Da medicina à política : as dinâmicas da construção de memórias de si de Nicolau Araújo Vergueiro (1882 - 1956)

Abstract

This research discusses the circumstances and dynamics that involved the construction of self-memories by Nicolau Araujo Vergueiro shaped by his self-referential memorialistic writings, linked to traces of his personal collection. Vergueiro was a doctor and politician from the city of Passo Fundo/RS, he was born on March 7, 1882 and died on March 16, 1956. His rise to political office began in 1908 when he was elected Municipal Councilor of Passo Fundo, later elected State Deputy, Municipal Intendent and Federal Deputy; local political head of the Riograndense Republican Party and the Social Democratic Party; the political decline occurs from the 1930s and the end of his political activities in the 1950s. He received several honors in life and after death. His personal collection was donated by his family to the University of Passo Fundo Foundation (FUPF) in 2011, under the custody of the Regional Historical Archive (AHR). The research has a qualitative approach, from a historical perspective, and uses a bibliographical and documental review for the theoretical construction and analysis, based on primary and secondary sources, such as the Passo Fundo Municipal Intendency Reports, legal provisions, interviews, academic works, books, newspapers of the time and documents from the collection. From an interdisciplinary point of view, the relationship between Archival Science and History in the processes of production, accumulation and treatment of personal collections, and the influence of these processes on historiographical work, is highlighted. The Cadernos de Memórias and the Cadernos de Recortes Documentais give their own meaning to the constitution of memory that Vergueiro is establishing and that is sustained in the collection that he accumulates, and which is later donated to the FUPF, as well as the social and political dynamics present in collections personal, by shaping the heritage to be preserved, they play an important role in consolidating the memories of themselves represented in the collection and can affirm or silence historical aspects, including those that the owner designed for himself.