historical archive

The digital attachments are currently only relative to the pre-unification Archive for categoria III Stato nominativo generale (Category III General Registration Status), for gli Atti delle congregazioni generali e segrete (the Proceedings of the General and Secret Assemblies) and for il registro Stato nominativo generale degli aggregati (the Register of the General Registration Status of the Members) compiled by Luigi Rossi. Some digital attachments can also be found in the post-unification Archive, as a result of user requests for digitalization. The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia's Historical Archive contains a vast, priceless documentary patrimony reflecting the institution's more than four centuries of life.
Gli allegati digitali sono attualmente relativi al solo Archivio preunitario per la categoria III Stato nominativo generale, per gli Atti delle congregazioni generali e segrete e il registro Stato nominativo generale degli aggregati redatto da Luigi Rossi. Alcuni allegati digitali si possono trovare anche nell'Archivio post-unitario, frutto della digitalizzazione su richiesta dell'utenza. L'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conserva nel proprio archivio Storico un ingente ed inestimabile patrimonio documentario, riflesso di più di quattro secoli di vita dell'Istituzione.

The oldest documentation, dating from 1585 (the year the Congregation was founded) until about 1650, can be consulted at the Secret Vatican Archive and at the Barbaniti Archive in Milan. Both administrative and historical documentation dating from the mid-17th century to the present are practically complete, and are conserved at the Accademia itself. These documents relate to the organizational life of the oldest musical institution in Rome (one of the oldest in Italy, as well). Its active presence in culture and musical life - at first only within the city of Rome, but after the unification of Italy, at national and international levels - makes its Archives (which have been singled out for their great historical value to the state) a reference point for anyone wishing to deepen their study of musical life in Rome or of concert organizations in Italy.

The documentation in the Archives consists of more than 1,000 linear meters of documents, including: material and records on paper (registers, minutes, letters and correspondence, administrative records and account books); posters and playbills from 1945 to the present; and a sound Archive of concerts (analogue and digital recordings from 1985 to the present). Since the Accademia also launched the Liceo Musicale (today the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music), the Regia Scuola di Recitazione Eleonora Duse (now the National Accademy of Dramatic Art) and the Scuola Nazionale di Cinematografia (now the Center for Experimental Cinema at Cinecittà), its Archives also contain documentation of the first active years of all three schools: 1876-1919 and beyond for the Conservatory, 1894-1936 for the Accademy of Dramatic Art and 1932-38 for the School of Cinema. The inventory is completely computerized from 1651 to 1967; digitalizing of material dating post-war to the present time is underway.