Yesterday, during a ceremony at Palácio da Guanabara (seat of the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro), the release of the Dicionário da História Republicana do Rio de Janeiro (Dictionary of the Republican History of Rio de Janeiro) took place - organized by the sociologist and researcher at the School of Social Sciences (FGV/CPDOC) Alzira Alves, and political scientist Christiane Jalles de Paula, who has already been a professor at the institution.

Published by FGV Press, the work has almost 1,500 pages, in which there are more than 2,000 entries which give a panoramic view of the political, economic and cultural history of the state and the city of Rio de Janeiro since the Proclamation of the Republic until today. The Dictionary allows the understanding of the political, economic and cultural role that the state of Rio de Janeiro played in the history of the country, explains Alzira in the presentation of the book, noting that it provides a broader knowledge about the history of the state and encourages renovation and the expansion of the information presented in the volume.

All personalities of the local political and administrative world - governors, senators, federal and state congressmen are included in the dictionary, which further features the mayors of the municipalities of Rio de Janeiro, Guanabara, Niterói and Campos, besides archbishops and some personalities of the cultural and scientific worlds, such as Osvaldo Cruz, Oscar Niemeyer, Santos Dumont and Monteiro Lobato. The limited edition also features photos, cartoons and caricatures.

The methodology adopted gathered data from all available sources in order to obtain the information necessary to organize the entries.  The biographical entries were drawn from the texts contained in the DHBB - Dicionário Histórico Biográfico Brasileiro [Brazil's Historical and Biographical Dictionary, also belonging to CPDOC] and those which were prepared for the First Republic Dictionary (1889-1930), a work in the editing stage, said Alzira, who also mentioned memoirs books, parliamentary records, obituaries, news reports, and the regional historiography and analytical works on the life and political work of the person being biographed.

The dictionary was funded by the Research Support Foundation of the State of Rio de Janeiro. (FAPERJ) and involved the participation of more than 70 researchers.

Launching ceremony

Besides the Dictionary of the Republican History of Rio de Janeiro, the books Mapa da Ciência do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro?s Science Map) and Cientistas Fluminenses (Rio de Janeiro?s Scientists) were also launched at the ceremony at Palácio da Guanabara and also had the support of FAPERJ.

FGV was also represented by the Vice President of the institution, Dr. Sergio Franklin Quintella, and Alzira Alves, accompanied by Christiane Jalles. They've delivered the Dictionary to Rio's governor, Sergio Cabral. 

*Photo: Shana Reis - Subsecretaria de Comunicação Social do estado do Rio de Janeiro