Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Sources for the Study of Brazilian Economic and Social History on the Internet

2004; Duke University Press; Volume: 84; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1215/00182168-84-4-701

1527-1900

H K Klein, Francisco Vidal Luna,

History of Colonial Brazil

In the past dozen years, the Internet has become a major source of information for modern social and economic history. Given the overwhelming abundance of these sources, it is useful for researchers who want to take advantage of these data to have finding guides, in the style of the older guides prepared for individual archives. It is our aim in this first essay to provide such a guide for Internet sources on Brazilian history.The primary material now available on the Web tends to be of the highest quality. Although much qualitative material produced directly for the Web is of dubious reliability, most of the statistical and graphic materials available were generated by the agencies that gather and produce this material for Brazil and are the same as those available in print. Often, the data provided are more complete than can be obtained in any print-based archive. One potential problem with using Web materials is determining the source of data, in order to judge its quality. International agencies, foreign governments, and NGOs are involved in producing social and economic data on Brazil. Much of this information is usually of the same high quality as that generated by Brazilian government agencies; the data is either generated by these non-Brazilian government agencies or taken directly from the primary Brazilian producing institutions. In some cases, secondary agencies such as the UN’s FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) provide more detailed information than Brazilian governmental sources. But in some cases, as with the World Bank and some other UN agencies, these data may conflict with information produced in Brazil, either because they have used Brazilian data that is out-of-date or rely on their own estimates, which may not be as accurate as the most current governmental statistics. In these cases, we recommend relying on the original Brazilian materials.It should be stressed that the Brazilian government, at all levels and across its various agencies, maintains these Web sites free or charge to all users, with no need to register, obtain a subscription, or pay a fee. The only exception is the subscriptions gateway maintained by CAPES, intended for Brazilian scholars who need access to subscription pay sites outside Brazil (http://www.periodicos.capes.gov.br). This open access is not the norm for many European and UN Web sites, which often require formal registration and sometimes charge usage fees. I have included this in my descriptions and suggest access through your local university.In comparison with most other countries, Brazil’s research institutes and government agencies both produce excellent quantitative materials and make them available on the Web. Most Brazilian Web sites offer good search functions, a crucial component of any site, and usually make it easy to download materials in either text, PDF, HTML, or spreadsheet formats (from generic CSV to Excel and Lotus). Maps and other graphic materials are becoming ever more abundant, usually provided in standard graphic compression formats (most often as JPEG or GIF files) or imbedded in PDF files. Almost all governmental Web sites also provide excellent links that can be used to expand the search for materials in other national and international agencies and organizations. Some sites offer a complete gateway (“portal” in Portuguese) that leads in a coherent way to subagencies or institutions within a given area.In providing this guide, we have grouped Web sites into sources that produce the original data and then grouped these and other institutions into broad social and economic categories. In each case we provide the Web site for the institution producing the data. But as anyone who has done Web searches knows, URLs often change or disappear. In these cases we recommend using a search engine such as Google to find the new addresses. Finally, for grammatical reasons, some of the URLs listed below end in a period in this document. But for searching purposes this period should be removed as they are not part of the Internet address.1. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), http://www.ibge.gov.br, the federal government’s national statistical bureau and clearly the single-most important Brazilian institution producing social, economic, and geographical data. IBGE’s site has a very useful links section, with lists of federal, state, and municipal government home pages, as well as federal, state, and municipal university sites. It also contains sources for geographic information and gives URLs for international organizations that provide information relevant to Brazil. Researchers can either download summary tables from the site or, through their special service SIDRA (see below), create their own tables of economic and social information taken from IBGE’s various censuses and surveys of population, the economy, and even of households (the famous PNAD surveys). The ability to generate personalized datasets is a very useful and unusual feature of this site.2. Ministério da Educação, http://www.mec.gov.br, offers general information on education, as well as access to several other important federal government agencies that work in this area, such as Fundo Nacional de Desenvolvimento da Educação (FNDE), the Conselho Nacional de Educação (CFE), the Fundo do Ensino Fundamental (FUNDEF), the Coordenação e Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal do Ensino Superior (CAPES), the Fundescola, and the Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais (INEP).The INEP is the research branch of the ministry, and their site (http://www.inep.gov.br/default.asp) offers a great variety of information, including formal educational censuses.3. Ministério da Previdência e Assistência Social (Social Services and Welfare), http://www.mpas.gov.br/#, provides information concerning welfare, work accidents, and even annual census materials related to these themes, especially under the section “Estatísticas.”4. Ministério da Saúde (Health), http://www.datasus.gov.br/, offers data related to public health and other social concerns. The ministry also administers an excellent gateway to all other agencies in Brazil dealing with health: http://portal.saude.gov.br/saude/.5. Banco Central do Brasil, http://www.bacen.gov.br, is a valuable source of primary information on the Brazilian economy that can be accessed through “Sistema Financeiro Nacional” and “Informações Econômicas e Financeiras” and offers general statistics on the economy and financial systems, with dozens of statistical series, short-term economic indicators, and macroeconomic information. The institution also generates numerous publications, including periodicals, special studies, and technical notes. The Central Bank’s data is notable for its quality and frequency. The Central Bank also provides information on the expanding agricultural sector, with statistics relative to various agricultural markets and public and private financing. Finally, it offers a gateway in both English and Portuguese, at http://www.bb.com.br/appbb/portal/index.jsp.6. Ministério da Fazenda (Treasury), http://www.fazenda.gov.br, contains much economic information, including data on the public debt and fiscal information, and an excellent set of links. The ministry also has legislative information, including acts related to the Treasury. Here one can also find copies of all the agreements signed between Brazil and the IMF.7. Caixa Econômica Federal (Federal Savings Bank), http://www.caixa.gov.br; through its “Fundo de Garantia por Tempo de Serviço,” the Caixa is the principal source of funding in the areas of Housing and Sanitation. Its site provides qualitative information on its programs, as well as relevant legislation. Unfortunately, the site offers no statistical information.8. Ministério do Planejamento, Controle e Gestão (Planning), http://www.planejamento.gov.br, presents general information concerning long-term federal investments, budget outlays, and principal programs. It also offers information on the relation of the federal government to international agencies and the administration of federal state enterprises. It offers links to a large number of national and international public agencies. The best social and economic research center in Brazil—IPEA—is located within this ministry but is discussed separately below (see section 4.2).9. Ministério da Agricultura, http://www.agricultura.gov.br/, is a very useful site with information on the production and commercialization of agricultural products. It also gives access to dozens of federal and state agencies on agriculture and food supply. A subsection of the ministry is the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA), one of the principal research centers in the country, http://www.embrapa.br. The site offers access to the fundamental “Base de Dados da Pesquisa Agropecuária de 2002,” which gives the latest statistical information (http://bdpa.cnptia.embrapa.br). Information on family agriculture can be found at http://gipaf.cnptia.embrapa.br. A virtual library with emphasis on agriculture can be accessed at http://www.sct.embrapa.br/liv/. Here one also finds the “Rede Nacional de Meteorologia,” offering information on climate and agricultural regions: http://masrv54.agricultura.gov.br/rna.10. Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego (Labor and Employment), http://www.mte.gov.br, contains information on unemployment insurance, annual employment figures in the private sector, and retirement plans from the Fundo de Garantia por Tempo de Serviço (FGTS). The “Estatísticas” section offers statistical materials on themes such as the “Relação Anual de Informações Sociais,” which gives annual data sent by private companies that contract workers. The site also presents employment and unemployment data from the “Salário Desemprego” and the “Sistema Nacional de Emprego (SINE),” data on work-related accidents, and other information related to workers.11. Ministério do Desenvolvimento Indústria e Comércio Exterior (Indus trial Development and Foreign Commerce), http://www.mdic.gov.br/default.asp, provides information on foreign trade, costs of production in various economic sectors, and research on productivity in general. It reproduces material from its Anuário Estatístico da Secretaria de Desenvolvimento da Produção on the Gross Domestic Product (PIB), as well as employment data for the industrial sector. This site also has a gateway to agencies that with deal with inter-industrial productive relations.A subsection of this ministry is the National Economic and Social Development Bank (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social, BNDES, which has an excellent site at http://www.bndes.gov.br. “Estudos e Publicações” presents statistical studies concerning the principal economic sectors, especially related to basic inputs and infrastructure, as well as material on social and urban development. The BNDES, as the administrator of the national program of privatization, also furnishes