The pharmacy almanacs were a source of diffusion not only for medicines but also for ideas related with a project for the modernization of the Brazilian society. In the period 1920-1940 such publications dealt with several topics regarding childhood. Progress was associated with a well-cared and disciplined childhood. Wet-nurses and the type of breastfeeding were the subject of stubborn debates. Besides, it was also common the concern with educational issues in activities like games and pastimes, as well as in articles and texts about literacy campaigns, school maintenance and the publication of didactic materials, alphabets and multiplication tables. The woman is a privileged addressee, both on issues related with medicine and food care, and also on educative activities aimed at children. To care for and to educate a child symbolized the introduction of patterns that modernized many aspects of the Brazilian society.
Childhood; Pharmacy Almanacs; Nationalism
