The project TRANSMAT — Transnational materialities (1850-1930): reconstituting collections and connecting histories, coordinated by Elisabete Pereira, was one of 312 selected for funding in the SR&TD Project Grants call promoted by the Foundation for Science and Technology.

The main objective of TRANSMAT is to study the origin of foreign collections in Portuguese archaeological museums, namely at the National Museum of Archaeology and the Santos Rocha Municipal Museum, institutional partners of the project. How did they arrive in Portugal and when? Who collected the objects? For what purpose were they displaced from their places of origin? How were they inserted in the various phases of existence of museums?

The answer to these questions will allow to open “new perspectives on the history of collecting and the history of museums in a global perspective, will enrich historical narratives, renew the theoretical and pedagogical resources of museums, provide guidance and direction for the future of collections, at the same time as it reinforces the role of museums as ‘trusted spaces’, trusted arenas of public space, civic leadership and intellectual credibility,” says the researcher.

Apart from Elisabete Pereira, IHC researchers Maria de Fátima Nunes (co-coordinator) and Quintino Lopes will also participate in TRANSMAT, in addition to António Camões Gouveia (CHAM — NOVA FCSH), Joana d’Oliva Monteiro (IHA — NOVA FCSH), Jorge Croce Rivera (CHAIA — UE), Ana Ferreira and Ana Paula Cardoso (Santos Rocha Municipal Museum), António Carvalho and Patrícia Baptista (National Museum of Archaeology). The project was awarded approximately 250 thousand euros for three years, having been ranked first ex-aequo in the Philosophy — History and Philosophy of Science panel, in a highly competitive call where only 5% of the projects were funded.