The invention of the brasilianas in the XXth century: notes on the history of Guita and José Mindlin Collection

Abstract

This text is a first result of a research carried out in the Rubens Borba de Moraes personal papers at Brasiliana Guita and José Mindlin Library, with the support of the Programa Institucional de Pesquisa nos Acervos da USP. Taking as a point of departure the study of the relationship between Rubens Borba de Moraes, José Mindlin and the Portuguese bookseller António Tavares de Carvalho, this research aims, in a broader context, to provide a better understanding of the genesis of the Mindlin Collection, considering the historical mutations of the “brasilianas” collections in the second half of the twentieth century. This complex framework includes the development of “Brazilian studies” abroad in the 1940s and 1950s, which led to a race for the constitution of collections over the country, but also, in a domestic context, the consolidation of institutions, such as the USP and UnB, as well as the conversion of private collections into public collections.