School archive as a historical source of information: the case of Colégio Estadual Barros Barreto – Salvador/Bahia

Abstract

School institutions produce several documents with evidentiary values, which characterizes the importance of conservation and preservation of their documentary collections and their potential as sources of historical information. This work starts from the problem about the document treatment of public-school archives and its historical, institutional and cultural importance for the construction of collective memory. Its objective is to associate the disciplinary activities of the professional archivist with a social and cultural perception present in school documents, in a joint and structured way. This is qualitative research and the investigation method adopted was the case study at Colégio Estadual Barros Barreto, located in Salvador/Bahia. The methodological path followed with data collection, using the technique of intensive direct observation and an unstructured interview. The results pointed to the demand for the implementation of an archive policy that meets the needs of the institution, through the adequacy of the Archive in all regulatory norms and recommendations required that make the exercise of work feasible, and possible dissemination of the school collective memory. It is concluded that the understanding of the School Archive as a historical source of information sparks reflection on new interpretations about the archival document, which include the preeminence of an interdisciplinary dialogue that emerges both from the theories and techniques used for the treatment, organization, management and dissemination of these documents and in the investigations present in the Humanities about possible historical investigations from access to these primary sources of information present in the archives of school communities.