PARES, The Online Portal To The Archives of Spain

If you already found ancestors that came from Spain then you have to check out PARES, The Online Portal To The Archives of Spain. PARES is hosted by the Government of Spain, to be specific, by the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports. It contains a searchable index of documents from all over Spain.

For whatever reason, I thought that I had already shared this great resource with you, but a comment left by Heather Wilkinson Rojo where she shared this resource with us, reminded me to double check to see if I had previously done a post about it but I had not.

This resource is PARES and you can find the screenshot of their website here, followed by a short description, a video showing you the search options, and finally, the link is towards the very bottom of the post.

Screenshot of PARES, The Online Portal To The Archives of Spain website:

The following is the presentation done by Pares that describes what they do and who they are.

Here is the one exactly from their website:

El Portal de Archivos Españoles es un proyecto del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte destinado a la difusión en Internet del Patrimonio Histórico Documental Español conservado en su red de centros.

Como proyecto abierto y dinámico sirve de marco de difusión para otros proyectos archivísticos de naturaleza pública o privada, previamente establecido un marco de cooperación con el Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte.

PARES ofrece un acceso libre y gratuito, no solo al investigador, sino también a cualquier ciudadano interesado en acceder a los documentos con imágenes digitalizadas de los Archivos Españoles.

Here is my and Google’s rough translation into English:

The Spanish Archives Portal is a project of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports for broadcast online Spanish Historical Heritage Documentary preserved in its network of centers.

As an open and dynamic project, it helps provide a framework for other broadcast archival projects public or private, previously established a framework for cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports.

PARES offers free access not only to the researcher but also to any citizen interested in accessing the documents digitized images of the Spanish Archives.

This website is very simple to use. To search just click on either of the two tabs on the menu bar. One is labeled “Busqueda Sencilla” and the other “Busqueda Abanzada”.

This database of documents also searches “El Archivo de Indias” (image at the very top of the post is a photo of the inside) which is the main archive for any of the affairs conducted in the new world including Mexico.

I just of pure curiosity entered my ancestor Alberto del Canto into the search bar and there it was the Order to arrest and try him. The only unfortunate thing is that it has yet to be digitized but at least I know where to send a researcher in Spain to obtain that document.

To get an idea of how to use this database just use it and enter all your known ancestors from Spain to the ones that migrated to Mexico from Spain or of its colonies.

If interested you can see the short video that I made about this resource.

How to use PARES, The Online Portal To The Archives of Spain

Here is a short video showing you the search options and example of finding my own ancestor in PARES: (Note – Their website has been updated and the video may no longer be accurate.)

Website Link to PARES, The Online Portal To The Archives of Spain:

• http://pares.culturaydeporte.gob.es/inicio.html – The Portal to the State Archives of Spain.

Have fun and enjoy this resource, let me know about your finds in the comment section of this blog post.

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