“AGAINST THE TERRIBLE EVIL OF ILLITERACY”: Objective and scope of the newspaper "A Escola" (1918-1920)

Abstract The New Cultural History inaugurates investigative aspects of various areas of knowledge from sources linked to the press. In the History of Education, newspapers, newsletters, magazines, booklets, and other materials considered of a pedagogical nature began to be analyzed. Based on the aforementioned theoretical framework and the main source of the first school newspaper in the city of Codó, in the state of Maranhão, this article analyzes the messages that focus on the fight against illiteracy and the valorization of published school education in the newspaper "A Escola" from 1918 to 1920. He also discusses the press as a strategic educational tool and presents the origin, materiality and educational instance of the periodical in question.