Joaquim Romero Magalhães would, last Sunday, April 18, be 79 years old. To honor him, the Loulé Chamber gave the name of the researcher, university professor and proud Algarvian, who died in 2018, to the Municipal Archive.
The emblematic space, which holds important documentation of collective memory, of great relevance for the study of the History of Loulé, the Algarve and Portugal, with emphasis on the oldest known Atas de Vereação in the country (1384), classified as a National Treasure, will now bear the name of one of the main drivers of this space and the activities related to it, such as Al-Ulya Magazine.
«With a strong contribution to the dissemination and study of the historical documentation existing here throughout his life, he was a pioneer in visiting this Archive during the period in which he developed his degree thesis, defended in 1967 at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Coimbra, and published in 1970: “Study of the Economic and Social History of the Algarve in the XNUMXth century”», says the Câmara de Loulé.
This is, moreover, another tribute, together with the institution of the Joaquim Romero Magalhães Award, which aims to distinguish researchers in the area of historical and cultural heritage in the municipality of Loulé, in November 2018, when the magazine completed 25 years of existence.
On Sunday, two academics, colleagues, friends, and for whom Joaquim Romero de Magalhães was also a teacher, joined this ceremony to talk about the man, his work, his legacy and the contribution he made to Portuguese historiography.
From the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra, – «the school where our professor made his entire long and brilliant academic career (between 1973 and 2012)» -, was present the director Álvaro Garrido, who passed through the most important moments of the path and work of Romero Magalhães, which culminated in the attribution of the title of Doctor Honoris Causa, by the University of Algarve, days before his disappearance.
«Algarvian of gem, Loulé with immense honor, Joaquim Romero Magalhães deserves the tribute that he is given today», considered this colleague who praised his «extensive and highly recognized work, in Portugal, Brazil, Spain and in academic circles from many other countries, its taste for the History of the modern era and its role in the growth and affirmation of economic and social history in the Portuguese academic space (and beyond)».
Álvaro Garrido highlighted Romero Magalhães' degree thesis, “a daring work that stirred the warm waters of Portuguese historiography” or, as Luís Miguel Duarte, from the University of Porto, pointed out, “a perfect book, without any wrinkles”.
«Romero Magalhães combined historical scholarship with a narrative, almost literary style, and a biting irony. He understood history as a craft of writing, centered on explanation, but without giving in to theoretical trappings. He always understood that the research of documents and other historical sources obliges the historian to build an archival ethics and to make use of these traces of the past in a double perspective: as a probative instrument and as an exercise in credible narrative imagination. In other words, first the publication of sources, then the study, analysis and synthesis of written information», summarized Álvaro Garrido, underlining the enormous significance of his name being linked to the Loulé Archive.
“I understood the archive and the archivist as agents of mediation. It combined archival mastery with a tremendous intuition of analysis on the contexts of human action and on the contingency of historical processes», he also considered.
On a more personal note, Luís Miguel Duarte, from the University of Porto, himself with a remarkable path of historical and cultural research in Loulé, spoke of Romero Magalhães as «the person who, after my parents, most marked my life».
The professor recalled his first contact with the honoree, at the time of Liceu D. Manuel, in Porto, when Loulé was his History teacher, the friendship that was born there and the appeal to History after a brief spell at the Faculty of Law at the University of Coimbra, precisely under the influence of Joaquim Romero Magalhães. Thus, he followed in the footsteps of the «master», both in training and in his teaching career, in this case at the University of Porto.
«Quickly, a legion of young students who were his students and his admirers graduated in Porto, at the Faculty of Arts. He left many orphans among my students who became his too», said Luís Miguel Duarte, highlighting the vocation teacher and did not forget one of the last lessons he received from him, pointed out on a paper napkin at Café Calcinha, during a visit to city of Loulé.
He also recalled the "unusual intellectual and human qualities, an excellent conversationalist, a very loyal friend with a huge heart, a man who was too big and too intelligent to be parochial and small, but who was always from the Algarve and never failed to say so."
«This Archive was already unique, with the wealth of its funds and the dedication of its employees and managers. With a new name, it becomes a top place in Portuguese History and Culture and becomes a magical place for me», he concluded.
Visibly moved, Luísa Romero Magalhães, wife and companion of more than 50 years, remembered “the good man who tried to live with dignity and ethics” and the family that inspired him in that purpose.
«One of the grandparents, João da Rocha Magalhães, from Porto, a supporter of Afonso Costa. And the other, Santiago Formosinho Romero, from Loulé, a supporter of Mendes Cabeçadas. The father, Joaquim Magalhães, was a cultural promoter and greatly contributed to the dissemination of the poet Aleixo. It was his 'secretary'. The mother, Célia Vasques Formosinho Romero, was born in Loulé, was a pianist and piano teacher, friend and colleague of Loulé pianist Maria Campina», he said.
Family influences have also been at the origin of his ideals linked to the Republic and which he focused on in “Vem à República – 1906/10”, published in 2009.
On a civic level, he was “an intervening man committed to democratic socialism and republican ethics. He believed very much in the construction of Europe and its institutions, including the gradual construction of a federal Europe».
At the end of this ceremony, Mayor Vítor Aleixo highlighted the Municipality's purpose in carrying out initiatives such as this tribute: «to value our roots and exalt our best examples, where we naturally include in the front line Professor Joaquim Romero Magalhães, to cultivate the self-esteem of Loulé, in a world where everything becomes equal, everything becomes superficial».
The president of the Loulé City Council highlighted the "universalist dimension of man" of the honoree.
“In Loulé we cultivate and educate the love of young people from Loulé for their land, but always in an attitude of great openness to the values of universality,” he said.
As for the work carried out in terms of valuing the heritage and memory of local identity, together with municipal actions such as the creation of this Archive building, with “a journey” that began in 1999, in a protocol signed under the PARAM Program ; the creation of the Joaquim Romero de Magalhães Award; of the “discovery” of the Acts of 1384; or the launch of the “Cancioneiro Popular do Concelho de Loulé”, which will take place next week, Vítor Aleixo highlighted the role of “Louletians who have been good guardians over the centuries”.
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