Abstract

The Section of the Historical Archives of the University of Bologna housing records relating to engineers and architects working in the city took shape around 1995 thanks to the work of Giuliano Gresleri (1938-2020) and his collaborators, and the involvement of Marco Bortolotti and Prof. Gian Paolo Brizzi. Following the fortuitous discovery of papers belonging to the 18th-century Scuola degli Ingegneri, the feverish search for documents that would shed light on events in modern Bologna (displayed in the «Norma e arbitrio. Architetti e ingegneri a Bologna 1850-1950» exhibition with its catalogue published by Marsilio in 2001) made evident the need to create the necessary conditions in order to preserve the many testimonies (drawings, photographs, books and magazines, models, objects) that would have otherwise risked being lost. All archival material collected has been ordered, inventoried, often restored, and made available to experts and researchers. Furthermore, on numerous occasions, the collection has been promoted and made known to a wider public thanks to degree theses, scientific publications and exhibitions. Now, however, following the retirement of professors overseeing the collection and the departure of their collaborators, the valorisation work has come to a sudden halt. The collection, integrated formally in the patrimony of the University Library, has not only lost its identity, but above all risks being forgotten and falling into a steady and inexorable decline.