MUSEOLOGICAL MATRICES OF SPHAN

ANTÔNIO JOAQUIM AND SABARÁ’S MUSEUM OF GOLD

Abstract

This paper presents partial results of a postdoctoral research project that investigates the constitution of the museological thought matrix of SPHAN through the work of Antônio Joaquim de Almeida at the Museum of Gold between 1945 and 1979. The study analyzes processes of collection formation, exhibition design, and the production of heritage narratives linked to the cultural policies of the Estado Novo, understanding museums as spaces for political uses of the past and for the institutionalization of a national memory. The research seeks to understand how object selection, collection organization, and representational strategies concerning mining society contributed to the construction of specific interpretations of Brazilian identity. The investigation adopts a qualitative approach, combining bibliographic review and documentary research carried out at the National Library Digital Newspaper Archive, the Noronha Santos Central Archive, and the institutional documentation of the Museum of Gold, including correspondence, inventories, visitors’ books, and administrative reports. Partial findings indicate that Antônio Joaquim acted as a heritage intellectual, inserted in national and international cultural and museological networks, contributing to the consolidation of collecting, preservation, and exhibition practices that influenced Brazilian museum culture throughout the twentieth century. The study concludes that the historical analysis of these processes contributes to questioning institutional continuities and narratives still present in contemporary museums.