"Para abrigar menores": o Patronato/Aprendizado Agrícola Visconde de São Leopoldo e a assistência à infância (São Leopoldo/RS - 1944-1960)

Abstract

In ―To shelter minors‖: the Patronato / Aprendizado Agrícola Visconde de São Leopoldo and childcare (São Leopoldo / RS - 1944-1960), our objective is to analyze the performance of the Patronage (1944-1949) and the Apprenticeship Visconde de São Leopoldo (1950-1960) in childcare in the region in the defined period, with an emphasis on the discussion of minors served by the institution (profile and family reality in which they were inserted), seeking to verify whether there were permanences and / or transformations from the change from patronage to apprenticeship. Inserted in the debates on the Social History of Childhood, this research makes use of sources located in the institution's own archive (currently CEEPRO Visconde de São Leopoldo), such as the Employer's School Enrollment Book, social reports, individual forms and crafts, in addition to other documents. From the historiographic debate carried out and the analysis undertaken, it is possible to notice that the institution received, in its majority, boys who were not familiar with life and work in the field, so that both the Employers and the Agricultural Apprenticeship of São Leopoldo they ended up serving mainly the task of assisting poor minors, coming from families with few financial resources and, mostly, linked to the urban context.