Libraries
There are two libraries that are part of the Historical Archives. These were closely tied to the business of the Bank’s offices in that they were built up as useful working tools - they are the Legal Library and the Agricultural Credit Library.
The Legal Library (more than one thousand three hundred volumes) contains nineteenth and twentieth-century collections of legislation and jurisprudence of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of Italy, such as the Official Records of Parliamentary Proceedings, Government Acts, Collezione celerifera, Gazzetta ufficiale, Digesto italiano, Bollettino delle Opere Pie, Bollettino dell’ispettorato per la difesa del risparmio, Rivista amministrativa del Regno, Rivista del diritto commerciale, Sinossi giuridica, Foro subalpino and Foro Italiano, Giurisprudenza and Imposte dirette.The Agricultural Credit Library, acquired in 1995, consists of more than five hundred volumes, including essays, conference proceedings, legislation and manuals. The subjects range from the strictly legal and financial aspects of agricultural credit to the economy and agricultural production,foreign trade, the agricultural and food industry, forms of association and cooperation, and topics such as energy and the environment. The library also has more general thematic areas dealing with banking, work organisation, marketing and the management of human resources.
Of great interest for the specific nature of the subjects dealt with are the technical and legislative manuals regarding agricultural production: livestock rearing, beekeeping, market gardening, fish farming, poplar tree forestry, vines, beef cattle rearing and other sectors. Many manuals, like other publications in the library were published by San Paolo to provide staff and customers with useful tools.
Of a different nature is the Library that supports the activity of the Historical Archives and is used by scholars in the reading room (around one thousand two hundred titles). This has been built up not only through purchases but also through exchanges with Italian and foreign foundations and banks, archives, universities, cultural institutions and firms. There are ample collections of inventories and other publications edited by historical archives and works of a historical, cultural or economic nature published by banks and firms. Among the thematic areas covered mention should be made of general and specialist archive-keeping, the history of Turin and Piedmont, the history of assistance and education. An integral part of the library are studies that have resulted from research done at the Archives and deposited by users, degree and PhD dissertations and publications (about fifty).
