Criticism of the state of historical studies in Portugal was later taken up once again by A. Braamcamp Freire, in the “Warning” to his collection Crítica e História – Estudos [Critic and History – Studies] (1910), which brought together several studies published by him between 1901 and 1902 in the Jornal do Commercio , in Lisbon, under the pseudonym Silex. It should be noted that his criticism did not focus on the lack of publication of sources, “Documents are now being published among us in sufficient numbers” ( Crítica e História – Estudos , 1996, p. III) (was he already thinking, among other projects, of the contribution of the Archivo on this point?), but rather on their quality for writing the “social history” that the author considered to be “certainly the most interesting [speciality] of history” (Idem, p. III), and essential for the transition from the 15 th to the 16 th century.

The “Warning” from the promoters also foreshadowed the historiographical orientation that would shape the journal: “send us the notes on the documents found and extracted, accompanied by excellent articles, or alone, with no other emphasis than their own value” (Idem, pp. VI-VII). Despite some exceptions, such as the contributions of João Lúcio de Azevedo and Costa Lobo, the historiographical line of the methodical school prevailed in the Archivo, as noted by José Amado Mendes, with greater emphasis given to political factors and the dissemination of sources, mainly from national history. Furthermore, “the very activity of archivists and palaeographers, carried out by some contributors – such as Pedro de Azevedo and António Baião – ended up favouring this type of concern. The orientation of the Archivo was similar to that of the prestigious French journal La Revue Historique , founded by Gabriel Monod in 1876” (J. A. Mendes, “Revistas de História”, pp. 213). The orientation of the Archivo , taking into account its objectives, concepts and, to a large extent, its collaborators, thus represented the scholarly and documentary concern of historical studies. In a sense, it was a continuation of the work developed by Alexandre Herculano (and others), a historian who greatly influenced Anselmo Braamcamp Freire. For example, the latter went on to direct the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica project at the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa [Lisbon Academy of Sciences]. Nevertheless, despite its importance, the journal model proposed by the Archivo , which was still very much in vogue at the time, began to show signs of wear and tear – or, at least, other complementary journal models began to appear. In this sense, although with other more ambitious purposes, the appearance of the Revista de História [History Journal] (1912-28), the structure of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Estudos Históricos [Portuguese Society for Historical Studies], and roughly contemporary with the Archivo , is revealing, as it already had a modern structure – with three sections: “Articles”, “Facts and Notes” and “Reviews”.

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