Abstract

We analyzed the archiving strategies of five citizen mobilizations that have taken place in Spain since 2004. All of them have in common an explicit will of the protagonists to keep the records generated during the events, in order to build an account of what happened “from below” and to achieve recognition of their interests and rights. In this article, we analyze why each group of documents constitutes an archival fonds, the involvement of citizens in its configuration (capture, management, preservation, and dissemination of information), and the response of archival institutions for its preservation and custody. We confirm that citizens want to leave their documentary trace and use archives as a weapon of empowerment. We argue the need for greater involvement of trustworthy public archival institutions to safeguard, beyond the institutional memory, records created by citizens. The archives should make them accessible and should facilitate citizen participation. Their acquisition policies should be transparent and open to all of society.