Archivio e museo: la sezione medievale e moderna nell’archivio storico dei musei civici d’arte antica di Bologna
10.6092/issn.1973-9494/4747
application/pdf
1973-9494
4747
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Giancarlo Benevolo
Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage
Musei Civici d’Arte Antica
Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive of the civic museums of ancient art in Bologna, Italy
Text.Serial.Journal
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/
14
Articles
2014-12-20
2015-02-25
2014-12-20
2015-11-02
207-227
CSCH
Giancarlo Benevolo
2014/12/20
10.6092/issn.1973-9494/4747
207
1973-9494
Musei Civici d’Arte Antica
en
227
teCLa, temi di Critica e Letteratura artistica , http://www.unipa.it/tecla/rivista/9_rivista_tardia.php#_edn3 [29 July 2014]
Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive of the civic museums of ancient art in Bologna, Italy
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/article/download/4747/4230
14
A    RCHIVE AND MUSEUM: THE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY
     MODERN SECTION OF THE HISTORICAL ARCHIVE OF
     THE CIVIC MUSEUMS OF ANCIENT ART IN BOLOGNA, ITALY


   Giancarlo Benevolo•
   Musei Civici d’Arte Antica di Bologna, Italy


   Keywords: archives, museums, arrangement, Bologna, Musei Civici d’Arte Antica




   1. Introduction

    Talking about historical archives and archival organization might appear strange
in the context of museums, since they are usually connected with catalogue offices
and photographic records, and are places where organizational activities, such as the
indexing of objects, are carried out. Even so, contrary to common misconceptions, it
is nevertheless difficult to find a museum without any kind of paper nucleus regarding
past conservation and administration. These nuclei give a better understanding of the
history of the collections and the museum itself, particularly as these documents often
consist of heterogeneous writings which are valuable for studying the cultural atmos-
phere the institution was born and operated in. This is especially true in the case of
the “musei civici”, Italy’s municipal museums. Unfortunately however, it is evident that




                                                                                                        CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
apart from a few exceptional cases, these documents are rarely organized into a true
historical archive; even when the nuclei of documents are organized in a consultable
manner, museum archives are not always that well-known or highly valued enough to
make them easily accessible for research purposes.
    This article, therefore, in addition to drawing attention to these issues, is meant to shed
light on the reorganization underway at the Archivio storico dei Musei Civici d’Arte Antica
di Bologna which includes, among other documents, the correspondence relative to the
Medieval and Early Modern Section of Bologna’s former Museo Civico, founded in 1881.


   2. Archive and Museum

   Before getting to the heart of the matter, some preliminary considerations must be ad-
dressed in order to outline the course of the discussion. From here on, historical archive
(archivio storico) should be taken to mean an archive that has lost its practical function,
distinguishing itself in this way from a current archive. As is known this distinction is of
primary importance, because the two are not always distinctly separated. At least two
reasons exist for this: (1) because often in museums, documents no longer in use, are
not kept in a specially designated space, but rather remain in the offices which generated

• Corresponding author: giancarlo.benevolo@comune.bologna.it

                                                                                                  207
                                                                                                     them; and (2) because the archivist, or the person who should deal specifically with organ-
                                                                                                     izing old documents by making them consultable and preserving them from assimilation
                                                                                                     into other areas (such as libraries), is often lacking amongst museum curators. While this
                                                                                                     is not meant to suggest simply a general lack of attention to these documents, the debate
                                                                                                     over the relationship between curating institutions, whose similarities and differences were
                                                                                                     clarified only in the second half of the 1900s, provides some explanation for the situation.
                                                                                                     It is therefore important to revisit a few of the debate’s key moments as it shifted during the
                                                                                                     course of the last century.
                                                                                                          A point of departure can be found in the observation that the analysis of curated mate-
                                                                                                     rials and of the criteria for preservation, created theories favoring either complete incom-
                                                                                                     parability or possible combinations and sometimes hybridizations, generally between
G. Benevolo – Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive




                                                                                                     archive and library and between archive and museum. From here the more balanced
                                                                                                     view developed that if, on the one hand, archives, libraries, and museums – along with
                                                                                                     painting and art galleries – were all founded on the common function of preserving and
                                                                                                     transmitting knowledge and aesthetic taste, at the same time, they had different char-
                                                                                                     acteristics and organizational structures, since they worked with different materials, had
                                                                                                     different criteria for preservation, and were engaged with in different ways by the public.

                                                                                                        It is a common view, that if all preservation institutions are the final, well-considered
                                                                                                     result of processes of selection, organization, maintenance, and discarding, the funda-
                                                                                                     mental distinction between them is that the library and the museum preserve objects
                                                                                                     created prior to their being physically placed in their present homes where they were
                                                                                                     subsequently arranged according to a schema that allowed for the creation of a col-
                                                                                                     lection by means of an arbitrary or voluntary process. In contrast, the archive is made
                                                                                                     up of objects – acts, documents, and various other writings – arranged at the outset
                                                                                                     according to the coeval schema the institution or entity used at the time of its activity;
                                                                                                     hence, they are organized by means of a natural process that, although coordinated by
                                                                                                     the hand of an “archivist”, nevertheless makes the archive the direct expression of the
                                                                                                     institution itself1. In reality, even these distinctions have been subject to various inter-
                                                                                                     pretations, to the effect that today the most common view is that all organizational cri-
                                                                                                     teria are a posteriori, developed and executed during specific phases of organization2.
                                                                                                     Notwithstanding such technicalities, there is no doubt that including data from museum
                                                                                                     archives in technological information media and uploading it to the web would prove an
                                                                                                     effective contribution to the valorization of these archives, even if one must always be
                                                                                                     aware that descriptions of archival items might well run the risk of being indistinguish-
                                                                                                     able from those used for bibliographies and collections of objects3.

