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Francisco Ferrer Collection
MSS 0248
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Francisco Ferrer Collection
Creator:
Ferrer, Sol
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0248
Physical Description:
12.4 Linear feet
(18 archives boxes, 1 shoebox, and 11 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): approximately 1879-1980
Abstract: This collection was compiled primarily by Sol Ferrer Sanmarti, the daughter of Francisco Ferrer Guardia (1859-1909), a theoretical
anarchist from Catalonia and the founder of La Escuela Moderna. The Francisco Ferrer Guardia material spans the last eight
years of his life, from the establishment of La Escuela Moderna in 1901 to his execution in 1909. It consists of Ferrer Guardia's
correspondence between 1902-1909, the original manuscript of his "Principios de la Moral Cientifica," transcriptions by Sol
Ferrer of other writings, copies of legal documents including his will and estate inventory, and correspondence of his colleagues
Charles Ange Laisant (1841-1920) and Charles Malato (1857-1938). The bulk of the collection dates from the 1940s through the
1970s and consists of correspondence, writings and lectures by Sol Ferrer in French and Spanish, research material she collected
for her dissertation and books on Francisco Ferrer Guardia, commemorative material and photographs. There is also a small
amount of material related to Sol Ferrer's daughter, Olga Prejevalinsky Ferrer. The collection is arranged in seven series:
1) FRANCISCO FERRER GUARDIA, 2) CHARLES ANGE LAISANT, 3) CHARLES MALATO, 4) SOL FERRER, 5) RESEARCH MATERIALS ABOUT FRANCISCO
FERRER, 6) EPHEMERA, PHOTOGRAPHS AND SCRAPBOOKS, and 7) OLGA P. FERRER.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
Accession Processed in 1996
The collection is arranged in seven series: 1) FRANCISCO FERRER GUARDIA, 2) CHARLES ANGE LAISANT, 3) CHARLES MALATO, 4) SOL
FERRER, 5) RESEARCH MATERIALS ABOUT FRANCISCO FERRER, 6) EPHEMERA, PHOTOGRAPHS AND SCRAPBOOKS, and 7) OLGA P. FERRER.
SEPARATION NOTE
Books and journals received in the 1995 accession of the Francisco Ferrer Guardia Collection have been separated from the
collection and added elsewhere to the Library's holdings. To identify and list these items, conduct an author search in ROGER
on the term "Ferrer, Sol former owner."
Francisco Ferrer Guardia, a theoretical anarchist and the founder of La Escuela Moderna, was born January 10, 1849, in Allela,
a small town near Barcelona. His parents were practicing Catholics, but his uncle was a freethinker who influenced him strongly.
Consequently, Ferrer became a follower of the republican radical Manuel Ruiz Zorilla, and he frequently acted as a messenger
for the exiled leader. In 1885, when Ruiz Zorilla attempted a coup that failed, Ferrer was also forced into exile.
Ferrer went to Paris with his wife of five years, Therese Sanmarti, and their three daughters, Trinidad, Paz and Sol. In
1893, after a stormy and sometimes violent relationship, Ferrer and his wife separated. Therese moved to the Ukraine with
Sergei de Moering, a Russian aristocrat, taking her daughter Sol with her. In 1899, Ferrer entered into a common law marriage
with Leopoldine Bonnard, a wealthy teacher who was associated with the Parisian free-thought movement. Together they had a
son, Riego. Ferrer's unconventional private life aroused suspicion among more traditional elements in French and Catalan society,
and it often discredited him in the eyes of his political supporters.
Ferrer remained in Paris for sixteen years. He was an active Dreyfusard, a member of the Grand Orient, a delegate to the
Second International, and a supporter of a new form of libertarian education being practiced at a primary school in Cempuis,
France. He also offered free Spanish lessons. One of his most notable pupils was a wealthy spinster named Jeanne Ernestine
Meunie. In March 1901, Meunie died suddenly, leaving Ferrer a sizable fortune.
Ferrer returned to Spain, now more of a threat to Spanish authorities than ever -- not only was he a radical reformer, but
a wealthy one. On September 8, 1901, Ferrer opened La Escuela Moderna. The professed goal of the school was to educate the
working class in a rational, secular and non-coercive setting, but its high tuition allowed only wealthy middle class students
to attend. It was privately hoped that when the time was ripe for revolutionary action, these students would be motivated
to lead the working classes.
