Researcher Selma Huxley Barkham spent many hours in Oñati's archive. It was precisely the Canadian historian who discovered in Oñati documents about the Basque whale San Juan that sank in Canada in the 16th century, the original ship of the replica currently being made in the maritime cultural factory Albaola de Pasaia.

He came to Oñati with a scholarship from the Government of Canada to study the relationship of Canada and Euskal Herria with the sea. "He took a clue and came to the end of the research. This woman discovered, tested, discovered a possible location of the ship from San Juan Bautista, discovered deposits in Canada -- did a real research. In addition, without current resources," says Ramón Martín, head of the Historical Archives of Protocols of Gipuzkoa. Martin also stressed the importance of his work: "Thanks to this research we know the boat San Juan Bautista that is being built in Albaola. The word Ternua has also been known since then. In addition, Selma's work has shown that historical research can have a social impact."

When visiting Oñati, Selma and Ramón were always in the file: -She was a very strong woman. And it was extraordinarily humble. I knew a lot, but here I was dealing with an incredible humility. We maintain the relationship with his son Michael and with him we have remembered the sad news."

Selma Huxley Fellowship

The City of Oñati paid tribute to him four years ago. In addition, the City of Oñati agreed to appoint Selma Huxley as a research fellow in history from a gender perspective. This year the grant was awarded to a second project: Presented by Jone Arrazola and Miren Aranguren, in the program "Bizitzak, in the center. Feminist genealogy of the caregivers of Oñati 1950-2020". The first was "Oñatiko emakumiak errekautan", by Jone Arrazola and Irati Garai.