                                                                                                        3. Museum archives


                                                                                                         As observed in the opening remarks, the historical archives of museums are those
                                                                                                     that contain – or should contain – testimonies of all past activity concerning administra-
                                                                                                     tion and preservation; amongst these, foundational acts, costs, regulations, statistics,
                                                                                                     personnel services, directors’ papers, those regarding relations between curators and
                                                                                                     other scholars and institutions, accounts of maintenance and restoration, the move-
                                                                                                     ment of objects, including acquisitions, donations and loans for exhibitions, in addition
                                                                                                     to inventories and previous catalogues. It is clear that this documentation can be found
                                                                                                     organized in a number of ways, reflecting how each museum thought to preserve its


                                                                                               208
own memory; however, these archives generally provide insight not only into the mu-
seum’s history, the history of individual objects, collections, and both temporary and
permanent exhibitions, but also into the underlying fabric of the cultural ideas and ori-
entations that characterized choices and activities at precise historical moments in the
past. In fact, the in-depth study of a museum’s historical documents can reveal con-
nections with characters and events of the cultural world that make the archive itself
a precious historical testimony, in addition to its specific relevance to the collections.
An example of such cultural relevance is the frequent presence of documents from
eminent families, recognizable by donations and bequests, as well as the presence of
documentary nuclei put together for quite diverse reasons and not at all directly relat-
ing to preservation activity. This, naturally, depends on the successive historical and
institutional events that have interested the museum over time. For this reason, docu-
mentation may today present heterogeneous characteristics and be preserved either
at its original institution or at a library (in the case of documents belonging to municipal
museums) or the Soprintendenze and the Archivi di Stato (in the case of documents
belonging to national museums).
    Therefore, the panorama clearly presents a wide variety of more or less organized
documentary situations, amongst which there are several exceptional cases of well-not-
ed and highly valued archives and documentary nuclei. Without claiming to be compre-
hensive, a few that come to mind are: the large Archivio storico delle Gallerie fiorentine
kept at the Archivio di Stato and the Soprintendenza of the Polo museale fiorentino
(Florence’s museum network), preserves documents of the Medici-Lorraine archives, in
which it is possible to study works from the city’s galleries coming from the Grand Ducal
collection (beginning of the 18th century onwards)4; the Archivio del Museo Centrale del
Risorgimento, at the Vittoriano in Rome preserves important documents for studying
the period of Italy’s unification5; the Archivio del Museo Africano in Rome (formerly the
Museo coloniale), which has also published a study on the modalities of its reorganiza-




                                                                                                     CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
tion and inventory6. Amongst the municipal museums, the paradigmatic Archivio storico
dei Musei Civici in Turin, deserves mentioning; housed in the Biblioteca dei Musei Civici,
it was reorganized between 1998-2000 and holds all the documentation relative to the
foundation of the town’s first museum in 18637. There are many other cases where the
archive can be consulted at the museum’s own library: for instance, the Museo Poldi
Pezzoli in Milan, which houses the testimonies relative to the museum’s history as well
as the papers of its founder, Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli8.


   4. The Archivio storico dei Musei Civici d’Arte Antica in Bologna (The Histori-
   cal Archive of the Civic Museums of Ancient Art in Bologna)

   Moving on to the archive to be described in this work, it is first necessary to briefly
review the events that characterized the evolution of the institution it originated from,
the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica. The historical archive is essentially the combination
of documents belonging to three curating institutions: the Museo Davia Bargellini,
founded in the homonymous historic building by the Superintendent of the Galleries
(Soprintendente alle Gallerie) Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri in 19249, the City Art Col-
lections, founded in the Palazzo d’Accursio by engineer Guido Zucchini in 193610, and
the Museo Civico Medievale, which has its roots in another municipal curating institu-
tion, the Museo Civico in Palazzo Galvani. This last museum was preceded in turn by


                                                                                               209
                                                                                                     three successive museums each housed in the Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio: the Museo
                                                                                                     di memorie patrie (1859-1861), which received Pelagio Palagi’s large bequest to the
                                                                                                     municipality in 1860, the Museo archeologico comunale (1861-1871), and the Museo
                                                                                                     Civico (1871-1881). After an agreement had been approved in 1878 between the State
                                                                                                     and the municipality, to join one part of the Museo dell’Università’s collections to the
                                                                                                     Museo Civico dell’Archiginnasio, the new Museo Civico (Civic Museum) emerged in
                                                                                                     1881; it was based in the adjacent Palazzo Galvani, and had gathered together the
                                                                                                     objects from the previous museums, organizing them into two core collections and
                                                                                                     exhibitions: the Ancient Section and the Medieval and Early Modern Section. The first
                                                                                                     formed the foundation for today’s Museo Civico Archeologico and is still based in its
G. Benevolo – Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive




                                                                                                     original location; the second definitively became known as the Museo Civico Medi-
                                                                                                     evale (Medieval Museum) following its transfer to Palazzo Ghisilardi (1985) after an
                                                                                                     exhibition in 1974 pre-announced the transformation of the Section, at the time still in
                                                                                                     its original location, into a “Museo medievale e del Rinascimento”. The principal impe-
                                                                                                     tus for the birth of the Museo Civico Medievale in the recently restored 15th-century
                                                                                                     Palazzo Ghisilardi, came from the then Section director, Gian Carlo Cavalli. Having
                                                                                                     already taken over as director of the Collezioni Comunali d’Arte and the Museo Davia
                                                                                                     Bargellini, Cavalli created the base for a union of the three museums under one com-
                                                                                                     mon scientific and administrative directive. This was accomplished with the birth of the
                                                                                                     Musei Civici d’Arte Antica (Civic Museums of Ancient Art) in 1987 (Figure 1)11.




