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U.Porto Memory

Teachers and students of the first Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto

Damião António Peres

	1889-1976 University Teacher, Historian and Numismatist

Damião António Peres was born in Lisbon on 8 July 1889. After completing his Humanities degree, he chose to become a high school teacher of History in Funchal between 1912 and 1915, where he was also Rector.

In 1919, after being transferred to Gil Vicente High School, in Lisbon, where he became friends with Leonardo Coimbra, he travelled on a study mission to Spain, France and Switzerland to analyse the high school facilities for the teaching of Geography. Upon his return to mainland Portugal, he stopped teaching in high schools to become a teacher at the newly created Faculty of Arts of Porto, at the invitation of the Minister of Public Education, Leonardo Coimbra. He was also Interim Rector of this institution.

In the Faculty of Arts of Porto, Damião Peres he worked as Contract Teacher of the 4^th Group (Historical Sciences). At the end of his two-year contract, he was re-appointed as Ordinary Professor by the government (Full Professor after the Reform in 1926), and was responsible for the chairs of History Education, History of Portugal, History of the Discoveries and Portuguese Colonization, General History of Civilization, Numismatics and Sigillography [the study of seals], Epigraphy [the study of inscriptions], Palaeography, Diplomatics and History of Religions. Between January 1920 and July 1926, the Faculty Board appointed him Secretary of the Faculty.

During Leonardo Coimbra’s second term of office at the Ministry of Public Education (1925 to 1927), Damião Peres acted as Head of the Minister’s Office for a short period of time.

Damião Peres stood out since 1922 as the driver of scientific promotion of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Porto. In that same year, he founded the Museum of Historical Archaeology, linked to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto, and was its Director during its brief existence.

Some time later, he began to publish the journal "Revista de Estudos Históricos" [Journal of Historical Studies] (1924-1926) and in 1925 he obtained the approval to set up the Institute of Historical Research at the University of Porto, which focused on the supervision and dissemination of scientific research work in the field of Historical Sciences, of which he was the Director. In 1925, he became the director of the Historical Archive of the City of Porto, a post he held during his stay in Porto.

On 12 February 1926, by decision of the Board of the Faculty of Arts of Porto, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters – Historical Sciences. Later, he was appointed Head of the Faculty between 1926 and 1930. After the promulgation of Decree 15 365, of 12 April 1928, which enacted the extinction of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto, he taught at the Rodrigues de Freitas High School until 28 February 1930.

By invitation of the University of Coimbra, he began teaching at the Faculty of Arts as Contract Professor on a service commission. Here he sat his public exams for the position of Full Professor of the 4^th Group, with the thesis "A Diplomática portuguesa e a sucessão de Espanha: 1700-1704" [Portuguese Diplomacy and the Succession of Spain: 1700-1704]. He was appointed Full Professor by Decree of 28 July 1931.
Until he retired in 1959, he maintained his contact with this institution, engaged in a university teaching career and in scientific research, participated in the publication of "Biblioteca Etnográfica e Histórica Portuguesa" [Portuguese Ethnographic and historical Library] and "Revista Portuguesa de História" [Portuguese Journal of History] (1941) and was the Head of the General Library of the University of Coimbra (1940-1944).

Due to his unquestionable reputation as a numismatist, for example, in the organization of the numismatic collection of the Municipal Museum of Porto, he was invited to occupy the position of Director of the Portuguese Numismatic Museum, linked to the Casa da Moeda [Mint], a post he held until he retired.

On a scientific level, he participated in several national and international conferences, led the Portuguese delegation in the Comité International des Sciences Historiques [International Committee of historical Sciences], took part in radio lectures on the History of Portugal, on National Radio, acted as Secretary-General of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and Portuguese Academy of History until 1973.

Damião Peres died in Porto on 26 October 1976. His name is included in the list of contributing editors of the collection entitled "História de Portugal" [History of Portugal](1928-1954), traditionally called “Barcelos”, one of the most solid and complete monographs published in the 20^th century.
(Universidade Digital / Gestão de Informação, 2008)