Memories and stories

"It is recognized that statements such as these are presented to fit a personal view or agenda. Terry Barrett, in his text, Criticizing Photographs: An introduction to understanding images, describes that art theory has different approaches: by critics, by photographers, by historians, and by curators.
Here it is, of course, a view [...] by a conservator.
[...] The conservators start from an object-centered approach [and try] to reconcile with the image-centered visual culture approach.
Would Barrett consider adding “Theories and conservators” to his list?

The retouching techniques on dry plate negatives of Portuguese photography collections of the first half of the 20th century, 2022

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First page with inscription of book ownership and date

Between Knowledge and Distance: Medicine and Care Beyond the Major Centres

Between Coimbra and the Alentejo, this text traces the transmission of medical knowledge over two centuries – from barber-surgeons to university-trained doctors – through a handwritten book from 1855. Different men, different times, yet the same commitment to knowledge as a form of care. A reflection on medicine beyond the major centres and on the value of preserving what passes between hands and generations.

Documents with Stories

Portraits of the Portuguese Republican Conspiracy: Three Negatives from Foto-Carvalho

Three large-format negatives from Foto-Carvalho, a former Estremoz studio, reveal the faces of Machado Santos, Luz de Almeida and António Maria da Silva, members of the Carbonária’s Alta Venda. Found broken and unidentified, these portraits link the local history of Estremoz to the republican conspiracy that led to the 1910 Revolution. Preserving also means discovering and sharing the hidden stories of photographic archives.

Photography

Between Hands and Memory: a Manuscript Medical Book and the Journey of Those Who Dictated, Used, and Preserved It

A 19th-century handwritten medical book dictated by João Lopes de Morais, a professor imprisoned for political reasons, and copied for the use of barber-surgeons. In this second text of the Documents with History series, I reveal the stories behind this unique document: authorship, circulation, use, and material value. Because caring also means making known – and preserving is also sharing what has been discovered.

Documents with Stories

License to Heal: Examination of a Bloodletter in 1844

First post in the Documents with History series, this article explores an 1844 examination record and revisits the practice of sangradores in 19th-century Portugal. Preserved inside an old medical manuscript, the document shows how empirical knowledge was formalised and reminds us that to preserve is also to share. A tribute to the value of papers that tell forgotten stories.