                                                                                                     Figure 1. Origins and formation of the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica (Civic Museums of Ancient Art)


                                                                                                       The union of the three museums, however, did not bring about an immediate
                                                                                                     systematization of the archive’s papers. The historical documentation was channeled
                                                                                                     into the Museo Civico Medievale, along with the administrative documents, and was first
                                                                                                     reordered – that is, given a new organization – between the years 1993-1995, when an

                                                                                               210
effort was made to make all the material consultable by adapting it to the new unified
administrative arrangement. In this period, old inventories and records of the objects
were gathered together; however, most importantly, a double set of files was created
with progressive numbering, designed to include all of the documentation. The first set
of files contained the documents from the Museo Davia Bargellini (1872-1992) and was
put in 9 folders (I-IX); the second set of files included the documentation both of the
Museo Civico Medievale and of the Collezioni Comunali d’Arte (1844-1992) and was
placed in 30 folders (I-XXX). This seemingly inexplicable reorganization, reflected what
was made clear shortly before the birth of the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica (Civic Museums
of Ancient Art) - the fact that the Museo Davia Bargellini was heading in a different
direction from that of the other two museums. It should be emphasized, however, that
the reorganization of this period brought with it a few permanent modifications to the
original archival set-up and that it excluded a large amount of the documentation, which
physically remained isolated and virtually unknown. For these reasons, new research
into the archive was deemed necessary in order to better understand the documents and
to organize the archive in such a way as to include not only all of the material excluded
in the previous reorganization, but also the files and correspondence accumulated after
the unification of the three museums. Today, another important objective is to facilitate
consultation and enhance the value of the entire archival complex in relation to those of
the other municipal museums to which it is connected12.

  As a first step, for the new systematization – which is still in progress - a survey was
made of all the documents in an effort to understand the real size of the archive. It
appeared to be an almost impossible task, as the part that had already been organized
into around 50 folders and crammed into just three cabinets represented only a portion of
the many papers scattered around in the various office drawers and cabinets. In addition,
there were cardboard boxes that held a large number of other relevant documents, in a
completely disorderly fashion, without rhyme or reason. Today, however, after patient and
almost daily examination of the documents, their origins have become clear. The historical




                                                                                                        CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
archive is composed of 145 units, including folders, other depositories, and registers, of
which at least one third has been systematized. However, the total number of units is
bound to increase, as the examination of scattered documents and other files, especially
those created in the first reorganization, often brings to light documentation not readily
apparent in current inventories. In addition, the criteria used in the first reorganization are
only now becoming clear. While on the one hand the first reorganization meritoriously
preserved the archive’s oldest nuclei, it also created two series of files that all too often
combined documents of varied origins. In such cases, it is not always possible to identify
the original arrangement, though, through scrutiny of the producing entities and offices, it
is possible to obtain a clearer picture of the documentation’s structure. In this sense, then,
the present systematization is not a reorganization meant to impose a new arrangement
on the documents but is rather a reorganization of the documents that have been only half-
organized and in part hidden as a result of archival events tied to the museum’s history13.
For example, while examining the folders concerning the Museo Davia Bargellini, it became
clear that even though the documents dated to before the museum’s founding, the oldest
archival notices referred back to documentation preserved in the archives of the opera
pie Davia Bargellini and Poveri Vergognosi (two charitable trusts), the Archivio Storico
Comunale and the Soprintendenza, as the museum’s founder had once been one of its
directors. For the Collezioni Comunali d’Arte, the documentation begins only in the 1960s,
that is, thirty years after its foundation, and is related, in the very least, to the Archivio
Storico Comunale, the Galleria d’Arte Moderna, and documents housed at the Fondazione
Rusconi through bequest. In the case of the Museo Civico Medievale, certain archival


                                                                                                  211
                                                                                                     evidence has linked the museum with the Archivio Storico Comunale and has permitted the
                                                                                                     discovery of series and documentary nuclei that do not relate directly to the museum; for
                                                                                                     instance, the documentation concerning the municipality’s historical and artistic patrimony
                                                                                                     outside of the museum but cared for by the curators of the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica.
                                                                                                     Other important documentation has also been uncovered that, while incomplete and mixed
                                                                                                     in with documents of different origins, has allowed for the reconstruction of the archive’s
                                                                                                     history, for example, the inventories of objects passed from the Museo universitario to
                                                                                                     the Museo Civico in 1881 (Figures 2, 3), the documentation of the musical instrument
                                                                                                     collection (now at the Museo Internazionale della Musica), the bequests of Ercole and
                                                                                                     Cornelio Pepoli of 1710 (Figure 4) and of Agostino Sieri Pepoli of 1910 to the municipality14
                                                                                                     and, above all else, the documentation of the large Medieval and Early Modern Section
G. Benevolo – Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive




                                                                                                     of the Museo Civico, which during the previous reorganisation had been identified only as
                                                                                                     documents pertaining to its curators15.




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                                                                                                 CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE




Figures 2. 3. Partial ‘Regio Decreto e Convenzione’ for the union of the Museo Civico
dell’Archiginnasio with the Museo Universitario of Bologna. Collocation and organization
of the two museums in the new Museo Civico in Palazzo Galvani. ASMCAA, Museo
Civico, Medieval and Early Modern Section, part 2, folder 1, fasc. 29 (1878).




