In April 2014, the Historical Archives of Bocconi University were reunited and placed in a new conservation room of the Bocconi Library, according to the guidelines and requirements provided by Soprintendenza archivistica e bibliografica per la Lombardia, the government superintendent office that oversees local bibliographic and archival material. The Historical Archives include both the documents produced by Bocconi University during the course of its activity and the historical fonds acquired by the University over the years. Also the fonds previously located at the former Institute of Economic History of the University (ISE) have been transferred to the dedicated conservation room in the Bocconi Library.
The descriptions of the archival material are available also on Searchlib of Bocconi Library & Archives and the digitizations of selected photographs and documents are collected in the dedicated Digital Collection
The Archival Heritage
All the archival fonds preserved are related to the life of Bocconi University (Archivio storico Bocconi, Archivio fotografico Resti) or of individual companies (Archivio Brustio-La Rinascente), associations (Camera nazionale della moda italiana), business personalities (Ugo Pisa, Giuseppe Luraghi) associated with Italian business history and often linked to the territory of Milan. The oldest archives testify in particular to the development of economic relations between Tuscany and other Italian and European cities (Archivio Saminiati-Pazzi), allowing us to partially reconstruct the management of a sharecropping agricultural firm between the end of the 18th and the end of the 19th century (Archivio Artimino).
The papers collected are of various nature (letters, registers, photographs, typescripts) and occupy about 600 linear meters, with most ancient ones dating back to 1400.
The site
The ASBOC site has the following objectives:
– to make the fonds conserved at Bocconi University better known;
– to facilitate access to information regarding consistency, chronological details and consultation tools;
– to make a consistent selection of photographs and documents available online;
– to valorize the fonds through thematic paths on topics and personalities related to the studies and research undertaken at Bocconi University.
In the Archives section, available funds are listed with a brief indication of the chronological period and the content of the documents: by selecting the title of the archive, the description of the fund is displayed, and there one can access the pertinent media, the related resources and the complete inventory (select “Open complete inventory” at the bottom of the page of the fund’s card).
The Photo Gallery allows you to browse through all the media uploaded on the site and view the descriptive cards of the archival units which they refer to. At the moment, all the photographs of the Giuseppe Luraghi, Brustio-La Rinascente, and the Photo Resti Archives are already available online, along with a selection of photographs form the historical archives of Camera della Moda Italiana (CNMI).
Finally, the Highlights section presents a selection of documents from various fonds for their valorization.
Using Digital Images
All images in the onlice collection are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
Interventions
The work carried out up to now was mainly focused on the organization of the personal archives of Giuseppe Luraghi and Ugo Pisa, for which only lists or approximate inventories were available. In the case of the Luraghi archive, the most demanding intervention concerned the pictures, which lacked consultation tools and which were reordered, reconditioned and described at the level of archival units. All the photographs were reproduced in a double format for preservation and consultation and are now available on the website.
For the Brustio-La Rinascente business archives, the description of the archival units was completed and the reconditioning process was started. In particular, the photo albums were reconditioned and the photographs are now available on the website. In addition to the documents and pictures, the series of business periodicals and company publications can now be consulted.
The archives of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion had been briefly described in 2001 by Elisabetta Merlo (Bocconi University); in 2019, when she finished the re-organization of the archive, the inventory was published by the Archival Division of the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage (Ministero dei Beni Culturali): the inventory is at the basis of the descriptive cards available on the website. For the archives of the Chamber of Fashion, an inventory control was carried out to verify the exact correspondence between the files and the first consistency list of 2001, noting and correcting some anomalies or gaps. All the folders were browsed and the photographs contained in the folders were reconditioned. All of the photographs were reproduced for the dual purpose of preservation and visualization, and most of them are available on the website.
As far as the Bocconi Archives are concerned, many series are still scattered across the organizational and governance structures which produced them. The description of the various funds in the Historical Archives is available on the site, e.g. a detailed inventory by the Technical Office relating to all the Bocconi campus buildings.
As far as medieval documents are concerned, the description of Saminiati-Pazzi archive was carried out on the basis of the inventory published in 1990 by Sergio Groppi, after a detailed control of the registers and boxes of correspondence.
Finally, for the Artimino fund, the individual documentary units were described.
Archives Valorization Activities
In addition to the guided tours organized for groups on request from institutions, individuals and schools, since 2022 the Bocconi Historical Archives has participated in public initiatives aimed at valorizing archival collections that are promoted nationally and locally: in particular Archivissima, Italy’s Night of the Archives, MuseoCity and Museo Segreto.
Below are listed the videos and in-depth journeys that are available online and related subjects.
– Sergio Groppi and the Saminiati Pazzi Archive: A man following his passion
Video made on the occasion of the 2024 Night of the Archives dedicated to #Passions as part of Archivissima24. The itinerary of the exhibit is also available in the Highlights section.
– Countries Around the World in Milan: Grandi Manifestazioni organized by Rinascente between 1955 and 1960
Itinerary available in the Highlights section dedicated to the exhibition created as part of the MuseoCity 2024 initiative.
– Walter Albini and the Fashion Industry in the Bocconi Historical Archives
Video created on the occasion of the exhibition that the Prato Textile Museum dedicated to Walter Albini from 23 March to 22 September 2024.
– China and Japan in the Second Half of the 19th Century: Ugo Pisa’s travel diary, 1870-1872
Video made on the occasion of the 2023 Night of the Archives dedicated to the #Carnet de voyage as part of Archivissima23. The in-depth itinerary is also available in the Highlights section.
– Searching for Light and Color: An example of benchmarking after World War II
Itinerary available in the Highlights section dedicated to the exhibition created for Museo Segreto as part of the MuseoCity 2023 initiative.
– American Department Stores as a Model for Changing La Rinascente: Notes and photographs from a trip to the US in 1948
Video made on the occasion of the 2022 Night of the Archives on the subject of #Change as part of Archivissima22. The in-depth itinerary is also available in the Highlights section.