Guide to the Joaquim Ignacio Baptista Cardoso Archive
The Joaquim Ignacio Baptista Cardoso Archive contains documents that Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s paternal grandfather accumulated from the beginning of his military career, at the end of the 19th century, until shortly before his death in 1924. Although it has some gaps, the collection reflects his participation in important events in Brazilian history, as well as the relationships he maintained with his family, despite the itinerancy imposed by his long career in the Brazilian Army.
Telegrams, letters, reports, official letters and news items are some of the different kinds of documents that make up the archive, most of which cover the period in which the holder held various positions in the Army’s administrative structure. Totaling around 1,400 documents, those produced and accumulated in the 1890s stand out, when, among other duties, Joaquim Ignacio Baptista Cardoso acted as aide-de-camp to President Floriano Peixoto. In addition to the administrative routine, the documentation produced and accumulated during his duties evokes some of the main episodes of the so-called República Velha (Old Republic), such as the Revolta da Armada (1893-1894) and the Revolução Federalista (1893-1895).
The Archive’s photographic collection includes 48 images, most of which are portraits from the various stages of his military life, as lieutenant, captain, major, colonel, general and marshal. There are also photographic reports in which the holder appears as a character in important moments, such as in the portrait in which he appears with Sebastião Bandeira, both ensigns, together with Major Solon Ribeiro, the group that led the Brazilian imperial family to be ordered to leave the country in November 1889.