                                                                                           213
G. Benevolo – Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive




                                                                                                     Figure 4. Register of the legal inventory of the inheritance of Ercole and Cornelio Pepoli, deed of
                                                                                                     Giovan Battista Mazzoni. ASMCAA, Museo Civico, Fondo Pepoli, folder 1 (1710)




                                                                                               214
  In brief, the structure of the historical archive, that is emerging from the current ex-
amination, appears to be assuming the following physiognomy (Figure 5):



                    Historical archive of the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica
 Museo Civico (founded in 1881, but with Inventories, Medieval and Early Modern
 documentation 1710 -1957)               Section, Administration and preserva-
                                         tion, Gifts and deposits, Musical instru-
                                         ments, Codices with miniatures, Fondo
                                         Pepoli, Fondo Rusconi Verzaglia, Fondo
                                         Pulle’ and Museo Indiano
 Museo Davia Bargellini                    Preservation and maintenance, Loans
 (Museo Civico d’Arte Industriale and Gal- and exhibitions, Fondo Bernardi, Fondo
 leria Davia Bargellini, founded in 1924, Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri (deposit)
 but with documentation 1879 -1992)
 Collezioni Comunali d’Arte            Conservation and maintenance, Loans
 (founded in 1936, but with documenta- and exhibitions, Acquisitions and dona-
 tion 1967-1994)                       tions
 Museo Civico Medievale                          Acts and resolutions, Preservation and
 (1974-1987)                                     maintenance, Loans and exhibitions,
                                                 Registers and Logs, Correspondence,
                                                 Palazzo Ghisilardi: conservative restora-
                                                 tion and outfitting of the museum
 Administration and Preservation              Acts and resolutions, Loans and exhibi-
 of the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica (1987-...) tions, Acquisitions--Deposits, Acquisi-




                                                                                                   CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
                                              tions--Donations, Restoration records,
                                              Photograph requests, Visitors and sta-
                                              tistics, Carte Stefano Tumidei (papers),
                                              Carte Renzo Grandi (papers), Carte Gian
                                              Carlo Cavalli (papers), Didactic section,
                                              Personnel
 Municipal Property                              Ecclesiastic entities, Inventories and
 Patrimony External to the Museum                movements, Liceo and Conservatorio
 (1871-2007)                                     Musicale “G. B. Martini”, Restoration of
                                                 buildings and artworks, Survey of art-
                                                 works, Census of artistic property, Ruins
                                                 of the Castello di Porta Galliera and of
                                                 the Area della Montagnola
 Ente Bolognese Manifestazioni Artistiche Management, Exhibitions, Photos
 - Bologna’s Institution of Artistic Exhibi-
 tions (1964-1993)

         Figure 5. Detail of documents and provisory structure of the historical archive




                                                                                             215
                                                                                                       5. The Medieval and Early Modern Section

                                                                                                         The first documentary nucleus that was able to be reconstructed was that of the
                                                                                                     Medieval and Early Modern Section of the Museo Civico (1881), mixed indistinctly
                                                                                                     amongst the Museo Civico Medievale’s documentation. The process was aided by
                                                                                                     following the surviving traces of the original series, testified to by headed papers,
                                                                                                     shelf marks, and the personal notes of the curators of the Section, Luigi Frati, di-
                                                                                                     rector of the Biblioteca comunale dell’Archiginnasio from 1858 to 1902, and Lino
                                                                                                     Sighinolfi, adjunct librarian and later vice-director of the same library in the years
                                                                                                     1907-192916. Thanks to the precision of their work, it was evident that the series,
                                                                                                     articulated in a numbering that began and ended in the arc of each year, had
G. Benevolo – Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive




                                                                                                     been altered slightly by the successive management. Today it is characterized by
                                                                                                     the presence of coeval documentation concerning the museum and the Section’s
                                                                                                     objects (among others), but does not appear to have explicit connections to the
                                                                                                     original nucleus of documents (Figure 6).




                                                                                                              Figure 6. Designs for the restoration of the Cripta di San Vitale in Arena at
                                                                                                              Bologna, ASMCAA, Museo Civico, Medieval and Early Modern Section,
                                                                                                              part 2, folder 4, fasc. 127/D (1891)



                                                                                               216
    In addition, the series is often interrupted by gaps, most likely created at least in
part by the breaking up of the Archivio del Museo Civico, kept at the Museo Civico
Archeologico in Palazzo Galvani, when folders held to belong to the new Museo Civico
Medievale were transferred to the new seat in Palazzo Ghisilardi. At that time, the
separation of the documents did not take into account the fact that many other papers
relevant to the medieval collection would remain in the original archive.
    In any case, the systematic scrutiny of what was transferred to the Museo Civico
Medievale during the first reorganization revealed that the Medieval and Early Modern
Section of the Museo Civico had created its own archival documentation dating from
the period of its first and only true director, Luigi Frati, who, between 1881 and 1902,
had gathered notes, letters, correspondence, and administrative acts, relating both
to the daily preservation practices of the museum and to the growth of its collections.
This first documentary nucleus, labelled “Papers of Luigi Frati” (Figures 7, 8), is the
result of distinct preservation activities gathered together by Frati at the Museo Civico.
He brought with him the documents relating to his previous work both at the Museo
archeologico of the Pontificia Università (1848-1860) and at the two successive mu-
seums housed at the Archiginnasio (1861-1881). A second documentary nucleus, with
few serial notations, belonged to Lino Sighinolfi, who from 1907 managed the Sec-
tion as inspector. His preservation work, labelled “Papers of Lino Sighinolfi”, shows a
marked continuity with the work of Frati, as well as the vast collation and filing work he
had carried out concerning the objects collected in the museum since its establishment
(Figure 9).
    However, after the end of Sighinolfi’s tenure as inspector (1922), the documentation
of the Medieval Section was no longer gathered separately, in part because the same
Section of the Museo Civico, located in rooms XIII-XVIII on the second floor, for a long
time lacked a dedicated curator17. It is possibly during this interval of time that various
papers were inserted; as a result, it was later deemed advisable for the materials to be




                                                                                                    CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
organized into four parts for ease of consultation and to respect, as much as possible,
the chronological phases of the work of the first two curators. With this criterion, the
original annual series were reconstructed, with partial modifications to the set of files
introduced in the first reorganization.
    The metal folders, used at the end of the 20th century to hold the files, were re-
placed with cardboard folders with string. These file-folders, which brought together
the Section’s old papers, proved inadequate, looked old and worn and covered with
various hand-written notes and were consequently substituted with tabbed folders that
are more moisture-resistant. The folders dating to the 19th century were also damaged
and so have been replaced, although, in their case, given that they are direct evidence
of the activities of the Section’s founders and of the museum’s history it has earned
them a place in the archive for their preservation (Figures 10, 11).




