Objects of modernity: the Caetano de Campos e school its kindergarten – São Paulo (1890-1920)

Abstract

The Caetano de Campos School assumed a preponderant role in the renewal of pre-school education and primary school in São Paulo in the early years of the Republic. In view of the pedagogical objects introduced as fundamental to the modernity of the time, the purpose of this article is to understand the innovations in organization and composition of the school material culture that characterized this institution. We seek to reflect on the purposes and meanings that the material provision acquired in the organization of this establishment, realizing how the objects gave materiality to educational renovation projects in the Province of São Paulo. The recovery and analysis of pedagogical forms intended for the São Paulo professorship as the magazines “Jardim de Infância” (1896-1897), “Ensino” (1912) and “Eschola Public” (1893), and the official documents of the Caetano de Campos School, found in the collection of APESP – Public Archive of the State of São Paulo and at CRE - Reference Center for Education Mário Covas, in particular, the Catalog of Instruments for Natural Sciences at Maison Emile Deyrolle (1931). In theoretical terms, it's used as a contribution to the analytical exercise of these sources, the references of Agustín Escolano Benito (2010, 2017), Dominique Julia (2001) and Brazilian historiography specializing in the theme of school material culture. Concludes that the artifacts present in this institution were intended to provide, in addition to modes of production of the school material life, the production/reproduction of values to achieve ideals of modernity and scientificity contributing to the dissemination of a given concept of teaching.