O livro ouro como patrimônio documental: o caso do Theatro Treze de Maio de Santa Maria – RS

Abstract

The present study, developed in the Final Graduation Paper subject, intends to understand and present to the local society and researchers part of the history of the Treze de Maio Theater from a perspective centered on a little-known document: the Guestbook (Golden book) of the institution. Since documentary heritage was established as the theme, the problem of the research is to verify the potential eligibility of the Guestbook as an item of documentary heritage of an institution of culture and art, aiding the recomposition of its history and informing about the events that take place on its stage. The research aims to know the potential of the Guestbook as a document and how important is the information it holds together and to conserve its content by digitizing it. In the first copy and in its subsequent numbers, the names of individuals (natural and legal persons) that collaborated with the renovation of the Teather, buying furniture and instruments, were registered. It also contained support, gratitude and incentive messages from artists, technicians and from everyone who has been there, leaving memories and taking with them a bit of the Treze de Maio Theater, of the city and of the people from Santa Maria. Regarding the methodology of the study, a qualitative and quantitative approach has been applied due to bibliographic searches and to email exchange with other brazilian theaters about the use of the Guestbook in the institutions. An exploratory research was also carried out with the objective of finding information about the document itself. The motivation of this research is based on the interest of expanding the knowledge about the history of this document, its importance for the community and for the memory of the institution. The composition of volumes 1 and 2, with examples of its filling, is presented as a finding. Hence, it is possible to conclude that the Guestbook, just as it has been used by the Treze de Maio Theater, may be considered a documentary heritage of great importance. The history of the institution is on the pages of such a relevant document, in which parts of memories regarding several moments/events of the Theater are crystalized. It is also possible to understand that the performance of this research is an alternative to make the Guestbook more known and a way of disseminating it as a documentary heritage, stimulating the access to the physical object or to the digital representatives resulting from the Final Graduation Paper.