New York, NY. March 30, 2022. In a ceremony chaired by H.M. Queen Sofia, the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute presented the Electronic Biographical Dictionary (DB~e) of the Royal Academy of History for the first time in the Americas. The event was attended by Carmen Iglesias, Director of the Royal Academy of History; Jaime Olmedo, Technical Director of the Electronic Biographical Dictionary at the Royal Academy of History; and Richard L. Kagan, American Historian and Hispanist, Professor Emeritus of history at Johns Hopkins University.
The Electronic Biographical Dictionary (DB~e) of the Royal Academy of History is a digital resource created to access the largest database of content about historical figures from Spain and other territories that once formed part of the Spanish Administration.
The Electronic Biographical Dictionary of the Royal Academy of History contains:
- More than 50,000 figures from the history of Spain
- 2,700 years of history
- A worldwide geographic scope, with special attention to all the territories that, in addition to the Iberian Peninsula, formed part of the Spanish Administration
- 2,000 professions
- 4,500 authors, Spaniards and other international authors
- 500 national and international contributing institutions
During the event, Carmen Iglesias emphasized that the Royal Academy of History had conceived this Dictionary as “a service to our society to reach all educational sectors and all those who love and are curious about History.” Iglesias highlighted that “almost 5,000 historians and more than 500 national and foreign institutions and, of course, the Ibero-American Academies of History have been involved in the writing of these biographies.”
In his speech, Jaime Olmedo, Technical Director of the Royal Academy of History, mentioned that the dictionary “has brought together a significant amount of historical information on the Hispanic world, which represents a feat that had never been achieved before.” He also stressed that its entire content, comprising more than 60,000 pages of text, is totally accessible free of charge on the internet. Olmedo said that “the aim of this Biographical Dictionary is to compile and share knowledge of Hispanic history through its relevant figures, many of them forgotten today and now recovered thanks to this database.”
Professor Richard L. Kagan also gave a detailed presentation of some of the most illustrious figures in the history of Spain in New York City, whose biographies are included in the Dictionary. He highlighted, for example, the contributions of Rafael Guastavino, Heraclio Alfaro or “La Carmencita,” among others. Kagan mentioned the Spanish contribution to the technological and architectural development of the city, recalling that some of its most innovative projects at the beginning of the 20th century were produced by Spaniards.
The Executive Director & COO of the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute, M. Begonia Santos, emphasized that the Institute is honored “to present, for the first time in the Americas, the electronic edition of the Royal Academy of History’s great work, the Biographical Dictionary.” Ms. Santos considered the Dictionary, “unique among its peers in the size and the timeliness of its content, making the Royal Academy of History a world leader in National Biographical Dictionaries.” She also highlighted the shared history of Spain and America, recalling that “the history of America cannot be fully grasped or comprehended without the history of Spain, and the history of Spain cannot be studied and understood without the history of America. We are one History.”