La Escuela Moderna grew rapidly. By 1906, thirty-four schools with over 1,000 students were directly or indirectly influenced
by the school and its textbooks. With the urging of Lerroux, the leader of the Radicals, a left wing republican party, Ferrer
helped to organize lower cost schools in areas sympathetic to the Radical party. These schools competed with Catholic schools
and were openly anticlerical. Religious leaders, in an unsuccessful attempt to shut the schools down, accused Ferrer and Lerroux
of using the schools as fronts in order to obtain municipal subsidies to fund Radical party activities. Despite this considerable
opposition, Ferrer viewed the project as even more successful than La Escuela Moderna because it directly affected the working
class. He devoted considerable time and money in order to ensure the school's success.
Ferrer continued to test the tolerance of Spanish authorities and clerics by organizing a massive demonstration on Good Friday
(April 12, 1906) in support of secular education. Furthermore, late in 1905, Ferrer began living with Soledad Villafranca,
a teacher in La Escuela Moderna who was twenty two years his junior. Then, on May 31, 1906, a young man named Mateo Morral
threw a bomb at King Alphonso XIII's wedding party. Morral was an employee in Ferrer's publishing firm, and police speculated
that Ferrer had encouraged Morral to throw the bomb. Ferrer, who had been a suspect in two previous political assassinations,
was arrested on June 4, 1906, and placed in the Carcel Modelo in Madrid. He was finally released June 12, 1907, due to insufficient
evidence.
During Ferrer's incarceration, La Escuela Moderna was shut down and would not open its doors again. After his release, the
Radical Party was reluctant to maintain connections with Ferrer because of his well-publicized imprisonment. Isolated, Ferrer
returned to Paris together with C. A. Laisant, L. Descartes, Eugenio Fourniere, C. Malato, A. Naquet, and Sembat. There, with
the intent of continuing the work they had begun in Spain, they founded the International League for the Rational Education
of Children. In 1908, Ferrer began publishing
L'Ecole Renovee, a magazine intended to promote communication among European educators. He also continued the publication of his
Boletin de la Escuela Moderna de Barcelona. Ferrer soon realized, however, that he had lost his ability to influence directly the educational movement in Spain. His
old interest in anarcho-syndicalism reemerged, and he began to devote more and more of his time to the Catalan labor movement.
In July of 1909, political events in Spain spun out of control. Spontaneous protests broke out in the streets, evolving into
a massive general strike. Revolutionary leaders, anxious to seize the moment, were ultimately unprepared and thus lost control
of the crowds. The result was five days of mob rule known today as the Tragic Week.
On July 28, martial law was declared throughout Spain, and a brutal military suppression continued until September. Anyone
deemed dangerous to the government was jailed. Francisco Ferrer was found late in September and thrown in the dreaded fortress
of Montjuich in Barcelona. A hurried trial ensued, in which he was accused of fomenting the insurrection. Ferrer had very
little, if anything, to do with the uprising, but false evidence and forced confessions were produced. The government still
believed that Ferrer had instigated the assassination attempt on the king in 1906 and wanted revenge. Ferrer was put to death
by firing squad on October 13, 1909. Because Ferrer was well-known internationally, his execution caused a sensation throughout
North America and Western Europe. In Great Britain, George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle protested
with Peter Kropotkin and other anarchists. Ferrer was named a martyr for free thought and, by his execution, became one of
the most famous of Spanish anarchists.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Francisco Ferrer Collection, MSS 248. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Not Available
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographic prints -- 20th century
Barcelona (Spain) -- History -- Revolution, 1909
Spain -- History -- 20th century
Anarchism -- Spain
Anarchists -- Spain
Concordia, Tomaso
Chardon, Jean-Pierre
Tollida, J.
Benet, Josep, 1920-2008
Ferrer Guardia, Francisco, 1859-1909
Antich, José
Diez, Lain
Ferrer, Olga P. (Prevalinskaya), 1912-1985
Laisant, C.-A. (Charles-Ange), 1841-1920
Malato, Charles
Soler, Bartolomé, 1894-1975