The Memory Center of Instituto Butantan (CM-IB) was created to integrate and
expand the actions of surveying, organizing, conserving and disseminating
the heritage and history of Instituto Butantan, being responsible for
managing the museum archives and permanent archives from the directorate,
research, production and cultural divisions of the institution.
The Memory Center houses a significant archive that records the activities and
transformations of Instituto Butantan since its foundation, such as:
- Textual archives composed of single and bound documents;
- Iconographic archives with around 330 engravings and drawings;
- Photographic archives with around 17,000 photographic documents,
including albums, negatives, slides;
- Cartographic archives with more than 1,200 maps and blueprints
recording the area and the buildings of Instituto Butantan;
- Sound and audiovisual archives with around 450 VHS and DVDs, as well
as 16 and 35 mm rolls, B/W and color, deposited at the Brazilian
Cinematheque;
- Museum archive composed of more than 2,000 items, such as scientific
instruments, laboratory equipment, furniture and office equipment used in
the Institute;
- Personal archives of those who contributed to the scientific and
administrative path of Butantan, such as Afrânio do Amaral, José Lemos
Monteiro, Carlos Rodolpho Fischer, Rosa Pavone Pimont, Eduardo Vaz,
Flávio da Fonseca, Willy Beçak, among others.
The potential of this archive for
research and knowledge production in the
areas of document management and preservation and in the history of science
makes the Memory Center the place where different lines of research related to
the history of public health in São Paulo, including institutional history, and on
the management of public documents, has been carried out systematically. In
addition, the Memory Center opens up other possibilities for integration between
the different sectors of Instituto Butantan, making multidisciplinary studies
possible, a reality that has already yielded results in research with
museological, archival and architectural heritage archives.
Consisting of the areas of technical processing, conservation laboratory,
researcher assistance, dissemination of the archive and research in the history
of science, the Memory Center works to encourage knowledge production by
making the archive available for public consultation, holding workshops and
cultural and academic events, production and publication of research
instruments, with the goal of being
a reference in research on the history of
science and cultural heritage of public health in São Paulo.
