Since July 2025, researchers from UFRN have been developing the project “An analysis of the judicial system in Rio Grande do Norte in the 19th century from the districts of Santana do Matos and Assú”, aimed at investigating the functioning of Justice in Rio Grande do Norte during the 19th century.
The initiative is part of an open notice and is coordinated by professor Carmen Alveal, from the Department of History at UFRN and LEHS-UFRN (Laboratory of Experimentation in Social History), who had already developed a similar study in 2010 with the collection of the Metropolitan Curia of Natal.
According to the researcher, the proposal continues previous work: "Last year, we decided to take legal action in some districts. We intend to continue in the near future", she says.
The survey uses civil and criminal processes from the 19th century, including inventories, police investigations, trials and territorial disputes. The material allows us to analyze dimensions of social organization, crime and the functioning of the Justice system in the period.
The digitization of documents was carried out on two fronts: a team linked to UERN, in Assú, and another made up of scholarship holders from UFRN, at Campus Natal, responsible for the work in the region of Santana do Matos. The process followed rigorous preservation standards, using professional equipment and specific training for handling the collection.
After digitization, the documents will be made available on the British Library website and, later, on the LEHS/UFRN portal, within the international EAP (Endangered Archives Programme) project.
Professor Carmen Alveal highlights the impact of the initiative on preserving the state's historical and legal memory: "This project is extremely important as it helps to build this historical and legal memory. The state of Rio Grande do Norte lacks public policies aimed at preserving its collections.", she comments.
She also draws attention to the situation of archives in the state: "The IHGRN has been closed for 15 years for access to documents, only the library works. The State Public Archive has also been closed for over a decade (…). The construction of the memory of a people involves valuing the safekeeping of these documents."
The project has the participation of professors Carmen Alveal (History), Nuno Camarinhas (History) and Patrícia Macedo Penna (Information Science), as well as students and a team of undergraduates.