important information on this theme.The IBGE offers a very detailed listing of summary statistics and maps for every municipality in the country, showing the latest population, economic, and social data, at http://www.ibge.gov.br/cidadesat/default.php.Many of the states’ own statistical agencies maintain excellent Internet sites. São Paulo’s Fundação Sistema Estadual de Análise de Dados (SEADE), http://www.seade.gov.br, provides basic statistics on the state’s population and economy and direct access to the “Memória das Estatísticas Demográficas,” http://www.seade.gov.br/500anos, which presents, among other types of information, demographic statistics on the state’s municípios over the past one hundred years, along with useful historical maps. The SEADE site also offers links to all of Brazil’s state statistical agencies—for example, the Centro de Informações e Dados do Rio de Janeiro (Fundação CIDE), http://www.cide.rj.gov.br, and the Fundação João Pinheiro do Governo de Minas Gerais, http://www.fjp.gov.br.The IBGE site also offers links to many municipal governments, but there is also a special gateway to all municípios, Municípionline, at http://www.municipionline.com.br. http://brasilchannel.com.br/municipios serves a similar purpose. Finally “Rede Governo,” http://www.redegoverno.gov.br, functions as a gateway to numerous government agencies and services at all levels, including to Brazilian legislation.1. Under the section “População,” the IBGE site presents a series of statistical information, primarily demographic in nature. The two most important are the results from the last two national censuses, 1991 and 2000. This sectional also offers much information on health, education, labor force activity, and even sanitation, disaggregated at the national, state, and municipal levels. Another important subsection contains information from the famous household surveys—the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios, or PNAD, which has been systematically gathered from a very large national sample since the 1960s and is one of the most important periodical surveys carried out in Brazil. These surveys collect detailed information on income, employment, and housing, as well as educational and demographic data. Many of the earlier surveys are now available on CD, and data from the 2001 PNAD are already available on the Web. Vital statistics are found in the subsection “Estatisticas de Registro Civil,” which contains data on births, deaths, marriages, and divorce/separation for 1997–98 and 1999–2000. Life tables (“tabua de vida”) are available for 2000 and 2001. Finally, the latest population estimates and projections, made in 2000 and projecting basic demographic indices through 2050, can be obtained through FTP.One can link from the main IBGE site to their special Web program, SIDRA (“Sistema IBGE de Recuperação Automática”), at http://www.sidra.ibge.gov.br/bda. As mentioned earlier, this system allows users to create their own tables of selected data, controlling its tabular presentation, level of desegregation, and geographic scope. The tables created can either be viewed as HTML to cut- and-paste, or saved as a file in various formats.1 SIDRA contains both demographic and economic and social data2. Núcleo de Estudos em Demografia Histórica (NEDH), http://members.tripod.com/~Historia_Demografica/INDEX.HTM, publishes an online journal, as well as important bibliographic information and working papers. “Rol On-Line: Relação de Trabalhos Publicados na Área de História Demográfica” contains bibliographic citations and hundreds of summaries of articles.3. Associação Brasileira de Estudos Populacionais (ABEP), http://www.abep.org.br, offers access to numerous demographic studies, as well as links to other national and international institutions that have an interest in Brazilian demographic conditions.4. Centro de Documentação (CENDOC) do Núcleo de Estudos da Popu-lação (NEPO), http://www.unicamp.br/nepo, provides qualitative information and access to bibliographic data and studies produced by the researchers of the center. It also possesses a link to listings of similar institutions.5. Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe, Santiago de Chile, (ECLAC/CEPAL), http://www.eclac.cl, is an important UN regional agency providing fundamental comparative economic and social information. Access to its more-detailed statistical information (as with most UN agencies) may require a university subscription. However, their important studies, many of which have very detailed statistical information, are available in PDF format. Their most important publication is the Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean, a fundamental source of excellent materials. They also publish special reports, such as Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean—2002 Report, and Social Panorama of Latin America 2001–2002. CEPAL is also the parent for the Centro Latinamericano y Caribeño de Demografía (CELADE), http://www.eclac.cl/celade/. CELADE works closely with all the Latin American government statistical agencies, including IBGE. Its site contains excellent demographic information, and the agency publishes the Boletín Demográfico, which can be accessed online and which normally concentrates on a different theme each issue (urbanization, for example). An examination of the CELADE publications list shows around 2,500 documents, reports, and publications related to Brazil.6. The United Nations Population Division, http://www.un.org/popin, is the best source for international demographic materials, some of which go back to the mid–twentieth century, but requires a university subscription for access. The