Description
On June 30th, 1960 this subsection of the State Archive was established in Sulmona
to preserve the notary documents which having been stored in the city since 1879, were at risk of being transferred to L'Aquila. After only five years this subsection was upgraded to a proper branch.
Originally housed in rooms within the former Palazzo Pretorio, it was later transferred to the ancient pharmacy and to the room located below the Auditorium of the Palazzo of the SS. Annunziata.
Over the years new legislation led to the management being taken over by the state. In 1975 the Ministry of Heritage and Culture was established to whom was passed the responsibility for maintaining the archives.
The Italian Law number 285 (1977), which concerned youth unemployment, enabled the Sulmona Archives to take on more staff which subsequently necessitated a move to larger premises suitable to its new function. From 1988 Palazzo Mastropietro in Via San Cosimo, therefore became its new headquarters.
Only in 2009 was this branch transferred to the bigger and more appropriate site of the convent of the Zoccolanti. Until the the 19th century the site had been used as a prison and in 1996 it was assigned to the Ministry of Culture and the Environment.
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In addition to the first collection, made up of notarial deposits, the archives later received the Town Hall’s ancient collection and also that of the Casa Santa dell’Annunziata - both of which had been operated, from an economic and a social perspective, by the offices of the registry and the judiciary. Later, documents from the neighboring districts, and from the Capograssi family (which included documents pertaining to Pope Innocent VII) were added.
In recent years it was enriched by the legacy of the library of Giuseppe Di Tommaso, the Sulmonese collector and scholar, which includes both documents and photographs
It now fully meets the brief as issued by the Ministry of Culture, who not only require the archives to preserve the documentary material but also to carry out various functions concerned with making use of them. In the Sulmona branch it is now possible for the public to both consult and study the documents and texts. It also regularly organises cultural events of various kinds such as exhibitions, conferences, the publication of books and educational visits.
