Fazer e usar papel : caracterização material da documentação avulsa da Coleção Casa dos Contos do Arquivo Público Mineiro (1750-1800)

Abstract

Paper, as a matter for writing, is considered a fundamental material element of culture and should be studied in its materiality and historicity. Through investigations of handwritten documents it is possible to reflect on the development of human thought, structures and relationships in human societies. As an object of study, it was selected some administrative documents from the Casa dos Contos Collection kept in the Arquivo Público Mineiro (APM), dated from the second half of the 18th century, selected based on a random sampling and a convenience sample. The documents were studied from the development of an analysis table based on the proposal of the International Standard for Registration of Paper with or Without Watermarks developed by the International Association of Papel Historians (IPH), in addition to the project to catalog Hispanic watermarks, developed by the Center for the Conservación, Análisis and Historia del Papel (CAHIP). Thus, an inventory of the papers used in Minas Gerais in the period was carried out, based on the survey of their material characteristics, seeking to identify the manufacturers of the papers used by the public administration in the Captaincy of Minas Gerais, comprising the qualities, denominations and origins of the paper that reached Minas from material and historical analyzes in an interdisciplinary perspective. Watermarks of Italian, Dutch, French and English windmills were identified, as well as others possibly Italian, and even some without identification. The analyzes point out twenty-seven documentary species, which can be determined not only by their written content, but also by material traces. The papers have physical characteristics and behaviors against different deterioration agents, but there is a concern with the use of better quality media for more formal documents, as is the case with the requirements, and of a personal nature, in the case of letters. The material characterization of the selected documentation of the Casa dos Contos Collection of the Arquivo Público Mineiro aims to contribute to the research in the area of material elements of culture, understanding the way of making rag paper and its uses in the Captaincy of Minas Gerais in the second half of the 18th century.