Population Division also produced An Historical Supplement covering world and country data from 1948–97, available on CD-ROM. The organization collects data on housing, vital statistics, and social indicators, along with information about migration, urbanization, refugees, and so on.7. The World Health Organization of the United Nations can best be used through its WHOSIS search engine (WHO Statistical Information System), http://www3.who.int/whosis/menu.cfm. The WHO also can lead one to the regional health organization PAHO (Pan American Health Organization), http://www.paho.org/default.htm. Data can be found at the section called “Health Data.”8. U.S. Census Bureau, International Program Center, http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/index.html, contains information on Brazil and the other countries of Latin America. A list of publications is available at http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbnew.html.9. IPUMS International, http://www.ipums.umn.edu/international/index.shtml, at the University of Minnesota, is currently generating public-use samples (of individuals) from Latin American censuses in the twentieth century, available in either SAS or SPSS format.10. Institut National d’Études Démographique (INED), http://www.ined.fr/population-en-chiffres/indexF.html, maintains a great quantity of demographic information from all the countries of the world.11. Max Plank Institute, http://www.demogr.mpg.de, and the University of California at Berkeley, Department of Demography, maintain an online historical mortality database. This excellent source for nineteenth- and twentieth-century age, sex, birth, death, and life-expectancy tables for many European and American countries is available at http://www.mortality.org. Along with INED, these two institutions also maintain a life table for world populations at http://www.lifetable.de.12. The World Bank offers substantial statistics on Brazil and other Latin American counties at http://www.worldbank.org/data, under “Data and Statistics.” “Documents and Reports” houses some 748 reports dealing with Brazil. This section can only be used through a university subscription. There is also an “Economic Growth Project” that presents select statistical series on economic growth as well as research papers: http://www.worldbank.org/research/growth.13. The Mormon Church sustains an important online guide for genealogical and demographic research on Brazil. This listing is quite complete and contains a large number of important references: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/Rg/guide/Brazil11.asp.14. The Office of Population Research of Princeton University presents an extensive bibliography on demographic themes under its “Population Index”: http://popindex.princeton.edu/search.15. The University of Texas, Population Research Center, http://www.prc.utexas.edu/cis/links.html, maintains a very extensive listing of working papers. It also has a useful links section.16. The Inter-American Development Banks (BID) has a list of studies available on Brazil, http://www.iadb.org/exr/doc98/pro/paisbr.htm. Studies related to Latin American social policies produced by the SDS (Sustainable Development Department) division of the bank can be found at http://www.iadb.org/sds/publication_list_e.htm.1. At the IBGE home page, the section on “Economia” presents numerous economic census materials, such as the national accounts for 1996–2001, as well as regional accounts, the agricultural census, and general information about the principal economic sectors. “Indicadores conjunturais,” for example, contains data on agricultural production, national accounts by trimester, industrial production, commerce, and general indicators of prices, along with information on employment and salaries. Another important IBGE-directed survey here is the Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares (POF), a household survey with detailed information on households, families, and very detailed family budget information.2. The Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA), http://www.ipea.gov.br, an applied research center within the Ministry of Planning, is one of the most important research centers dealing with the economy and society of Brazil. It also contains some excellent historical data. IPEA researchers often generate their own data series, or the institution has direct access to agencies which do. Its Web site is well organized and includes a very large number of studies in Portuguese and English as PDFs, under “Textos para Discussão,” as well as its Boletim de Conjuntura, under “Publicações.” The working papers begin from 1990. The IPEA also maintains its primary data materials in a site called IPEADATA, http://www.ipeadata.gov.br. This important database contains some 5,000 series, of which 2,500 are available free for public use via the Internet and includes series on themes such as balance of payments and exchange rates, foreign commerce, domestic sales and consumption, national accounts, employment, public finance, social indicators, interest rates, money and credit, population, prices, production, salaries, and income. Of these series, 1,900 are annual and some began in the 1940s; 900 are trimestral and 2,600 are monthly, many of which begin in the 1970s. The various series are easy to manipulate and are the most complete available from any source. In the “Temas” section will be found information on the international economy, pub lic finances, population, and social indicators. The “Indicadores Sociais,” usually calculated by IPEA itself, are of great research utility. This is the case, for example of its “Número de Pessoas