Històries del Punt: oral memory and minor archives for a history of industrial Mataró from below.

Abstract

Històries del Punt is a documentary, interactive and community project that aims to restore and revalue the shared memory of the working class of Mataró (Barcelona). It is conducted through the recovery and reuse of certain sources that have usually been overlooked by historians (i.e. amateur photos, images from local broadcasts, factory films and oral memory). Its aim is to build a "place of memory" for a city that came to be mostly dependent (80%) on the textile industry. Still today, the town has merely written its technological and political history. The process that gave birth to the project has led to a conception of memory from the collective sphere. We have focused on apparently minor elements that usually do not compete in History. We have rediscovered not only sources, but also unknown historical facts such as a clandestine abortion network, small-scale sabotage, solidarity networks, undeclared work, the psychology of migration, motherhood... and, above all, we have highlighted a shared material experience within the diverse working class of Mataró.