FORMATION OF COLLECTIONS AND MEMORY AT THE BENEDITO LEITE PUBLIC LIBRARY (1900–1920)

Abstract

Collection development in public libraries involves technical, institutional, and social choices that affect the constitution and continuity of memory. In this context, this study addresses the problem of understanding how the mechanisms involved in building the collection of the Benedito Leite Public Library (BPBL), between 1900 and 1920, relate to collection development and Maranhão’s social memory. It aims to analyze, through BPBL institutional technical reports, these relationships and the processes that guided the organization and preservation of the collection during the period. This is a qualitative, descriptive, and documentary study, guided by a historical-interpretive perspective. The corpus comprises reports from 1900, 1901, 1915, 1916, 1917, and 1920, examined through full reading, an analytical matrix, and thematic analysis, considering categories related to collection building, collection development and organization, preservation, and social memory. The results show that the collection was constituted through donations, exchanges, purchases, legal deposit, and legal contributions, involving the State, managers, donors, and partner institutions. They also indicate that inventories, catalogs, classifications, sections, and furniture contributed to the ordering and legitimation of written culture. It is concluded that collection development constituted a technical, political, and memorial process through which certain records were selected, organized, and preserved, acquiring informational, historical, and heritage value in the Maranhão context.