Vale Registrar

Acess the testimonials and interviews of Vale Registrar on the  video portal.

The Vale Registrar subprogram is designed to consolidate the cultural identity of Mariana and Ouro Preto residents, and encourage them to play a leading role in their own history.

Based on the interdisciplinary perspective of heritage education, the program introduces an educational know-how to the communities via non-formal modes of education, seeking to develop the instrumental ability mainly of teenagers, by using the existing exhibition spaces and equipment at the train stations in Ouro Preto and Mariana, aiming at registering and appreciating the region’s cultural heritage.

Oral History Work [+]

Oral History Work

The work of the Vale Registrar program with Oral History is based on the collection and communication of narratives about general life experiences in the region embraced by Trem da Vale.

It features two types of interviews – Life Histories and Thematic Histories – that take place periodically and alternately, in the history rooms at both Mariana and Ouro Preto train stations.

In this environment, focused on social memory, individual narratives are recorded to become duly processed documents which are then stored and made available at the Mariana Station Library in both printed and video formats.

Developed by means of a specific methodology used for recording oral history, this work contributes to the preservation of collective memory, as it provides the socialization and democratization of historical information.

As for the interviews, representative guests are considered from both cities, based either on their professional performance or their ability to provide relevant information on various aspects of the places where they were born or live.

Video Production and Instrumental Ability [+]

Video Production and Instrumental Ability

Vale Registrar considers a continuous production of videos and the development of the instrumental ability of teenagers and adults concerning knowledge and use of audiovisual language for recording local cultural assets.

In addition to training and pedagogical support, equipment and audiovisual resources are made available for recording both Life and Thematic Histories interviews, as well as for activities such as:

• recording of brief narratives by residents and visitors on themes connected with the cultural heritage of Mariana and Ouro Preto, through the installation of a mobile video cabin during different occasions and events in both cities;
• audiovisual qualification courses with the production of short video documentaries covering local events and cultural assets;
• and training for the Trem da Vale monitors in the operation and care of the Program’s equipment.

A range of electronic or digital media and audiovisual resources are used to register and disseminate the cultural referential collection of each city or community.

Researchers and visitors to the Trem da Vale web site can access available material produced in the first year of Vale Registrar, including the printed collection of transcripts of fifty-eight recorded interviews, a photographic collection that captures the program activities and its respective participants, an audiovisual collection composed of edited portions of ten recorded Life History interviews, documentaries made by students who participated in both video workshops, and editions from the eight completed video cabin sessions.

Qualification Courses [+]

Qualification Courses

In addition to revealing unique features of the cultural diversity from the region encompassed by Trem da Vale, audiovisual qualification courses for teenagers and adults, recordings of narratives made by local personalities and workers, as well as collection of the impressions from visitors and residents of local communities, also build a network of life experiences which, emerging from the memory of each interviewee, interweaves a collective history.

Everyone has a story to be told and retained, and each person has a different way of expressing his or her own story. This is how recognition of the past enriches the future, expanding the view of the historical process and allowing people to understand the present and act upon it.

The construction of collective memory by tapping into individual memories is essential to avoid the loss of local cultural identity and roots. Vale Registrar is a “living heritage” of Mariana and Ouro Preto.