ABSTRACT
Museu de Biologia Professor Mello Leitão was founded by Augusto Ruschi in Santa Teresa/ES in 1949. In 1984, the museum was transferred to the Ministry of Education and Culture, turning it into a public institution. Since then, it underwent a long process of (re)construction of its institutional identity. In this study, I investigate how the MBML went from a private project to an institution dedicated to researching, disseminating, and conserving the Central Atlantic Forest. I argue that such dynamics occur in parallel with the definition of the “Mata Atlântica” concept and its rise to the condition of indispensability in the global environmental agenda disseminated by Rio-92.
KEYWORDS:
Augusto Ruschi, Atlantic Forest; Museums; Environmental History; biome