Analysing 100 material objects which helped to shape the Spanish Civil War, this textbook explores one of the seminal events of 20th century through a unique material culture lens. From the plane that carried Francisco Franco to an anarchist newsreel to laxatives excavated in a trench, and from a woman’s death row letter to a recent graphic novel, this highly illustrated text introduces readers to totally new perspectives from which to interpret the events of 1930s Spain and their impact, both in the country itself and the world beyond it.
In engaging self-contained chapters – each inspired by a specific item – a team of historians offer a panoramic overview of the Spanish Civil War, the Franco dictatorship to which it gave birth, and the ways the conflict has been remembered since the return to democracy. The result is an innovative and accessible study which not only tells the fascinating story of modern Spain, but also teaches students how to engage fully with primary sources and grounds their understanding of the era by discussing objects that are, in some form or another, often still familiar to us today.
Editors’ Introduction
Part 1 - The War
1. Dragon Rapide Airplane, July 1936
2. Queipo de Llano’s microphone, July 1936
3. Button of the Great Orient Masonic Order, July 1936
4. “The Sea Must Be” school project, July 1936
5. The Pilatos Balcony, July 1936
6. Tiles before a firing squad, Summer 1936
7. A plough, Summer 1936
8. Report on the revolutionary movement in Barcelona (film), Summer 1936
9. Protective bracelet for Americans, August 1936
10. Piano stool, August 1936
11. San Simón Island, Summer 1936
12. Mujeres weekly magazine, 1936
13. The lost tomb of Federico García Lorca, August 1936
14. Betty Boop poster, August 1936
15. Rosary, Autumn 1936
16. “Stop bullet!” charm, Autumn 1936
17. International Brigades ID card, September 1936
18. T-26 tank, October 1936
19. Hall of the Valencia Silk Exchange, November 1936
20. 0.303 cartridge, November 1936
21. Enigma machine, November 1936
22. Urinal, November 1936
23. Cemetery of the Martyrs, November/December 1936
24. Norman Bethune’s shoulder patch, December 1936
25. The bowl of a hash pipe, 1936-1937
26. Bookmobile for the front, 1937
27. Literacy primers, 1937
28. Record with Republican songs,1937
29. Leica camera, febrero 1937
30. “The Littlest One of All”, February 1937
31. Tobacco, 1937
32. 25 Cent note from Granollers, 1937
33. Gas mask, 1937
34. Sima de Jinánar (Grand Canary Island), 1937
35. Child’s drawing of “The bombing attack on the queue for milk”, 1937
36. Dog tag, 1937
37. The Tree of Guernica, April 1937
38. SS Habana, May 1937
39. Diary of a Galician soldier, May 1937
40. Grenade from the Fifth Regiment, July 1937
41. Certificate of Service in the Irish Brigade, June 1937
42. Letter to Franco, July 1937
43. The Spanish Earth (film), July 1937
44. Joint Letter of the Spanish Bishops, August 1937
45. Cologne bottle, August 1937
46. Graves of Spanish children, August 1937/May 1938
47. Filing cabinets of the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica, Summer 1937
48. Photograph of wet nurses, August 1937
49. Letter to a wartime pen pal, October 1937
50. Italian oath, November 1937
51. Militia woman’s boiler suit, November 1937
52. Tether, December 1937
53. A soldier’s Christmas money, January 1938
54. School notebook, January 1938
55. White Aid credentials, April 1938
56. “Letters for a Third Catalonia”, May 1938
57. Defenders of the faith,1938
58. Fossilized bread, July 1938
59. Photos from the beach, July 1938
60. Submarine postage stamps, August 1938
61. M1915/16 Italian helmet, Autumn 1938
62. Bread bombs, October 1938
63. Laxatives, October 1938
64. “Psycho-technical” prison cell, 1938-1939
65. Zinc sheet, Castuera concentration camp, March 1939/March 1940
66. Advertisement from the Gurs concentration camp, April 1939
Part 2 - The Franco Dictatorship
67. Sketch of the shared grave of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, April 1939
68. Monument to the drowned of the Castillo de Olite, July 1939
69. Julia Conesa’s death row letter, agosto 1939
70. Frame made by a member of the POUM who had been condemned to death, December 1939
71. Lavacolla airport, 1940
72. Plates and cake tins with false bottoms, 1939-45
73. Monument to the “Oath of the Yellow Plain”, July 1940
74. “Concentration camp sketchbook”, 1944
75. Ration coupons, 1944
76. The Flag at Mauthausen, 1945
77. “Cidade da Selva” guerrilla camp,1946
78. German underwater mines,1947
79. Key from a crate used to transfer human remains to the Valley of the Fallen, April 1959
80. En el balcón vacío (film), 1962
81. Mourir a Madrid (film), 1963
82. Franco, ese hombre (film), 1964
83. María Moliner’s Dictionary, 1966
84. Debod gardens and temple, 1972
85. Diary of a “mole”, 1976
Part 3 - Democracy
86. La vieja memoria (film), 1977
87. Statue of Franco, 1978
88. Three monuments in Punta Herminia, 1994
89. Land and Freedom (film), 1995
90. Monument to Alexandre Bóveda, 1996
91. Priaranza mass grave, 2000
92. The Fingerprint memorial of the Belt of Iron, 2005
93. Plaque for the Paseo de los Canadienses, Málaga, 2006
94. Casares Quiroga House and Museum, 2007
95. The void of Saturrarán prison, 2007
96. Libertad Fernández’s typewriter, 2011
97. Dr. Uriel (comic book), 2013
98. La Brigada Lincoln (graphic novel),2018
99. Antoni Campañà’s photographs, 2018
100. Pazo de Meirás country house
Notes on Contributors
Index
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