Photographic activity during the Spanish Civil War according to the membership cards of the Madrid Defense Delegate Board (1936-1939)

Abstract

The photographic activity in Madrid during the Civil War was controlled by the Delegación de Propaganda y Prensa of the Junta Delegada de Defensa de Madrid. This body prepared the membership cards that the individuals themselves filled out. These documents, kept in the Historic Memory Documentation Center, can be analyzed by means of the two data bases and by consulting the specific bibliography. The results obtained are indeed relevant to the history of Spanish photography for they reveal new authors and furnish valuable information on those writers with whom we are already familiar. In addition, the study of these documents will allow us to learn about the institutions and companies for which they worked for, the specific tasks undertaken and their relationship to the unions, political parties, public and private entities, and associations, such as the Sociedad Obrera de Fotógrafos Profesionales, Unión Fotográfica, Asociación de Profesionales de Prensa and Unión de Informadores Gráficos de Prensa. Furthermore, the activity of the graphic reporters and gallery photographers, the role of women and that of foreign professionals who came to Spain for informative and humanitarian purposes is also covered in detail.