Childhood and Gender in the Schooling Process in São Paulo (1834-1848): Historical Sources for the Study of Girls' Experiences in Primary School

Abstract

In this article, we present reflections on sources for the study of female schooling in the first half of the 19th century. We limit the study to the first public school for girls in São Paulo, the “Sé school” of Mestra Benedita da Trindade do Lado de Christo, recognized as a good teacher by provincial officials. We outline a profile of the girls at the Sé school based on data from student lists. Using population data, we attempt to interpret the social and racial affiliations of some families and their integration into the city's socioeconomic life. Next, we analyze reports from the Public Instruction Department, focusing on the similarities and differences between the reports on female and male classes. Finally, we investigated the writings of teacher Benedita's students, records of the incipient appropriation of written culture by female children. These four sets of documents provide fragments about the students of the public school for girls at an early stage of the schooling process, when it reached a very small portion of the population and was legitimized as an institution responsible for the education of children. We consider that access to school knowledge affected the insertion of these girls into urban social life, expanding cultural and professional possibilities. As a theoretical reference, we operate with Carlo Ginzburg's indicial paradigm of microhistory, associated with the perspective of social history and reflections from studies on gender relations, at the intersection with the categories of class and race.