The Arquivo Histórico Municipal João Spadari Adami de Caxias do Sul holds documentation pertaining to leprosy dating from 1930 to 1945.

There are documents from 1931, stamped Municipio de Caxias Dispensario “Ulysses Nonohay” (Caxias Municipality, “Ulysses Nonohay” Dispensary), requesting medication from the pharmacy, and another asking a photographer to send a picture for a medical card. The latter is signed by the Secretary of the Dispensary.

A circular dated 19 September 1931 from Dr Octavio Felix Pedroso to the Prefeito Municipal de Caxias requests information for publication about leprosy in the region. He would like to show the doctors of the town a new leprosy treatment, which can be made up in local pharmacies. There will also be a conference on ways to avoid leprosy. He also writes that he is studying the problem of leprosy. He has already published regarding therapeutics, and plans to publish on the administrative aspect of the disease, which constitutes part of a campaign against leprosy organised and transcribed by him.

A document dated 21 October 1933 is from Berenice Martins Prates, President of the Sociedade Mineira de Proteção aos Lazaros e Defesa contra a Lepra (Minas Gerais Society for the Protection of Lepers and Defence against Leprosy) to the Prefeito Municipal de Caxias. Prates writes that São-Tarcisio Preventório is being constructed for the housing and education of children of leprosy patients. It is being built with funds from the ‘tombola pró lazaros’ and from various other sources.

Two undated documents relating to the Anti-Leprosy Campaign are in this archive. One is entitled Campanha contra a Lepra – Contribuição das Prefeituras Municipais. This lists the names of twenty-six municipalities and the quantity donated by each to the campaign. Another is a transcription with a photograph of the Preventório São Tarcisio, of a report in the newspaper A Noite of Rio de Janeiro, distributed 28 September, praising the iniciative of the Sociedade Mineira de Proteção aos Lazaros e Defesa contra a Lepram and offering financial help. Both of these documents accompany the record described above, from Berenice Martins Prates.

A third undated document entitled Inquerito Sanitario Municipal, signed by Dr Medeiros Dantas, doctor of the National Leprosy Service, includes a history of the municipality including a map, the physical, administrative, demographic, economic, social, cultural and sanitary situation. The sanitary situation includes the municipal sanitation, endemics, other illnesses, sanitary defence, hygiene services, water and sewers, public cleanliness. Issues covered in this document that relate specifically to leprosy are history, census, an appreciation of cases encountered, considerations on foci.

A document dated 19 August, 1945, from the Prefeitura Municipal de Caxias do Sul to Doctor Medeiros Dantas, of the National Leprosy Service, contains requested information from the Questionnaire of the National Leprosy Service.

This archive holds newspaper articles from the 1930s on the Dispensário Ulysses Nonohay and other issues relating to leprosy.

Entry made 5 November 2002