Alberto Jiménez Fraud
(Málaga, 1883 - Ginebra, 1964)

Alberto Jiménez Fraud was, together with José Castillejo, one of the last disciples of Francisco Giner de los Ríos, whom he met in 1905. Jimenez Fraud made several trips to England in order to broaden his education; he focused on the education system, in particular the university colleges.  In Malaga, he was an active participant in the cultural life with a brilliant group of friends with whom he continued to work for many years: José Moreno Villa, the brothers Orueta, and Manuel García Morente, among others. In 1909, he was already working on the project for the establishment of the Residencia de Estudiantes. In the beginning, it was a small college with 15 residents but eventually would become one of the emblems of the modernizing project of the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios (JAE), the Spanish home of the European generation of 1914, and one of the most original institutions of the Spanish Silver Age.

Jiménez Fraud was the director of the Residencia from its foundation in 1920 until 1936, and was responsible for training several generations of Spanish university students. He always remained faithful to the tradition to which he belonged; the tolerance and pluralism taught by Giner, and then continued by Cossío and Castillejo, were the principles that characterized the Residencia.

The path of the Residencia runs parallel to that of the JAE. From the beginning, despite its provisional and modest facilities, the main features that characterized the institution in times of splendor were already present: cheerful spaces, modest but tastefully elegant, and relatively comfortable for the times. Tutors, such as Miguel de Unamuno, and Juan Ramón Jiménez joined the first residents.

Juan Ramón also helped with the move of the Residencia in 1915 to its permanent site, that he named the Poplars’ Hill, and contributed to the design and landscaping of the gardens.

In 1917, Jiménez Fraud married Natalia, daughter of Manuel Bartolomé Cossio, who became actively involved in the Residencia. There were others who greatly contributed to the project: José Ortega y Gasset who, according to Jiménez Fraud and Juan Ramón Jiménez, went daily to the Residencia to tutor the new generation of intellectuals. José Moreno Villa, Juan Ramón, and Federico de Onís, were also Jiménez Fraud’s advisers. They developed a “carefully thought” project “ that was running after "endless testing and planning.” They added new buildings, such as the laboratories, and the auditorium, a beautiful example of rationalist architecture built by architects Arniches, and Domínguez (1930). They also established its publishing house. The Residencia had a close relationship with two civil institutions, the Comité Hispano-Inglés, and the Sociedad de Cursos y Conferencias. Their enlightened members, who included professionals and members of the nobility, invited prominent artists and scientists from around the world to deliver their lectures at the Residencia.

When the Civil War broke out, the American and British flags were hoisted at the Residence, and some intellectuals and their families, such as Ortega y Gasset, took shelter there. In October 1936, Jiménez Fraud and his family went to Cambridge and settled at King's College. In 1938, he was appointed Spanish lector at New College, Oxford. The university welcomed the Jimenez Cossío family and there they strove to keep alive the spirit of the Residencia.  Jiménez Fraud combined his lectures and publications with some activities in opposition to Franco’s régime. In the mid-1950s, close to his retirement, he planned a new project to revive (albeit from very different basis) the modernizing ideals of the Residencia. The events organized to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its foundation included the publication of " Palabras del Presidente, ”his spiritual testament, and two commemorative issues of the Residencia periodical.

He also published several works, a compilation of his lectures, where he wrote from the perspective of the Generation of 1914, with the cosmopolitan approach that characterized its members. He published an outstanding three –volume history of the Spanish university (El Colegio de Mexico, 1943 -1947). The last volume, Ocaso y Restauración, contains a vivid, sharp account of the modernization project of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios, and the Residencia de Estudiantes, with revealing autobiographical data.

In 1986, the political climate in Spain had changed, and the Residencia was reestablished. Jiménez Fraud’s qualities, his calm and intelligence, and his quiet leadership helped make possible the intense and brilliant period of the Residencia between 1910 and 1936. He maintained in exile his hope for the continuation of his work. Twenty years later, the Residencia de Estudiantes began its second period.