Assistance in the former province of Rio de Janeiro:contributions to the debate about its organization (1930-1890)

Abstract

This article aims discuss how the assistance was built in four municipalities of the provinceof Rio de Janeiro throughout the nineteenthcentury: Cabo Frio, Vassouras, Valença andNiterói, capital of the province. Four distinctexperiences that allow us to question themeanings of the creation of care institutions inthese cities. From the guiding question - howwere “universal” models of care organizationapplied to establish health services in Braziliancities, taking into account local particularities?- four different experiences will be analyzed:Santa Izabel Charity of Cabo Frio (1830-1837);Holy House of Mercy of Valença (1838), HolyHouse of Mercy of Vassouras (1853) and SantaLeopoldina Asylum in Niterói (1854). The studyof these institutions allows us to understandthe Municipalities Act of 1828 as an importantpolitical framework for understanding itscreation; besides inserting them, also, in theimperial sociability, where the support for (andof) the new fluminense elite can be perceivedin the opening of Houses of Charity, as a wayto please the Emperor or to thank the desired/ received mercy