The press and public education during the empire: the epistolary format of newspapers in Rio de Janeiro and Paraíba

Abstract

This article seeks to uncover how periodicals in the provinces of
Paraíba and Rio de Janeiro disseminated the news on education
and public instruction during the Empire through letter writing. To
that end, the epistles found in newspapers from these provinces
were analyzed using the rules and models of composition, as
disseminated in epistolary manuals, by regarded discursive
structure as impregnated with persuasive intent. Through the
letters on public education, it was was possible to verify the
writing of ordinary individuals who made up the public education
of the time, making it possible to understand the daily life of a
community of readers, taking note of what they did, read, wrote or
thought during the Empire