Gladys Esther Tormes González (born 19 September 1933) (a.k.a. “Maja”) is a historian and head

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

of the

Archivo Histórico de Ponce Archivo Histórico de Ponce is a historical archive in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is considered "the most complete historical archive in Puerto Rico". History As early as 1882, there already existed an Office at the Ponce City Hall, called "Archivo ...

(English: Ponce Historical Archive), in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

. Serving since 1974, she is the longest-serving archivist in the municipality of Ponce.

Early years and schooling

Tormes González was born in

, on 19 September 1933. She is the daughter of Leopoldo Tormes García, who was a member of the

Puerto Rico House of Representatives The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico ( es, Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico) is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the bicameral territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House, together with the Senat ...

for 20 years. She attended the

Román Baldorioty de Castro Román Baldorioty de Castro (23 February 1822 – 30 September 1889) was Puerto Rican abolitionist and spokesman for the island's right to self-determination. In 1870, he was elected as a deputy in the Cortes Generales, the Spanish parliament, ...

and Dr. Rafael Pujáls elementary schools in Ponce, and the McKinley middle school also in Ponce. She then attended the Academia Bautista de Barranquitas in

Barranquitas, Puerto Rico Barranquitas (, ) is a small mountain town and municipality located in the Cordillera Central region of Puerto Rico, south of Corozal and Naranjito; north of Coamo and Aibonito; west of Comerío and Cidra; and east of Orocovis. Barranquit ...

. She then moved to Ohio where she graduated from

Bluffton College Bluffton University is a private Mennonite university in Bluffton, Ohio. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with four programs that have earned programmatic accreditation: dietetics, education, music, and social work. The unive ...

. She moved to

Salamanca, Spain Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

where she studied at the

Universidad de Salamanca The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is th ...

and subsequently moved to

Seville, Spain Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

where she graduated with a degree of Licenciada en Derecho.

Public service

In 1970 she became assistant to Ponce Mayor Juan H. Cintrón working in the Nixon Plan. It was during this time that she became interested in the history of Ponce, “because people came asking about it”, she later recollected. On 15 April 1974, during the administration of Mayor Luis A. “Wito” Morales, she is named Archivera General del Municipio de Ponce (English: Head Archivist of the Municipality of Ponce). She filled the vacancies left by document administrators Leopoldo Ruiz y Acasio Torres. In 1975, Tormes González was instrumental in identifying a new headquarters to consolidate all the documents of related to the history of Ponce. Under her guidance, the Archivo Histórico de Ponce was first headquartered on the second level of

Teatro La Perla Teatro La Perla is a historic theater in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Inaugurated in 1864, it is the second oldest theater of its kind in Puerto Rico, but "the largest and most historic in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean." The theater was name ...

. It was inaugurated on 19 June 1975, with a budget of only $5,000. She was also instrumental in ensuring that the documents about the history of Ponce were not moved to San Juan when a proposal to annex then to the Puerto Rico Historical Archive in San Juan was gathering support. A 1973 ruled that municipalities without their own facilities to archive their documents were to send such documents to the ''Archivo General de Puerto Rico'' (Puerto Rico Archives) in San Juan. In 2000, Tormes González was the only Puerto Rican invited to participate on a workshop on municipal archives held in

Madrid, Spain Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, in 2000 and sponsored by the municipality of

Alcobendas Alcobendas () is a municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. It forms an urban continuum with the neighbouring municipality of San Sebastián de los Reyes. The affluent residential area of La Moraleja lies within the municipal lim ...

. She was co-founder of ''Red de Archivos Históricos de Puerto Rico'' (English: Puerto Rico Historical Archives Network). Between 1970 and 1989, she also was a coordinator for the Carnaval Ponceño. She has held prominent roles in the Unión de Mujeres Americanas (American Women's Union).

Archivo Histórico de Ponce

The Archivo Histórico de Ponce comprises all the documentation generated by the agencies of the municipality of Ponce as well as donations by private citizens. It also contains documentation about other municipalities in Puerto Rico. Archivo Histórico has some 100 million archived documents. Among these are letters, maps, brochures, photos, newspaper clippings, full newspaper samples, microfilms, cancelled municipal payroll checks, municipal employee files, books, and other similar documents. These are archived in some 300, 000 files. They are archived under the card catalog system. Other documents kept there are entire registry of slaves, architectural plans, films, sound tracks, and newspapers dating to 1874, as well as city government documents about the founding, history and evolution of Ponce from the 1812 Municipal Assembly until the present. It operates on a physically and organizationally centralized fashion. The building has some 19,700 square feet of space and distributed over three levels. It is considered “the most complete historical archive in Puerto Rico.” Archivo Histórico has 32 employees. Among its employees are 12 professional archivists. Archivo Histórico receives over 18,000 visitors every year, including historians, university professors,

legislator A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ex ...

s, and students from Puerto Rico and abroad. The Archivo has been located in different headquarters through the years. It was originally located at the

Ponce City Hall The Ponce City Hall ( es, Casa Alcaldía de Ponce) is a historic city hall in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is located it the center of the city, on Calle Degetau, across from Plaza Degetau in the Ponce Historic Zone. The building serves as the seat ...

. During the mayoral administration of Luis A. Morales (1973-1976) it was moved to the second floor of

on 19 June 1975. It subsequently moved to Calle Marina across from

Plaza Las Delicias Plaza Las Delicias is the main plaza in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The square is notable for its fountains and for the various monuments it contains. The historic Parque de Bombas and Ponce Cathedral buildings are located within the plaza, ...

in the facility that for many years held the Felipe Garcia department store. Around 2014 it moved again to the

Ponce Servicios Ponce Servicos, formerly Plaza del Mercado Juan Bigas, is a brutalist municipal building located Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is the largest building in the municipality in terms of footprint area and the only one that occupies an entire city block. T ...

building, where it remains today (2018).

Accolades

In 1985, Tormes González was selected as one of the most prominent women in the city of Ponce. Tormes González is also recognized at Ponce's Park of Illustrious Ponce Citizens as one of the distinguished historians of the municipality.''Tricentennial Park: History.''
TravelPonce. Retrieved 30 January 2013. In 2017, social scientist and historian Eli D. Oquendo-Rodriguez dedicated to Gladys Esther Tormes González his 249-page documentary on

Barrio Playa Barrio Playa, also known as Playa de Ponce, Ponce Playa, or La Playa, is one of the thirty-one barrios that comprise the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Bucaná, Canas, Vayas, and Capitanejo, Playa is one of the municipality's ...

titled ''"A Orillas del Mar Caribe: Boceto Histórico de la Playa de Ponce, desde sus Primeros Habitantes hasta Principios del Siglo XX"'' (Sketch of Playa de Ponce, from its first inhabitants until the early 20th century).

Notes

References