                                                                                              217
G. Benevolo – Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive




                                                                                                     Figure 7. Luigi Frati’s correspondence concerning Charles Yriarte’s requests to photograph the
                                                                                                     weapons. ASMCAA, Museo Civico, Medieval and Early Modern Section, part 2, folder 3, fasc. 41
                                                                                                     (1885)




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                                                                                               CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE




Figure 8. Luigi Frati’s correspondence concerning John Boettiger’s (Museo Nazionale di
Stoccolma) request to photograph the fountain of Neptune by Giambologna. ASMCAA, Museo
Civico, Medieval and Early Modern Section, part 2, folder 3, fasc. 41 (1885)




                                                                                         219
G. Benevolo – Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive




                                                                                                     Figure 9. Lino Sighinolfi. Drafts and research for the compilation of labels for the rooms of the
                                                                                                     Medieval and Early Modern Section. ASMCAA, Museo Civico, Medieval and Early Modern
                                                                                                     Section, part 3, folder 2, fasc. 70 (1914 circa)



                                                                                               220
Figure 10. The archive’s history (from left): folder of the Medieval and Early Modern Section with
indications of rooms XIII-XVIII, where it was located on the second floor of the Museo Civico
(1881); metal folder used in the first reorganization at the end of the 20th century; cardboard
folder with string used in the more recent reorganisation


                            Medieval and Early Modern Section




                                                                                                           CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
 Part I                          Luigi Frati Papers (1737- - when he was in charge
 1 folder                        1860)                     of the archbishop’s li-
 32 files                                                  brary (1846-1858) and
                                                           simultaneously      adiutor
                                                           (assistant), first for the
                                                           conservation then for the
                                                           direction of the Museo ar-
                                                           cheologico (or antique) of
                                                           the Pontificia Università of
                                                           Bologna (1848-1850), of
                                                           which he was curator, at
                                                           least since 1854. Included
                                                           are documents from the
                                                           17th and 18th centuries
                                                           from Giuseppe Maffeo
                                                           Schiassi, Filippo Schiassi
                                                           and Girolamo Bianconi,
                                                           professors of numismatics
                                                           and archaeology as well
                                                           as directors of the Museo
                                                           archeologico universitario.

                                                                                                     221
                                                                                                      Part II                        Luigi Frati Papers (1861- - when he was director
                                                                                                      4 folders                      1902)                     of the Biblioteca comu-
                                                                                                      199 files                                                nale     dell’Archiginnasio
                                                                                                                                                               (1858-1902) and simul-
                                                                                                                                                               taneously director of the
                                                                                                                                                               Museo Archeologico Co-
                                                                                                                                                               munale dell’Archiginnasio
                                                                                                                                                               (1861-1871), then direc-
                                                                                                                                                               tor of the Museo Civico
                                                                                                                                                               dell’Archiginnasio (1871-
G. Benevolo – Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive




                                                                                                                                                               1881) and, finally, director
                                                                                                                                                               (or curator) of the Medieval
                                                                                                                                                               and Early Modern Section,
                                                                                                                                                               also called the Medieval
                                                                                                                                                               and Renaissance Section
                                                                                                                                                               (Sezione Medievale e del
                                                                                                                                                               Rinascimento), of the Mu-
                                                                                                                                                               seo Civico of Palazzo Gal-
                                                                                                                                                               vani (1881-1902).
                                                                                                      Part III                       Lino Sighinolfi Papers        - when he was adjunct
                                                                                                      4 folders                      (1902-1922)                   librarian and then vice-di-
                                                                                                      112 files                                                    rector of the Biblioteca co-
                                                                                                                                                                   munale dell’Archiginnasio
                                                                                                                                                                   (1907-1929) and simulta-
                                                                                                                                                                   neously inspector of the
                                                                                                                                                                   Medieval and Early Mod-
                                                                                                                                                                   ern Section of the Museo
                                                                                                                                                                   Civico of Palazzo Galvani
                                                                                                                                                                   (1907-1922). The docu-
                                                                                                                                                                   mentation begins before
                                                                                                                                                                   he becomes inspector.
                                                                                                      Part IV                        Papers                        - when the Medieval and
                                                                                                      1 folder                       (1923-1957)                   Early Modern Section was
                                                                                                      28 files                                                     directly controlled by the
                                                                                                                                                                   director of the Museo Ci-
                                                                                                                                                                   vico. Other documentation
                                                                                                                                                                   is located in the Museo
                                                                                                                                                                   Civico Archeologico.
                                                                                                      Total: 10 folders, 371 files
                                                                                                     Figure 11. To facilitate consultation, the documents have been organized into four parts and
                                                                                                     provided with an analytic inventory




                                                                                               222
     Acknowledgements

     Thanks to Emily Parrent for the English translation.


     Notes

1
     Cencetti G., 1970, Inventario bibliografico e inventario archivistico, in Scritti archivistici, pp.
     56-69, Il centro di ricerca, Roma; Ostoja A., 1949, Questioni archivistiche: archivio e museo,
     Notizie degli Archivi di Stato, IX, pp. 30-31; Cassese L., 1949, Intorno al concetto di “materiale
     archivistico” e “materiale bibliografico”, Notizie degli Archivi di Stato, IX, pp. 34-41; Battelli G.,
     1962-1963, Archivi, biblioteche e musei: compiti comuni e zone d’interferenza, Archiva Eccle-
     siae, V-VI, pp. 62-78.
2
     Cencetti G., 1970, Il fondamento teorico della dottrina archivistica, in Scritti archivistici, pp.
     38-46, Il centro di ricerca, Roma; Pavone C., 1970, Ma è poi tanto pacifico che l’archivio
     rispecchi l’istituto?, Rassegna degli Archivi di Stato, XXX, 1, pp. 145-149; Zanni Rosiello I.,
     2005, Gli archivi tra passato e presente, Il Mulino, Bologna, pp. 110-111; Romiti A., 2011,
     Archivistica generale. Primi elementi, Civita editoriale, Lucca, p. 48; Sbalchiero P., 2004, Gli
     archivi storici nelle biblioteche pubbliche, Tesi di laurea in Biblioteconomia, rel. Ridi R., correl.
     Salmini C., Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia, http://www.aib.it/aib/contr/sbalchiero1.htm [ac-
     cessed 09/07/2014].
3
     Corti L., 1999, I beni culturali e la loro catalogazione, Paravia scriptorium, Torino, pp. 95-115;
     Vitali S., 2004, Passato digitale: le fonti dello storico nell’era del computer, Mondadori, Milano,
     pp. 44-50, 73-83, 104-108.
4
     Lombardi E. (a cura di), 2011, L’Archivio di Giovanni Poggi (1880-1961) soprintendente alle
     gallerie fiorentine, Polistampa, Firenze, vedi anche http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/archivi-
     ostorico/ [accessed 09/07/2014].




