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Another type of study took on a more historical character, compiling a range of information relevant to local memories, including significant events, figures, heritage, especially artistic and religious monuments, along with legends and various narratives. In the early stages, these writings were based on rudimentary documentary foundations, relying heavily on observations and testimonies, as well as records preserved by the memories of local notables and the population over generations. Public archives were scarce, poorly equipped, and badly organised. Moreover, the methodological and critical tools available to scholars were limited, and the ideas that emphasised the importance of sources and meticulous archival work, vehemently advocated by A. Herculano and other erudite authors before him, did not find conducive conditions to expand among local history enthusiasts. To some extent, the works of the writer on Lisbon, Júlio de Castilho (1840-1919), namely Lisboa Antiga [Old Lisbon](Bairro Alto – 1879; Bairros Orientais – 1884-1890) may be considered representative of this type of history. However, the way was being paved towards a more objective history, and the publication of Portugaliae Monumenta Historica (1st vol., 1856) not only presented documents of interest for local history but also provided a good example of this shift. Directed by A. Herculano, the work was in line with that of scholarly academics who fought for the preservation and dissemination of documents, such as Bernardino J. de Sena Freitas, who had published a Collecção de memorias e documentos para a historia do Algarve [Collection of memories and documents for the history of the Algarve] (1846) and was later tasked by the Royal Academy of Sciences with organising the archives on the islands of São Miguel and Terceira. As a result of this work, the Memoria Historica sobre o Intentado Descobrimento de uma Suposta Ilha ao Norte da Terceira nos anos de 1649 e 1770 [Historical Memoir on the Attempted Discovery of a Supposed Island North of Terceira in the Years 1649 and 1770] (1845). The emphasis on documents deepened further with the dissemination of the historiographical currents of the so-called "methodical" or "positive" school in Portugal, and in the last quarter of the 19th century, valuable documentary collections and local histories with a critical and objective approach emerged.
