The Juan Soca Municipal Public Library Goatwhich on January 7 completed its 90th anniversaryhas received an important documentary and heritage fund thanks to the donation made by the Prieto Osuna familycomposed by about 1,500 documents from the Egabrense poet and writer Juan Soca (1890-1971), one of its architects and promoters for its creation by the Egabrense town council in 1934.
A legacy that has been given by the aforementioned family to the library and that has been collected by the mayor Fernando Priego together with the municipal delegate of Culture, Mª Sierra Sabariego, which, as the councilor pointed out, will serve to delve deeper into the figure and work of Juan Soca and be at the same time “a complete x-ray of the cultural, heritage and social life of Egabrense life that goes from the beginning of the 20th century to the end of the sixties.”
Manuscripts, articles, photographs, sketches and notes
The collection is made up of a series of very varied documents, ranging from manuscripts, sketches or notes to typewritten writings, newspaper articles, publications that have been retouched by censorship, photographs and even caricatures and that only in the literary chapter covers practically all genres, such as poetry, theaternarrative, literary criticism, songs or writings about historical and cultural heritage, as well as his activity with other literary agents, the first mayor pointed out.
It also explained Priegoit has the correspondence that Soca had with important names of Spanish cultural life of the 20th century such as Julio Romero de Torres or Gerardo Diego, “who offer an idea of the great dimension that this brilliant Egabrense writer achieved”, remembering that with this donation some aspects of the personal life of the poet and writer due to the relationship he maintained with the social environment of the time and his membership in the association Friends of Juan Valera that “it was the entity that began to announce the awards that bear the name of the universal Egabrense writer and diplomat and that, together with the City Council, were authentic promoters of the cultural and literary life of Cabra.”
Popular song
Other documents that will be the subject of study now donated are his extensive literary productionin the field of popular songs, many of his lyrics being registered in the General Society of Authors “of which he was a representative in our town, as demonstrated by the documents of the settlements made to the films projected to the distributor. Hispanic Fox Films”, Priego pointed out, along with several writings dedicated to local history and heritage, as well as characters from Cabra who were reflected in his work PEgabrenses profiles de which he was preparing a second edition that he could not finish before he died.
His management as a librarian and his defense of the library and reading was highlighted in the act of donation, it helped Soca to be recognized with different awards and the council agreed to name the library for which he was responsible for 25 years.
The collection, which is already deposited in the library, also has un a good number of bullfighting posters, chronicles of bullfighting or history and other circumstances of the Egabrense arena itself, as well as his appointments as a member of the Academy of Cordova and president of the Association of Chroniclers of the province of Córdoba, or the presidency of the Literary Section of the Center Egabrense Philharmonic, among others.
Once the documents are catalogued, Priego concluded after thanking the Prieto Osuna family for the donation, “they will serve to organize an exhibition to make known this so important for the local heritage and for the enjoyment of all citizens.