Sameiro Archive: retrieving family memories

Abstract

Sameiro Archive is a private family archive owned by the Sameiro family, and its documents date from the 16^th century to the present days. Its current owner sought to not only to gather family manuscripts dispersed by several family branches, but he also proceeded to reconstruct lost family records. This information retrieval exercise is characterized by reproduction of documentation related to family members, using as sources public archives as well as documentation belonging to private owners. Furthermore, the owner’s personal interests regarding genealogy and family history have been and remain reflected the whole process. Therefore, this article explores how the owner’s organization differs from the systemic archival classification. The first, characterized by the combination of original manuscripts and recent copies, physically organized in folders according to family members and reflecting historical biographies, contributes to recreate a family memoir. On the other hand, the systemic classification is far more interesting for archival history per si, and still emphasizes the owner’s protagonism in the making and recovering a family archive.