Abaixo da Linha de Indigência e de Pobreza,” as well as its inequality indices, with series going back to 1977. In fact, many of the working papers of IPEA deal with the central issue of poverty and inequality in Brazilian society.There are also semipublic and private research centers which provide important information. Many of these centers, in fact, produce their own surveys and research materials which they make available.1. Departamento Intersindical de Estatísticas e Estudos Sócio-Econômicos (DIEESE), http://www.dieese.org.br, is an especially important organization maintained by the unions and which for decades has produced important re-earch related to workers—from employment and salaries to prices and labor markets in general. Statistical information is available at http://www.intranet.dieese.org.br/bmacro/autentic.html.2. The Vargas Foundation (Fundação Getúlio Vargas, FGV), http://www.fgv.br, provides access to working papers, research, and statistical series of various economic indicators, including the well-known “Índice Geral de Preços.”3. The Economics Faculty of the University of São Paulo, the Fundação Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas (FIPE), http://www.fipe.com, also produces research studies and has an “índice de preços ao consumidor” for the city of São Paulo.4. Instituto de Pesquisas do Rio de Janeiro (IUPERJ), http://www.iuperj.br, is a research and teaching center specializing in the social sciences; through its “Banco de Dados” it permits access to various databases, especially of a political and social nature. Here will also be found “Urbandata,” a bibliography on urban issues in Brazil, as well as “Dataíndice,” which contains approximately 12,000 summaries of articles in the social sciences.5. The Instituto de Economia da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, http://www.ie.ufrj.br, carries out important research on the Brazilian economy, and its Web site contains a great number of publications, such as “Textos para Discussão” and “Boletins de Conjuntura.”6. Within Brazil there are various national gateways maintained for economic researchers. These include Prossiga–NUCA, http://www.prossiga.br/boletins, a Web site maintained by NUCA (UFRJ) and CNPq, which includes databases, research, and working papers. The Rede Acadêmica de Ciência Econômica (RACE), http://www.race.nuca.ie.ufrj.br, is also maintained by NUCA (UFRJ). This site also lists theses produced in the Brazilian graduate centers, as well as a significant deposit of working papers in economics classified by area of specialization.1. WebEc (Web Resources in Economics), http://www.helsinki.fi/WebEc/WebEc.html, is probably the most complete international source—an obligatory visit for anyone studying the Brazilian economy or wishing any kind of economic information.2. WoPEc (Working Papers Economics), http://netec.mcc.ac.uk/WoPEc.html, contains some 22,000 working papers classified by topic.3. SOSIG, http://www.sosig.ac.uk, is maintained by the British government and presents detailed descriptions of various resources in economics. The site contains sections on development economics, environmental economies, international commerce, and so on.4. The Penn World Tables, http://datacentre2.chass.utoronto.ca/pwt, is a world databank compiled by Lawrence Summers and Alan Heston, extensively utilized in comparative long-term macroeconomic studies. It permits the selection of information by country and time period.1. Latin American Colonial Historical Statistics, http://www.laceh.com, is a collection of very important data on prices, taxation, and mining from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, put together by Professor Richard L. Garner. It does contain some Brazilian material.2. Center for Research Libraries/Latin American Microfilm Project’s Brazilian Government Document Digitization Project. At the Chicago Center for Research Libraries, several major microfilm collections have been converted into TIFF files and made available as images. The introduction to the site is found at http://catalog.crl.edu/search/Xmensagens&SORT=R/Xmen-sagens&SORT=R/12,2,B/l856&FF=Xmensagens&1,1,,1,0,.These collections include(a) The annual provincial governor’s reports from the Brazilian provinces in the nineteenth century, which contained major appendices of statistics dealing with all types of economic and social issues. These have been indexed and are online (in the original Portuguese) at http://www.crl.uchicago.edu/info/brazil/pindex.htm. The index to their important statistical tables done by Ann Hartness can be found at http://brazil.crl.edu/bsd/bsd/hartness/crl.html.(b) Federal Government “Ministerial Reports, 1821–1960” for the Ministries of Fazenda (1821–1949), Imperio (1832–88), Relações Exteriores (1830– 1960), Justiça (1825–1928), Agricultura (1860–1960), Marinha (1827–1959), Guerra (1827–1939), Industrias, Viação e Obras Publicas (1893–1909), Viação e Obras Publicas (1909–52), Trabalho, Industria e Commercio (1935– 47), Interior (1891–92), Instrucçao Publica, Correios e Telegraphos (1891), and Educação e Saude Publica (1932).(c) National presidential messages from 1890 to 1993.