Artifacts of the school material culture in Rio Grande do Sul: a study of Cartilha Mestra and Cartilha Samorim

ABSTRACT Considering textbooks - specifically primers - as a constitutive and important part of the school material culture, this study aims to present a comparative analysis of Cartilha Mestra and Cartilha Samorim- both of which were written by southern Brazilian professor Samorim Gustavo de Andrade - using the 12th edition of the former, from 1919/1913, and the first edition of the latter, from 1921. Produced in a context of consolidation of the positivist government in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, of the constitution of the public education system, and of the growth of a “school industry”, such primers were widely used in southern Brazilian schools and expressed part of the school material culture of that time. In this article, the two above-mentioned samples were compared having the book as a study object from the perspective of their publishing history and the school material culture. The study found that Cartilha Samorim is an enlarged version of Cartilha Mestra. However, each edition brings particularities, such as the addition of cursive handwriting and texts for the development of reading fluency in the 1921’s version. The observed changes were most likely articulated to the discourse of the time with respect to the approaches for the teaching of reading and writing and to social and pedagogical demands.