Gladys Esther Tormes González

Gladys Esther Tormes González [note 1] (born 19 September 1933[3]) (a.k.a. “Maja”[4]) is a historian[5] and head archivist[6][7] of the Archivo Histórico de Ponce (English: Ponce Historical Archive), in Ponce, Puerto Rico.[4] Serving since 1974, she is the longest-serving archivist in the municipality of Ponce.[8]

Gladys Esther Tormes González
Gladys Tormes González in 2015
Born19 September 1933[1]
Ponce, Puerto Rico[2]
NationalityPuerto Rican
Occupation(s)Head archivist and historian

Early years and schooling

Tormes González was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on 19 September 1933.[2] She is the daughter of Leopoldo Tormes García, who was a member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives for 20 years.[4][9]

She attended the Román Baldorioty de Castro 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. She then moved to Ohio where she graduated from Bluffton College. She moved to Salamanca, Spain where she studied at the Universidad de Salamanca and subsequently moved to Seville, Spain where she graduated with a degree of Licenciada en Derecho.[2]

Public service

In 1970 she became assistant to Ponce Mayor Juan H. Cintrón[4] working in the Nixon Plan.[10][11] It was during this time that she became interested in the history of Ponce, “because people came asking about it”, she later recollected.[4]

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).[2] She filled the vacancies left by document administrators Leopoldo Ruiz y Acasio Torres.[4]

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. It was inaugurated on 19 June 1975, with a budget of only $5,000.[2] 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.[4] 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.[12]

In 2000, Tormes González was the only Puerto Rican invited to participate on a workshop on municipal archives held in Madrid, Spain, in 2000 and sponsored by the municipality of Alcobendas.[2]

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).[2]

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.[2] 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.[2] 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.[5]

It operates on a physically and organizationally centralized fashion. The building has some 19,700 square feet of space and distributed over three levels.[2] It is considered “the most complete historical archive in Puerto Rico.”[5] Archivo Histórico has 32 employees.[2] Among its employees are 12 professional archivists.[5]

Archivo Histórico receives over 18,000 visitors every year, including historians, university professors, legislators, and students from Puerto Rico and abroad.[5]

The Archivo has been located in different headquarters through the years. It was originally located at the Ponce City Hall. During the mayoral administration of Luis A. Morales (1973-1976) it was moved to the second floor of Teatro La Perla on 19 June 1975.[13][14] It subsequently moved to Calle Marina across from Plaza Las Delicias in the facility that for many years held the Felipe Garcia department store.[15] Around 2014 it moved again to the Ponce Servicios 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.[2] Tormes González is also recognized at Ponce's Park of Illustrious Ponce Citizens as one of the distinguished historians of the municipality.[16] In 2017, social scientist and historian Eli D. Oquendo-Rodriguez dedicated to Gladys Esther Tormes González his 249-page documentary on Barrio Playa 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).

See also

Notes
  1. In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Tormes and the second or maternal family name is González .

References
  1. Gladys Tormes: Mil y una historia. Periodico Es Noticia. Issue 202. 11 to 24 August 2023. Page 21. Archived. Reprinted from its original at EsNoticia, Gladys Tormes: Mil y una historia. Periodico Es Noticia. Issue 202. 11 to 24 August 2023. Page 21. Archived.
  2. "Entrevista a Lcda. Gladys Tormes, Directora del Archivo Histórico Municipal de Ponce". Administracion de Recursos de Informacion. 17 May 2008. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  3. Gladys Tormes: Mil y una historias. Periodico Es Noticia. Issue 202. 11 to 24 August 2023. Page 21. Archived.
  4. Rodríguez, Carmen Cila. "Cuatro décadas custodiando memorias". La Perla del Sur. Archived from the original on 24 June 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  5. Rodríguez, Carmen Cila. "Protectora de 200 años de historia". La Perla del Sur. Archived from the original on 9 March 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  6. Jorge Rigau. Puerto Rico 1900: Turn-of-the-century Architecture in Hispanic Caribbean, 1890-1930. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 1992. p.17.
  7. Ponce conmemora 110 años de los héroes del Polvorín. Archived February 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Jose Fernandez Colon. Noticias Online. 24 January 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  8. Me nombran archivera general. Memoro: el Banco de la Memoria. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  9. Proyecto de Administracion: Para autorizar al Honarable Rafael Cordero Santiago, alcalde del Municipio Autonomo de Ponce, a otorgar escritura de cesion por virtud de la cual Bilchem LTD, le transfiere al Municipio Autonomo de Ponce dos (2) franjas de terreno dedicadas a uso publico. Asamblea Municipal de Ponce. Resolucion Numero 185. Serie 1998-1999. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  10. National health insurance: no action in 1974. In, "Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 93rd Congress 2nd session....1974". 1975. Volume 30. Congressional Quarterly. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0095-6007. OCLC 1564784.
  11. Adam Clymer. Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography. pp. 199-200. 1999. Wm. Morrow & Company. ISBN 0-688-14285-0.
  12. Archivo General de Puerto Rico y Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  13. El Archivo Histórico Municipal del Municipio Autónomo de Ponce, Puerto Rico. Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico. 2002. Accessed 3 February 2018.
  14. Carmelo Rosario Natal. Ponce En Su Historia Moderna: 1945-2002. Published by Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo of the Government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2003. p. 146.
  15. El Archivo Histórico Municipal del Municipio Autónomo de Ponce, Puerto Rico. Inter-American University of Puerto Rico at Ponce. Accessed 3 February 2018.
  16. Tricentennial Park: History. TravelPonce. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  • Oliveras Vélez, José R. (23 April 2008). Tormes, Gladys. Directora del Archivo Histórico Municipal de Ponce.
  • Rueda Santiago, Juan C. (3 November 2005). Tormes, Gladys. Directora del Archivo Histórico Municipal de Ponce.
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