They found an unpublished letter from Sarmiento from 1856 about school holidays: “40 days”

Leads us to Saint Peter A Historical document We believe that this city may – for various reasons – be an open-air historical museum. The story of the latest discovery goes. On November 28, 1856, Domingo Faustino Sarmientoas head of the school department, addressed a letter—handwritten, of course, in an impeccable hand, very fine, ten, congratulations—to the justice of the peace of this city. In the letter, he talks about school vacation days: 40 days in a row starting December 21 for public schools for boys. The letter was not published until a little more than a month ago, and no one knew of its existence, and it was found by members of Paleontological Museum “Fry Manuel de Torres” in San Pedro182 kilometers north of Buenos Aires.

Everything happened by chance. A series of serendipitous events. One afternoon at the end of October, he was there among nice friends José Luis Aguilar, the museum’s director, handles the tasks of digitizing old documents from a justice of the peace When he came across the message. Now confess to Clarion Who was on full alert: “I was alone, reviewing the pages of 1856. The first thing one does is look at the date and the signature to put oneself in context. When I saw Sarmiento’s signature!It remained preserved for 169 years.

But how did the message get there? The museum currently houses an office that maintains a documentary collection that tells, in its own way, the modern history of the region. Folders and more folders with Writings dated between 1832 and 1969. They came to the museum, partly because of the good faith and initiative of its members San Pedro Fossil Preservation Collection.

The matter is thus: Since the present court, the institution to which the documents belong, does not have its own headquarters, but rents offices wherever and however it can, the preservation of these materials has been requested from the court. Superior Court of Justice of the Province of Buenos Aires. But someone feared that if those papers were not left in the vicinity of San Pedro, their ultimate fate could be just as fateful (if not worse). Then other alliances were forged. In 2020, a joint agreement was signed between the Supreme Court of Justice in the governorate (the organization with the authority to hand over the archives), the Municipality of San Pedro and the Paleontological Museum, which finally took charge of this collection, The largest collection of written documents in the city.

The museum has allocated space for this purpose, and there, at this very moment, are the documents in question. Two giant bookcases, made of solid wood, and home-made cardboard folders, obviously files, with old papers, bound in bundles and separated year by year. The idea is to digitize the historical documents of San Pedro, and thus of Argentina, one by one.

José Luis Aguilar was in the middle of digital scanning sessions when he came across a letter from Sarmiento, dated November 28, 1856, entitled “To the Justice of the Peace and Mayor of San Pedro.” And who said:I inform you to distribute it to those who may be interested, that the next holiday for boys’ official schools must be forty consecutive days, counting from December 21 until the end of January of next year.Signature: Domingo Faustino Sarmiento.

The letter, both paper and ink, has been preserved in yellow and is in excellent condition. It was found in a file adjacent to another in which the man from San Juan was reported to have been appointed head of the school department on June 7 of the same year. In this sense, it follows that the document is one of the first public measures taken by Sarmiento in this situation.

For Aguilar, it is “a part of Argentine educational history”, considering that the author of these monuments is one of the country’s most important heroes. President of the nation between 1868 and 1874, and promoter of Law No. 1420 of common education in 1884 – free, secular and compulsory –founder of about 600 schools, writer, politician, teacher, father of the classroom, which is celebrated on September 11 every year. Made for national history,” Aguilar considers.

San Pedro, for example, cherishes documents linked to the national organization, to the founding period of the city, but also to the north of the province, from the beginning of the formation of the parties of Buenos Aires. “Sometimes things appear that have their own weight, and they transcend people,” Aguilar adds. “When we have documents of great importance, they are separated. First they are digitized, like any document; they are moved to the folder corresponding to the year in question. But after that, the original document is moved to an individual folder,” he explains. If they are socially significant, they are also published. For example, they found a list of names of rural workers from a century ago, and the entire city of San Pedro rallied when they found surnames that still walk its streets today: they were their ancestors.

At present, it is not planned to display the original letter publicly and permanently in one of the museum rooms, as this would require special maintenance tasks for the paper and ink. For the curious, the letter is available at the Paleontology Museum. Just come and ask to see it. The letter, however, has already been digitized in high resolution. In reality, The Casa Rosada Museum has requested a digital copy for inclusion in the Sarmentinas Collections section.

Everything indicates that as the digitization of these documents progresses, there will be new findings of historical importance. The thing is that there, while manipulating old papers, Aguilar shows letters signed by none other than him General Lucio Mansilla The person who led the Argentine forces in Battle of the Vuelta de Obligado In 1845, the main battle against the Anglo-French invasion was on the Paraná River, which is still remembered. November 20 of each year is National Sovereignty Day.

This is not the first time that historical documents signed by Mansilla have been found in San Pedro. In 2012, 40 unpublished letters were found, some signed by Juan Manuel de Rosas, others from Mansilla, which provided details of the logistics before and after the struggle for national sovereignty. Historic site for Forced return It is located only 19 kilometers from San Pedro. That’s why This entire area is imbued with a historical aura, like an open-air historical museum.

In Mansilla’s letters that this paleontology admirer presents in passing – strictly speaking, Aguilar is a chemical technician – we find the request in Mansilla’s handwriting for supplies, objects and materials. How could we not feel that there is a part of Argentine history in these newspapers that they are showing us now. It is like a history school manual that has become a reality in this geographical point of the country.

The thing is that the entire San Pedro area and its surroundings look like a historical site of importance in many ways for these latitudes. Because in addition to the results of the development of national civilization, other, much older results are added: The fossil is still two million years old. Excavating this area is like meeting the challenge of finding fossils that tell the ancient times not only of Argentina but of the planet Earth.

The Paleontology Museum was founded 22 years ago in this spirit: to preserve and tell what has influenced this region. Thus, a paleontological conservation group was formed that participates in excavations to recover the remains of animals that inhabited this area and which in 2003 was able to establish a paleontological museum in an old house from the late nineteenth century in front of the San Pedro Municipal Palace. It has its own features: The collection, distributed over eight rooms, contains pieces of high fossil value. It preserves, for example, the remains of the oldest horses yet discovered in South America or the remains of a herd of giant sloths, a unique species in the country. Just another little piece of history.

* The Fray Manuel de Torres Paleontological Museum receives visitors at Carlos Pellegrini 145, San Pedro. Information at gcfosiles@gmail.com.