This article is in the background thinking the trajectory of the book Memórias de um colono no Brasilthe Swiss immigrant Thomas Davatz, the fifth volume published by the Brazilian Historical Library Collection, based on the discussions of the field of Intellectual History. To this end, the text is divided into parts. First, take into account the circulation of the book between the modernists and its repercussion in the press through articles published in Diário Nacionalin 1931. Then I analyze a small set of letters received by Sérgio Buarque de Holanda where you can see the difficulties in the translation and publication of the work year after the collection. In the letters there is still evidence of the construction of a national history project that greatly resembled that of the Historical and Geographic Brazilian Institute (IHGB).
modernism; historiography; letters; sociability