Scopes, meanings and research practices in the National Jesuit Museum of Jesús María: the Collection of Ancient Documents

Abstract

The investigation in the museum assumes different meanings turning out to be tied to the acquisition and recovery of the collections, the documentation, the conservation, the design of exhibitions, the publications, the pedagogy - didactics, the public's studies, the theory of the communication and the cultural tourism. They are precisely the basic sciences as the history, the cultural anthropology, sociology, archaeology, between others, constitute a set of disciplines that provide the knowledge, methods, concepts, approaches, which make possible the development of the investigation in the museum. The scopes and meanings assumed by the Project of Investigation in Jesus Maria National Jesuit Museum have allowed to take forward actions tied to the interpretation, conservation and documentation of the patrimonial goods that are guarded, putting special attention to the case of the Collection of Ancient Documents. It is a question of a set of historical texts belonging to the centuries XVI - the XIXth realized on paper with ferrous inks and with procedural writing, “bastardilla” or italic. The diagnosis as for the type of writing and the difficulties derived for his reading and interpretation, the condition of the support, the harmful effects of the used inks and the external conditions of conservation, led to effecting in the period 2005-2007 a Project of Investigation to guarantee his preservation.