ABSTRACT
This article investigates the limits for the writing of history of the present in the nineteenth century by analysing the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro‘s production between 1838 and 1850, especially its journal. Even though its associates were steeped in a discourse that sometimes legitimized this practice, due to the relevant close association between the institution and the Emperor D. Pedro II, they generally disqualified it in favor of a modern conception of history. According to this conception, temporal distance, combined with impartiality, was an essential condition to get to the truth of the facts, in addition to contemporary political contingencies. Therefore, the archivist character of the institution is understood in relation to documents referring to contemporary events and projects such as the “ark of secrecy”, which aimed at collecting and protecting those documents.
Keywords:
Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro; Second Monarchy; historiography; presente; ark of secrecy