The material culture of schooling in the 19th Century schools of São Paulo

Abstract

This article presents a quantitative balance of the material provision of primary schools in the Province of São Paulo during the 19th century. Using a historical approach and anchored in the constructs of Cultural History, different aspects constituting the meaning of documents were analyzed from a discursive and dialogical point of view, such as laws, decrees, inventories of materials and reports from teachers, inspectors and presidents of the Province, which made it possible to identify the furniture, equipment and teaching materials that were offered to schools in São Paulo in the 19th century. With this, the material conditions of these schools are problematized, discussing the artifacts that teachers and education inspectors requested from the government in order to put São Paulo's elementary instruction into practice.