Outras histórias sobre poder e memória: as instituições arquivísticas e os(s) lugar(es) da(s) memória(s) em Montes Claros, MG 1980 a 2012

Abstract

The present study aimed to understand the cultural heritage of Montes Claros, especially the documental one, having as object of study Vereador Ivan Jose Lopes Public Archive throughout 1980 to 2012. That institution is a public municipal archive responsible for the custody of documents produced and received by the city of Montes Claros in the exercise of its legislative and administrative functions, which corresponds to a rich documental collection to research. That documentation accumulated by that Archive contains several documents that cause repercussions on the inhabitants‟ lives of the city, because of the legislative character of the institution. Analyzing Vereador Ivan Jose Lopes Public Archive, we reflected on cultural heritage conceptions that orientate the city project. The origin of this research emerged from our inquietude and discomfort when, working at archival institutions, we perceived that public managers do not take care of the documents from those archives, and that there\'s no public policies aimed on their preservation and, added to that, the lack of reconnaissance by citizens that those documents are part of their memory and their citizenship. Analyzing the reasons of such negligence with those archival documents put us in a position of reflection about the situation, considering the challenges and perspectives of the Montes Claros archives. That way, we tried to understand montesclarenses social practices present in the texts of documents from the Town Council and the role of the Archive as one of the places of city\'s memory (or memories) and not just as a guardian of old and ancient papers. To do so, the methodology used consisted of varied sources as laws; hemerotheca of Regional Division of Documentation of Unimontes; analysis of photos, websites, meeting minutes, memorialists books, thesis, dissertations, graduation works (monographies); and oral history. In our opinion, the relevance of this study is to put the categories as historiography, power, memory, and cultural/documental heritage in motion to articulate these concepts with the social experiences allowing to the work bring \"folk smell\" to a theme, which at first seems so inhospitable, operational and technical, as well as stimulating further problems and questions on this subject.