This article, based on a brief analysis of some of the works produced by Maria de Fátima Silva Gouvêa about the role of the town councils in Portuguese America, examines the author' s contribution on the subject. The leading point of such analysis is her study on the Vila Rica Town Council published at volume 31 of Varia Historia magazine in 2004. The article, entitled The Powers of Vila Rica do Ouro Preto - preliminary notes on the political and administrative organization in the first half of the XVIII century, was part of the file Vila Rica do Pilar: Reflections on Minas Gerais and the Modern Era organized by Adalgisa Campos Arantes, Douglas Cole Libby and Renato Franco.
Town Councils; Local Powers; Administration