                                                                                                                    CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
5
     Pizzo M. (a cura di), 2007, L’Archivio del Museo Centrale del Risorgimento: guida ai fondi
     documentari, Gangemi, Roma.
6
     Filesi C., 2001, L’archivio del Museo Africano in Roma. Presentazione e inventario dei docu-
     menti, Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’oriente, Roma.
7
     Ceresa C., Mosca V., Siccardi P. (a cura di), 2001, Archivio dei Musei Civici di Torino: in-
     ventario 1862-1965 (con carte dal 1733 al 1997), Città di Torino, Torino.
8
     Mottola Molfino A., Di Lorenzo A., Zanni A. (a cura di), 1999, Il Museo Poldi Pezzoli a Milano.
     Guida per i visitatori, Torino, Allemandi; Armiraglio F., 2006, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milano, Ski-
     ra, see also http://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/istituti/schede/41/?tab=patrimonio [accessed
     09/07/2014].
9
     Buzzoni A., 1980, Musei dell’Ottocento, in Capire l’Italia. I musei, pp. 155-163, Touring Club
     Italiano, Milano; Ferretti M., 1987, Un’idea di storia, la realtà del museo, il suo demiurgo, in
     Grandi R. (a cura di), Museo Davia Bargellini, Sate, Ferrara, pp. 9-25; Medica M., 1988, Il
     catalogo del Museo Civico d’Arte Industriale e Galleria Davia Bargellini, Schede Umanistiche,
     2, pp. 75-80; Battistini S., 2014, Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri e il Museo Davia Bargellini, in
     Rovetta A., Sciolla G. C. (a cura di), Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri (1868-1928). Tra storiografia
     artistica, museo e tutela, Milano, Scalpendi editore, pp. 337-345.
10
     Bernardini C. (a cura di), 2002, Collezioni Comunali d’Arte di Bologna, Edisai, Ferrara; Ber-
     nardini C., 2011, Collezioni Comunali d’Arte e Palazzo Pubblico: bilanci di lavoro e prospettive
     di sviluppo, Arte a Bologna. Bollettino dei Musei Civici d’Arte Antica, 7-8, pp. 82-95; Bernardini
     C. (a cura di), 2011, Bologna e le Collezioni Comunali d’Arte. Dalla mostra del Settecento



                                                                                                              223
                                                                                                           bolognese alla nascita del museo (1935-1936), Silvana editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo (Mi).
                                                                                                     11
                                                                                                           Per un Museo medievale e del Rinascimento, Catalogo della mostra (Bologna, Museo Civico
                                                                                                           Archeologico, settembre-ottobre 1974), Grafis, Casalecchio di Reno (Bo), 1974; Morigi Govi
                                                                                                           C., Sassatelli G. (a cura di), 1984, Dalla stanza delle Antichità al Museo Civico Archeologico di
                                                                                                           Bologna, Grafis, Casalecchio di Reno (Bo); Introduzione al Museo Civico medievale, Palazzo
                                                                                                           Ghisilardi-Fava, Bologna, Comune di Bologna, 1985; Grandi R., 1987, Il Museo Civico Medie-
                                                                                                           vale, in Tega W. (a cura di), Storia Illustrata di Bologna, vol. I, Aiep, Repubblica di San Marino,
                                                                                                           pp. 301-320; Medica M., 2011, Il Museo Civico medievale di Palazzo Ghisilardi a Bologna, in
                                                                                                           Medica M. (a cura di), Un libro per le Domenicane. Il restauro del collettario duecentesco (ms.
                                                                                                           612) del Museo Civico Medievale di Bologna, Edizioni Nova Charta, Padova, pp. 23-27.
                                                                                                     12
                                                                                                           A preliminary survey was carried out by Benevolo G., 2014, Alfonso Rubbiani e la cura della
G. Benevolo – Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive




