Archive of technology, entertainment and everyday life
During the 1970s and 1980s, adult comic magazines became a visible presence at Spanish newsstands. Their growth, their room for emerging artists and their later decline offer a way to examine changing formats and distribution channels in comics.
Open storyIn 1971, Computer Space brought a version of Spacewar! to the coin-operated arcade format. Sources present it as an early milestone, while differing over whether it was truly the first commercial game of its kind.
Open storyMusic leaves traces in scores, recordings, archives and living practices. Looking at musical heritage shows why preservation must attend to documents as well as their contexts, uses and forms of dissemination.
Open storyTurin’s MAUTO and the museum dedicated to Juan Manuel Fangio offer two documented examples of how cars, engines and other objects become public narratives. A careful reading of their collections also shows what can be stated—and what remains beyond the available evidence.
Open storyThe Museo del Traje exhibition ¡Extra, Moda! offers a way to view magazines, fashion plates, patterns and garments as parts of one system: the press circulated proposals, while industry and the seasonal calendar shaped their circulation. What the evidence supports—and what it leaves open.
Open storyHousehold recipe books, labels, tins and documents offer ways to approach food as social practice and cultural memory. The Museo da Conserva and several archives provide concrete examples, while also reminding us of the limits of what a collection can establish.
Open storyA cautious reading of the available sources traces three shifts: the appearance of games expressly aimed at adults in the 1970s, a new wave centred in Germany from the end of that decade, and the expansion of the market during the 1990s. Master Mind, Othello and later titles offer reference points, without turning a limited selection into a complete history.
Open storyThe history of Modena’s Museo della Figurina offers a documented example of a private collection of printed images becoming part of a public space devoted to their preservation, study and presentation.
Open storyDigitizing objects can broaden access and support preservation, but an image is not equivalent to an object or to the documentation that explains its provenance, history and meaning. Drawing on the available sources, we examine what changes when museums adopt digital tools—and which limits should remain visible.
Open storyThe Historical Provincial Museum of Santa Fe’s catalogue entry connects its collection with historical periods, everyday life, and religious imagery. Read alongside other institutional records, it shows the potential of archives without treating that potential as evidence for objects or experiences the sources do not describe.
Open storyA museum’s graphic design does more than promote it: it shapes how the public interprets its spaces and collections. Drawing on the supplied studies and materials, this article examines that role and its links to documentation, preservation and access.
Open storyBetween 2002 and 2009, the Cerralbo Museum undertook the recovery of several rooms on its Main Floor. The project combined historical documentation, conservation and restoration, raising a central question: how can a historic interior be made legible again without confusing recovery with free reconstruction?
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