Cáceres, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Two weeks ago I packed up my bags and made the four hour bus ride from Cuiabá to Cáceres.  Cáceres sits along the Paraguay River at the northern edge of the Pantanal and about 70 miles from the Bolivian border town of San Matías.  In its heyday in the early 20^th century, it formed a key commercial crossroads between Cuiabá and eastern Bolivia (from east to west) and between the Amazon and Corumbá and points south (via the Paraguay River and its tributaries from north to south).  Today it is a town of just under 90,000 people and home to the state university of Mato Grosso, UNEMAT, which houses an archive where I’ll spend the next several weeks researching.

I’m staying in a hotel right now in the center of town, within walking distance of the main plaza, and within biking distance of UNEMAT.  I’ve made some contacts here through friends in Cuiabá who have been super helpful, putting me in contact with the right people and showing me around town.  The average temperature here during the day has lately been in the mid to upper 90s, so I’m grateful to have friends here who are willing to drive me around.  

Marco do Jauru: historic 18th century boundary marker between Spanish and Portuguese territories

There are two archives where I’ll spend time researching.  The first is called the Nucleo de Documentação de História Escrita e Oral (NUDHEO), on the campus of UNEMAT.  It’s a small archive adjacent to the history department that houses a few personal collections important for my research as well as a handful of institutional collections (local government bodies, etc).  I’m starting with the collection of an American pathologist named Alexander Daveron who first came to Mato Grosso in 1931 as part of a scientific expedition but ended up buying property and lived in Cáceres off and on for most of his life, until his death in the 1980s.  The collection is uncatalogued and since most of the documents are written in English, I’ve agreed to help catalog it since I’m planning to look at the whole collection anyway.  In exchange, they said I can come in the morning when they are closed, which will help me make full use of my time here. 

NUDHEO

Besides the Daveron collection, I’m planning to go through the personal papers of Reys Maldonado, who served as the Bolivian vice-consul in Cáceres in the 1940s and 50s.  After that, I’m going to spend time looking through the administrative records of Fazenda Descalvados, one of the region’s most economically important cattle ranches during my period of study.  I’m also planning to research at the municipal archive here in town, reading correspondence, reports, and municipal legislation.  These collections will give me a fuller picture of local society than I’ve gotten to date through regional and national archives.

My little work space

I’m also using my time here to make contacts with potential interviewees.  As my research has progressed I’ve started to become very interested in the oral traditions and local knowledge that have developed over decades (and centuries) around the Pantanal’s flora and fauna.  Over the weekend I had the chance to go around town with a local oral historian and talked with a few of the town’s older residents who used to go hunting in the Pantanal.  In a week or two, I’m also planning to tag along with a university group on a trip to interview fishermen/women who belong to a fishing colony.  If I get the chance (and IRB approval), I hope to come back and interview more people on my own.

After about two months of mediocre research results, I’m really excited about what I’m finding here in Cáceres.  Hopefully there will be more good finds to come.