(d) Almanak Administrativo, Mercantil e Industrial do Rio de Janeiro (1844–89).3. Historical Statistics of the Twentieth Century. This past year the staff of the IBGE prepared this extraordinary collection of all the available statistics from the federal government for the entire twentieth century. It is available via the Web or for purchase on CD. This astonishing collection of some 326 historical series from all the reports for the federal government is formatted for Excel. The tables are grouped into thematic areas: Associativismo, Cultura, Educação, Habitação e Infra-Estrutura, Justiça, População, Previdência Social, Representação Política, Saúde, Trabalho, and Conceitos e Definições. Each is further organized in chronological order. They have also copied and made available the Anuário Estatístico do Brasil 1953, the Sinopse do Censo Industrial e do Censo de Serviços 1940, and the Sinopse Preliminar do Censo Industrial 1953 as annexes. When downloading, the extraction programs will create directories for each of these areas and give HTML pages that index all the available tables by name and date, which in turn automatically loads into your browser. It is a rather unique source and one that will be of inestimable value to all historians. This data can be accessed at the home page of the IBGE under the section “Canais.”4. The Dutch have created the WWW Virtual Library, Labour and Business History, http://www.iisg.nl/~w3vl, which contains a major selection of sites on economic, business, and labor history and is supported by the International Institute of Social History and The Netherlands Economic History Archive, both of Amsterdam.5. The Cliometrics Society of the United States maintains EH.Net, http://www.eh.net, which provides information on data banks and working papers.1. The Associação dos Arquivistas de São Paulo (ARQ-SP), http://www.arqsp.org.br, has links to the most important national and international archives.2. Bibliographies on Brazilian demographic and economic history and CVs of individual researchers are available at http://members.tripod.com/~Historia_Demografica/INDEX.HTM, maintained by the Núcleo de Estudos em Demografia Histórica (NEDH). Some of the articles can be copied from the Web site. The same site permits access to “Rol On-Line: Relação de Trabalhos Publicados na Área de História Demográfica,” which contains bibliographies and summeries of hundreds of articles on this theme.3. The Associação Brasileira de Estudos Populacionais (ABEP), http://www.abep.org.br, permits access to numerous studies on the Brazilian population and links to other national and international institutions which deal with this theme.4. The Centro de Documentação (CENDOC) do Núcleo de Estudos da População (NEPO), http://www.unicamp.br/nepo, provides qualitative information, access to bibliographic databases, periodical collections, and studies produced by the center’s reserachers, and has links to other centers which study this theme. The most useful section is at http://143.106.103.159.5. The Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporânea do Brasil (CPDOC), under the auspices of the research center at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas, http://www.cpdoc.fgv.br/comum/htm, possesses the most important archive of personal papers of major Brazilian public figures.6. All of Brazil’s major archives now have Web sites, but they offer little material online. But several have online catalogs and guides. The most representative entities include:The most important entities which support scientific research in Brazil also provide useful Web sites with links and access to scientific publications, theses, and dissertations.1. Centro Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), http://www.cnpq.br, is the most important of these entities. The CNPq also maintains an import gateway called Prossiga, http://www.prossiga.cnpq.br, which enables foreign scholars to access online Brazilian journals and dozens of research centers in all areas of research. This site also provides access to theses and dissertations.2. CAPES, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, which is the government’s fellowship granting organization, also has a “Banco de Teses,” with summaries of 185,000 theses and dissertations produced between 1985 and 2001. CAPES can be accessed at: http://www.capes.gov.br/.3. IBICT–Teses, http://www.ibict.br/bdtd/lado.htm, is another thesis data bank.4. The Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), http://www.fapesp.br, provides links to other organizations and information about its own research grants. The FAPESP, with the support of the CNPq, also maintains the very important SCIELOBrazil (Scientific Electronic Library on Line) at http://www.scielo.br, which provides access to Brazilian online scientific journals. This site allows free downloading of journal articles in PDF format. Like JSTOR, it has a good search engine.5. The University of São Paulo library presents two very useful sites: http://dedalus.usp.br:4500/ALEPH/por/USP/USP/DEDALUS/START and Portal Saber, http://www.saber.usp.br, which permits access to a new collection of theses and dissertations in electronic format (though only a few theses are currently available), the “Banco de Dados Bibliográficos da USP,” and the “Cidade do Conhecimento,” which is a communication network between the scholarly world and the world of work coordinated by the Institute of Advanced Studies of USP. Finally, it contains a “Biblioteca Virtual do Estudante Brasileiro” which aims at making materials available online for primary and secondary school teachers.As can be seen from this initial listing, there are numerous locations on the Internet for studying Brazilian society and economy in the modern period. Given the number of existing Web sites, we see this essay as a first approximation for a listing of such sources. Since Internet sources are constantly changing, it is obvious that this first approximation will have to be revised periodically, either by ourselves or any other researcher who desires to further this initial effort. Suggestions can be sent to the authors at either fvluna@terra.com.br or hsk1@columbia.edu.