Os oficiais mecânicos na Vila Real do Sabará: controle, cultura material e trabalho (1735-1829)

Abstract

The present dissertation analyses the everyday work of artisans in Vila Real de Nossa Senhora da Conceição do Sabará, District of Minas Gerais, among 1735 and 1829. Period that covers the regulation of artisans work performed by the Vila de Sabará chamber. The artisans were responsible for the supply of essential goods and services to survival of society. They produced tools, household utensils, clothing, shoes, also well as building homes. The objective of the research was analyze several aspects of the daily routine of artisans, as were the regulation of mechanical activity by the chambers, the mastery of technique and its learning, production and marketing of its works and services within a context of society's indebtedness. At first we analyzed the control of the chamber through the conducting of examinations and licensing for officers, discussing with historiography the efficiency of this regulation. A significant portion of the artisans did not have licenses and letters of examinations, therefore it is necessary to resort to administrative sources. The research in inventories, libels and wills allowed us to uncover aspects of daily work of free and slave, credit relations and learning. Minas Gerais had an economy based on credit, providing for posterity debt records that allowed the unveiling of work and consumption dynamics. From the debt fare we reconstructed aspects of the daily of the mechanic work, highlighting the construction sites that brought together a diversity of officers of different qualities and conditions. Finally, we characterize the teaching in Sabará, especially those of mestizo orphans. The practice of teaching an office in the Captaincy was in keeping with the concern of the royal authorities to combat the vagrancy of blacks, mestizos and free, seeking that this part of the population had a means of subsistence, preventing their Idleness.