavier Rubert de Ventós’s archives will go to the Dipòsit de les Aigües, alongside special collections like those of Gianni Vattimo, Alois M. Haas, Eugenio Trías Sagnier (with whom the donor founded the School of Philosophy in 1976), and Jordi Llovet”. The rector recalled that “it is a group of very influential contemporary philosophers of the late twentieth century, and that’s interesting now and in 50 years’ time”.

A process of incorporating the collection to the Library in stages

By means of the contract signed, Pompeu Fabra University undertakes to incorporate the collection to the Library and to perform the relevant archival and bibliographic processing. In fact, the librarian Maria Elvira has already been working at Xavier Rubert de Ventós’s private residence for the past two years, performing the tasks of selecting and systematizing the material.

The University undertakes always to inform as to the origin of the personal archive, which will be identified as the “Xavier Rubert de Ventós Archive”. Also, a website will be set up and maintained for the dissemination of the collection of documents and the life and work of the philosopher. Moreover, the Library undertakes to study the possibility of digitizing the archive.

The collection will be delivered gradually and in stages, as is the wish of Xavier Rubert de Ventós, who will keep his intellectual property rights on the collection, while he yields to UPF the rights of use to exercise the functions of the University, especially for non-profit teaching and research purposes.

A collection concerning various areas of the life of Xavier Rubert de Ventós

The volume of the documentation of Xavier Rubert de Ventós’s personal archive (Barcelona, 1939), mostly handwritten, is 41 linear metres long and refers to all aspects and functions of his life: family and social relations, social rights and duties, education, work, finance, leisure and social action.

It also includes personal, social and professional correspondence; administrative and financial and work-related documentation derived from his relationship with various literary agencies and publishing houses, universities and institutions (Congress of Deputies, European Parliament, Guild of Philosophy and the Barcelona-New York Chair) as well as documents related with his political activity; interviews he conducted with different personalities, and vice versa, that several journalists conducted with him; informative articles in the press and in specialized scientific publications.

Other documents pertaining to the collection consist of material for conferences, courses and seminars he has taught around the world; materials written and recorded about television programmes he has directed or presented; materials he has used to prepare articles and monographs or related to teaching activities and teaching and research reports; family and professional photos, or collaborations in exhibition catalogues or in large format books and magazines, among others.