| Summary: |
The main archival repositories of major importance for the history of Port wine can be found, for the most part, divided among Porto (IVP), Gaia (Arquivo da Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro, Arquivo do Grémio dos Exportadores de Vinho do Porto, corporate archives, etc.) and the Douro region. Here, one must consider the archives of Casa do Douro and, not least important, the several private archives still existing today.
These archives gain more relevance when considering that "the History of the Douro region, its people and labour, its wine and quintas (farms), prior to the establishment of the designated "Wine-Growing Country" is, to a great extent, yet to be made.
Furthermore, researchers interested in the Douro region during the Medieval period and at the dawn of the Modern period often come across exasperating gaps in the records and documentation found, a situation which may prove extremely difficult to overcome.
On the other hand, all the documentation, whether monastic, municipal or royal, which is usually available, was every so often violently affected by the vicissitudes of History. We can recall, for example, the tragic fire of the Mosteiro de Salzedas and the destruction of its registry, or the unorganized transference of archives which began in the 19th century, not to mention the "orderliness" of many state departments...
It is in this context that the study of private archives, kept in many houses and quintas in the region, gains major importance.
As a matter of fact, History's interest in personal and family archives has lately been increasing. The history of individuals and their families has come to be seen as more closely connected to the corresponding social, economic and intellectual settings... and the extreme diversity of the composition of family archives often opens new and unpredictable perspectives.
In their turn, the archives of the corporate a  |
Summary
The main archival repositories of major importance for the history of Port wine can be found, for the most part, divided among Porto (IVP), Gaia (Arquivo da Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro, Arquivo do Grémio dos Exportadores de Vinho do Porto, corporate archives, etc.) and the Douro region. Here, one must consider the archives of Casa do Douro and, not least important, the several private archives still existing today.
These archives gain more relevance when considering that "the History of the Douro region, its people and labour, its wine and quintas (farms), prior to the establishment of the designated "Wine-Growing Country" is, to a great extent, yet to be made.
Furthermore, researchers interested in the Douro region during the Medieval period and at the dawn of the Modern period often come across exasperating gaps in the records and documentation found, a situation which may prove extremely difficult to overcome.
On the other hand, all the documentation, whether monastic, municipal or royal, which is usually available, was every so often violently affected by the vicissitudes of History. We can recall, for example, the tragic fire of the Mosteiro de Salzedas and the destruction of its registry, or the unorganized transference of archives which began in the 19th century, not to mention the "orderliness" of many state departments...
It is in this context that the study of private archives, kept in many houses and quintas in the region, gains major importance.
As a matter of fact, History's interest in personal and family archives has lately been increasing. The history of individuals and their families has come to be seen as more closely connected to the corresponding social, economic and intellectual settings... and the extreme diversity of the composition of family archives often opens new and unpredictable perspectives.
In their turn, the archives of the corporate and business sector, witnesses and holders of the most wide-ranging phenomena, provide highly significant contributions to research in social and economic history, namely within the fields of business and trade, relationships among agents, prices, types of product, etc.
Moreover, most of the private archives comprise documentation of a public nature, a consequence of the functions assigned to the producers who wanted to keep their official documents with them. Thus, objectively speaking, it has been by way of official documents that the "official" view of what happened has come to prevail... Nevertheless, society operates more quickly than official memory. And it operates in the plain sense of diversity and plurality of memories, not restricted to a "national memory", a single and only way of thinking. Private documents, therefore, necessarily complement public archives, given that time and again they allow for the rectification of a certain view of the past, which, without them, would be excessively administrative.
Everything considered, the World has witnessed in recent times the emergence of documentation and archive centres evolving precisely around private archives, taking at the same time the form of centres for research and innovation.
In this context and within the scope of its actions, GEHVID has been involved in the survey and study of family archives, paying particular attention to the archives of the Quinta da Pacheca and Quinta de Santa Júlia de Loureiro. The Family Archive of the Quinta da Pacheca, especially, deserves much investment and research, given its importance. |