                                                                                                           città negli archivi comunali di Bologna (repertorio documentario), in Alfonso Rubbiani e le fonti
                                                                                                           d’archivio (in press), celebratory conference in honor of the 100th anniversary of Alfonso Rub-
                                                                                                           biani’s death (1913).
                                                                                                     13
                                                                                                           Collaborators at the examination of the documentation: Angela Lezzi e Ilaria Negretti; and also
                                                                                                           Giulia Berlingozzi, Paola Francine Bracke, Dario Cannetti, Giambattista Contini, Serena Pat-
                                                                                                           tella, Manuela Rapacchia, Adele Tomarchio, Mario Rosario Zecchino.
                                                                                                     14
                                                                                                           Tardia E., 2014, Sul primo inventario della collezione del conte Agostino Pepoli a Bologna,
                                                                                                           teCla (Rivista digitale di critica e letteratura artistica dell’Università di Palermo), n. 9, http://
                                                                                                           www.unipa.it/tecla/rivista/9_rivista_tardia.php#_edn3 [accessed 10/07/2014].
                                                                                                     15
                                                                                                           Berlingozzi G., 2010-2011, La Sezione medievale e moderna del Museo Civico (1881) e il
                                                                                                           Museo Davia Bargellini (1924). Allestimenti bolognesi a confronto attraverso gli archivi e le
                                                                                                           collezioni, Tesi di laurea in Museografia e Museotecnica, rel. Latini E., correl. Benevolo G.,
                                                                                                           Università di Bologna, Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali (sede di Ravenna).
                                                                                                     16
                                                                                                           About Luigi Frati (Bologna 1815-1902) and Lino Sighinolfi (Cavezzo di Modena 1876-Bologna
                                                                                                           1956): Bellettini P., 2001, Momenti di una storia lunga due secoli, in Bellettini P. (a cura di),
                                                                                                           Biblioteca comunale dell’Archiginnasio, Bologna, Nardini, Fiesole (Fi), pp. 9-49; Morigi Govi C.
                                                                                                           (2010), Cento misure e un taglio solo. Luigi Frati e il Museo Civico di Bologna, in Bellettini P. (a
                                                                                                           cura di), Una foga operosa. Luigi Frati e l’organizzazione degli istituti culturali bolognesi nella
                                                                                                           seconda metà dell’Ottocento, tomo II, Costa editore, Bologna 2010, pp. 479-494; Petrucciani
                                                                                                           A., 2011, Lino Sighinolfi. Cavezzo Mo 1876 – Bologna 1956, in Dizionario bio-bibliografico
                                                                                                           dei bibliotecari italiani del XX secolo, www.aib.it/aib/editoria/dbbi20/sighinolfi.htm [accessed
                                                                                                           09/07/2014].
                                                                                                     17
                                                                                                           “Lettera a Lino Sighinolfi riguardo al ritiro delle sue carte dal museo poiché non è più Ispettore
                                                                                                           comunale della Sezione Medievale e Moderna del Museo Civico”: Archivio Storico dei Musei
                                                                                                           Civici d’Arte Antica (ASMCAA), Museo Civico, Sezione medievale e moderna, Parte III, busta
                                                                                                           4, fasc. 112 (1922).



                                                                                                           References

                                                                                                     [1]      ASMCAA = Archivio storico dei Musei Civici d’Arte Antica di Bologna
                                                                                                     [2]      CENCETTI G., 1970, Inventario bibliografico e inventario archivistico, in Scritti archivistici,
                                                                                                              pp. 56-69, Il centro di ricerca, Roma.
                                                                                                     [3]      OSTOJA A., 1949, Questioni archivistiche: archivio e museo, Notizie degli Archivi di Stato,
                                                                                                              IX, pp. 30-31.
                                                                                                     [4]      CASSESE L., 1949, Intorno al concetto di “materiale archivistico” e “materiale bibliogra-
                                                                                                              fico”, Notizie degli Archivi di Stato, IX, pp. 34-41.



                                                                                               224
[5]    BATTELLI G., 1962-1963, Archivi, biblioteche e musei: compiti comuni e zone d’interferenza,
       Archiva Ecclesiae, V-VI, pp. 62-78.
[6]    CENCETTI G., 1970, Il fondamento teorico della dottrina archivistica, in Scritti archivistici,
       pp. 38-46, Il centro di ricerca, Roma.
[7]    PAVONE C., 1970, Ma è poi tanto pacifico che l’archivio rispecchi l’istituto?, Rassegna
       degli Archivi di Stato, XXX, 1, pp. 145-149.
[8]    ZANNI ROSIELLO I., 2005, Gli archivi tra passato e presente, Il Mulino, Bologna.
[9]    ROMITI A., 2011, Archivistica generale. Primi elementi, Civita editoriale, Lucca.
[10]   SBALCHIERO P., 2004, Gli archivi storici nelle biblioteche pubbliche, Tesi di laurea in Bib-
       lioteconomia, rel. Ridi R., correl. Salmini C., Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia, www.aib.it.
[11]   CORTI L., 1999, I beni culturali e la loro catalogazione, Paravia scriptorium, Torino.
[12]   VITALI S., 2004, Passato digitale: le fonti dello storico nell’era del computer, Mondadori,
       Milano.
[13]   LOMBARDI E. (a cura di), 2011, L’Archivio di Giovanni Poggi (1880-1961) soprintendente
       alle gallerie fiorentine, Polistampa, Firenze.
[14]   PIZZO M. (a cura di), 2007, L’Archivio del Museo Centrale del Risorgimento: guida ai fondi
       documentari, Gangemi, Roma.
[15]   FILESI C., 2001, L’archivio del Museo Africano in Roma. Presentazione e inventario dei
       documenti, Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’oriente, Roma.
[16]   CERESA C., Mosca V., Siccardi P. (a cura di), 2001, Archivio dei Musei Civici di Torino:
       inventario 1862-1965 (con carte dal 1733 al 1997), Città di Torino, Torino.
[17]   MOTTOLA MOLFINO A., DI LORENZO A., ZANNI A. (a cura di), 1999, Il Museo Poldi Pez-
       zoli a Milano. Guida per i visitatori, Torino, Allemandi.
[18]   ARMIRAGLIO F., 2006, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milano, Skira.
[19]   BUZZONI A., 1980, Musei dell’Ottocento, in Capire l’Italia. I musei, pp. 155-163, Touring
       Club Italiano, Milano.
[20]   FERRETTI M., 1987, Un’idea di storia, la realtà del museo, il suo demiurgo, in Grandi R. (a




