It should be noted how, in this example, Marcelo combines the documentary tradition always present in the Academy with a desire for cooperative work geared towards commemoration. The Academy also continued to publish sources, but this time in critical editions, as was the case with the Crónica Geral de Espanha [General Chronicle of Spain], prepared by Lindley Cintra and approved by the Council in 1950. Also, Marcelo brought about some changes, albeit relatively ephemeral, to the commemorations.  In an extraordinary session of the APH, the ratification of the Treaty of Madrid (1750) was celebrated, for which the ambassadors of Brazil and Spain were invited, resulting in a considerably greater impact beyond the academy. In the early 1950s, source criticism gained particular importance in the institution and became a relatively hegemonic practice within the virtue of documentary tradition, which continued to be one of the guiding virtues in the Academy. It was during these years that Virginia Rau, Veríssimo Serrão, and Silva Rêgo joined the Academy.

In its works and publications, the Academy began to define a corpus of works and themes that can be interpreted as of exceptional interest. As already seen,  the Academy gave particular priority to primary sources, in terms of its volume of publications, especially to medieval sources, such as chronicles, and sources on the early history of Portuguese expansion, with the publication of titles such as the manuscript of Valentim Fernandes and Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, as well as letters related to the history of Portuguese diplomacy, especially during the Restoration. This is mainly visible in the Annals and presentations to the Academy, where the works of the academics mostly focused on diplomatic and political history, medieval history, the history of the discoveries and Portuguese expansion, military and religious history. These themes formed the core of the Academy's works, but in the 1950s more innovative themes/interests began to emerge in the institution. Sometimes, a history less focused on personalities and more focused on institutions emerged, such as the history of local government and welfare institutions.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | (Pdf)