The Varnhagen circle and historical writing in the 19th century

Abstract

The article discussed aspects of Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen’s historiographical practice based on the author’s correspondence. The epistolography of the São Paulo historian can be analyzed as a source to observe ideas, friendship and work relationships, building a network of sociability that also worked as a research network, counting on friends and researchers in several countries, among them colleagues from the newspaper O Panorama of Lisbon and the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute (IHGB), members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emperor D. Pedro II. In this sense, acting as a diplomat in Europe and South America contributed to the exchange of ideas with scholars from different places. The correspondence helps to understand the dynamics of Varnhagen’s historical writing inherent to the 19th century historian’s craft, such as archival research, project development, copy production, analysis and interpretation of documents, and theoretical-methodological comments.