                                                                                                              CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
       cura di), Museo Davia Bargellini, Sate, Ferrara, pp. 9-25.
[21]   MEDICA M., 1988, Il catalogo del Museo Civico d’Arte Industriale e Galleria Davia Bargel-
       lini, Schede Umanistiche, 2, pp. 75-80.
[22]   BATTISTINI S., 2014, Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri e il Museo Davia Bargellini, in Rovetta
       A., Sciolla G. C. (a cura di), Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri (1868-1928). Tra storiografia artis-
       tica, museo e tutela, Milano, Scalpendi editore, pp. 337-345.
[23]   BERNARDINI C. (a cura di), 2002, Collezioni Comunali d’Arte di Bologna, Edisai, Ferrara.
[24]   BERNARDINI C., 2011, Collezioni Comunali d’Arte e Palazzo Pubblico: bilanci di lavoro e
       prospettive di sviluppo, Arte a Bologna. Bollettino dei Musei Civici d’Arte Antica, 7-8, pp.
       82-95.
[25]   BERNARDINI C. (a cura di), 2011, Bologna e le Collezioni Comunali d’Arte. Dalla mostra
       del Settecento bolognese alla nascita del museo (1935-1936), Silvana editoriale, Cinisello
       Balsamo (Mi).
[26]   AA.VV., 1974, Per un Museo medievale e del Rinascimento, Catalogo della mostra (Bo-
       logna, Museo Civico Archeologico, settembre-ottobre 1974), Grafis, Casalecchio di Reno
       (Bo).
[27]   MORIGI GOVI C., SASSATELLI G. (a cura di), 1984, Dalla stanza delle Antichità al Museo
       Civico Archeologico di Bologna, Grafis, Casalecchio di Reno (Bo).
[28]   AA.VV., 1985, Introduzione al Museo Civico medievale, Palazzo Ghisilardi-Fava, Bologna,
       Comune di Bologna, 1985.
[29]   GRANDI R., 1987, Il Museo Civico Medievale, in Tega W. (a cura di), Storia Illustrata di



                                                                                                        225
                                                                                                            Bologna, vol. I, Aiep, Repubblica di San Marino, pp. 301-320.
                                                                                                     [30]   MEDICA M., 2011, Il Museo Civico medievale di Palazzo Ghisilardi a Bologna, in Medica
                                                                                                            M. (a cura di), Un libro per le Domenicane. Il restauro del collettario duecentesco (ms. 612)
                                                                                                            del Museo Civico Medievale di Bologna, Edizioni Nova Charta, Padova, pp. 23-27.
                                                                                                     [31]   BENEVOLO G., 2014, Alfonso Rubbiani e la cura della città negli archivi comunali di Bologna
                                                                                                            (repertorio documentario), in Alfonso Rubbiani e le fonti d’archivio (in press).
                                                                                                     [32]   TARDIA E., 2014, Sul primo inventario della collezione del conte Agostino Pepoli a Bolo-
                                                                                                            gna, teCla (Rivista digitale di critica e letteratura artistica dell’Università di Palermo), n. 9,
                                                                                                            http://www.unipa.it/tecla/rivista/9_rivista_tardia.php#_edn3.
                                                                                                     [33]   BERLINGOZZI G., 2010-2011, La Sezione medievale e moderna del Museo Civico (1881)
                                                                                                            e il Museo Davia Bargellini (1924). Allestimenti bolognesi a confronto attraverso gli archivi
G. Benevolo – Archive and museum: the medieval and early modern section of the historical archive




                                                                                                            e le collezioni, Tesi di laurea in Museografia e Museotecnica, rel. Latini E., correl. Benevolo
                                                                                                            G., Università di Bologna, Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali (sede di Ravenna).
                                                                                                     [34]   BELLETTINI P., 2001, Momenti di una storia lunga due secoli, in Bellettini P. (a cura di),
                                                                                                            Biblioteca comunale dell’Archiginnasio, Bologna, Nardini, Fiesole (Fi), pp. 9-49.
                                                                                                     [35]   MORIGI GOVI C. (2010), Cento misure e un taglio solo. Luigi Frati e il Museo Civico di
                                                                                                            Bologna, in Bellettini P. (a cura di), Una foga operosa. Luigi Frati e l’organizzazione degli
                                                                                                            istituti culturali bolognesi nella seconda metà dell’Ottocento, tomo II, Costa editore, Bolo-
                                                                                                            gna 2010, pp. 479-494.
                                                                                                     [36]   PETRUCCIANI A., 2011, Lino Sighinolfi. Cavezzo Mo 1876 – Bologna 1956, in Dizionario
                                                                                                            bio-bibliografico dei bibliotecari italiani del XX secolo, www.aib.it/aib/editoria/dbbi20/sighi-
                                                                                                            nolfi.htm.
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                                                                                                            dia.php#_edn3 [29 July 2014]




                                                                                               226
  Biographical notes

    Giancarlo Benevolo (Bologna 1965) is the curator responsible for the historical
archive (Archivio storico) and the Educational section of the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica
(Istituzione Bologna Musei), which consists of the Museo Civico Medievale (seat), the
Museo Davia Bargellini, the Collezioni Comunali d’Arte, and the monumental complex
of Madonna del Monte. He is Professor of the course, Arte e società in Italia tra Me-
dioevo e Rinascimento at Indiana University-BCSP and is a member of the teaching
staff for the Master Progettazione e promozione degli eventi artistici e culturali at the
Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna (Dipartimento di Beni Culturali - Ravenna
campus). He has been co-curator of several exhibitions, a number of them concern-
ing the choir books of San Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna (Ferrara, Edisai 2003) and
Giotto e le arti a Bologna (Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana editoriale 2005). His publications
include the monograph, Il Castello di Porta Galliera. Fonti sulla fortezza papale di Bo-
logna (Venice, Marsilio 2006), the research for the facsimile edition of the Libro d’Ore
di Bonaparte Ghisilieri, housed at the British Library in London (Modena, Panini, 2008),
and the studies on Cardinal Bertrand du Pouget, conducted primarily in the Vatican Se-
cret Archives (Archivio Segreto Vaticano) (Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana editoriale, 2005,
2010). He recently participated in the celebratory conference in honor of the 100th
anniversary of Alfonso Rubbiani’s death (1913).




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE




                                                                                            227
