Annual report 2004 - Compagnia di San Paolo

The Historical Archives
The Compagnia di San Paolo’s Historical Archives, based at Vigna di Madama Reale,
preserve an extremely rich documentary heritage, witnessing the Compagnia’s many centuries of
history and providing a fundamental source for Piedmontese and national history.
Documents are available for public consultation.
There are three main collections, to be gradually enlarged with future acquisitions. The ancient
Compagnia di San Paolo’s archive (1563-1853) consists of 283 documents and papers described in
details in the printed analytical inventory, and covers statutes, regulations, instructions, balance
sheets, bequests, properties of the Compagnia, Monte di pietà, Ufficio pio and other administered
institutions. It includes about a hundred parchments and acts dating back to the 14th century.
The Opere Pie - Istituto di San Paolo documentation, covering the time span between the second half
of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century (in some cases with later ramifications up to the present
days) includes 22,000 volumes and folders. It is entirely catalogued and can be consulted through
paper inventories or through a data base. This part of the collection is subdivided into the following
sections: Funzioni centrali (Central functions), Ufficio pio, Educatorio duchessa Isabella, Azienda di
risparmio e credito (savings and credit institute formerly known as Monte di pietà), Credito fondiario
(mortgage credit), Credito agrario (agricultural credit), Opere pubbliche (public works), the latter
being integrated with three further archives: Banca Grasso (1874-1972), Cassa di previdenza per il
personale della Confederazione fascista degli industriali (1920-1962), Banca Popolare San Gaetano
(1939-1969). Among later collections the mortgage credit section is of particular importance.
It covers the management delegated by EGELI (Ente gestione e liquidazione immobiliare), of the
properties which were confiscated from Jews and citizens of enemy countries, in accordance with
race laws and wartime legislation.
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The Archive’s activities include preserving collections, acquiring new documents or collections,
reorganizing, setting up search tools, managing consultation services, promoting cultural initiatives,
carrying out research, text editing, guided tours, teaching activities performed jointly with the
University, participating in working groups and seminars.
In 2004 restoration works went on, intervening on 11 volumes and several parchments. A project was
set up for the creation of an index listing all the names and the decisions of the members of the Opere
Pie and Istituto di San Paolo’s administrative boards– one of the most useful and most consulted
sources. 49 volumes were involved in the first year of the project.
The consultation service, open daily on appointment, recorded an increase in the number of visitors
compared to previous years, with 43 visitors over 185 opening days. Visitors are mainly
undergraduates, teachers and scholars of architecture, history of art, modern and contemporary
history, law, social and political sciences, pedagogy, theology, economics. Requests for accessing
the archive are submitted also for private reasons or for operational, legal, communication-related
research.
In 2004 three graduation works were completed and discussed at Turin University, on the
Compagnia’s accountancy at the beginning of 1700, the management of human resources at San
Paolo in the 20th century (Faculty of Economics) and on prostitution in Turin between the Ancient
Regime and Restoration (Faculty of Letters and Philosophy) respectively. Another graduation thesis
in Canon Law was discussed at the Pontificia Università Lateranense, on the origins of the San