Antoni Bosch i Cardellach, born in Sabadell in 1758, was a multifaceted figure: a physician, geographer, and chronicler. After practicing medicine in Bràfim, he returned to his hometown in 1787 and took on the role of secretary for the City Council. There, in May 1791, he was tasked with compiling and organizing scattered historical documentation.
His work was fundamental for the creation of the Sabadell Historical Archive. He recovered council acts from the 15th century, selected parchments, and gathered official communications into eighteen volumes. His most notable effort was the writing of the first history of Sabadell, Memorias de Sabadell antiguo y su término, published in 1882.
“"He who does not engage with history and ignores what happened shortly before he was born, always remains a child; for the longest age of man is barely even infancy compared to the seven ages of the world."
Another pioneer was Josep Salvany i Oller, born in Sabadell in 1780. His work, Reflexiones críticas sobre la antigüedad de la parroquia de Sabadell, published in 1844, is considered the first printed local history by an author from Sabadell. This publication was supported by the City Council and resulted from the insistence of the municipal secretary at the time.
Subsequently, figures such as the writer and politician Víctor Balaguer also addressed the history of Sabadell in his Guía de Barcelona a Tarrasa, por el ferrocarril (1857), where relevant events and the town's industrial facilities are described, being one of the first mentions of the term “Catalan Manchester”. Finally, Manuel Ribot i Serra, chronicler and archivist-librarian since 1883, and Marian Burguès, with his work A Sabadell del meu record, continued to enrich the city's historiographical legacy.
