Introduction³

“The issue of students’ uniforms has been considered by Mr. Casimiro as a serious social problem” (^{O uniforme..., 1894}, p. 2). This is the first phrase of a piece of news published in the newspaper Pacotilha about school uniforms. In similar statements, the obligation of uniforms is criticized under the argument that this decision would result in a frequency decrease of poorer students. Thus, we use the newspaper as our primary source. We base our analysis on the discourses published by the press about the Republican secondary school uniform seeking the representations of Liceu Maranhense, an institution that is still currently working.

Furio ^{Lonza (2005}) explains that school uniforms emerged as a mechanism of identification, safety, and discipline in Brazilian establishments. In this logic, they not only dressed the students with schooling characteristics but also created bonds among these individuals. As a recognized member of that socialization place, students should follow the behavior rules imposed for permanence. According to ^{Vincent, Lahire, and Thin (2001}, p. 17), "[...] School is fundamentally connected to forms of power exercise [...]"; that is, it is immersed in imposition and appropriation processes; the uniform imposed as an obligatory element and how the student body reacts to this rule. This problematization denaturalizes the object, the beginnings of its introduction in school grammar that defines the "[...] organization forma that rule instruction" (^{Souza, 2013}, p. 29).

Conducting our analysis through the theory of school form, proposed by these authors, implies understanding each decision as the result of a model, a concept about school, while imposing to individuals new practices adequate to the particular circumstances that characterize the space and its participants. Therefore, our problem is understanding how the process of school uniform insertion occurred as an obligatory element in the case of Liceu Maranhense, respecting “[...] the particular configuration within its own logic [...]” and seeking in other institutions, such as Colégio Pedro II, “[...] possibilities of balance interaction, and not competitive ones. The intention is to discover in this relation what aspects connect and disconnect, not seeking an ideal form to be reproduced” (^{Vincent et al., 2001}, p. 12).

According to the theory of school form, school institutions have historical forms; each one continuously builds and transforms its own social configurations, meanings, and solutions. These forms are branched; they emerge 'of,' and produce new forms 'from them,' as “[...] every appearance of a social form is connected to other transformations; [so] the school form is connected to other forms, notably political ones [...]" (^{Vincent et al., 2001}, p. 12). In this understanding, we affirm that, despite a pattern, there are differences to be discovered from the appropriation of imposed materialities, valuing the transformations the uniform has undergone in the Maranhão context.

To do so, we used the theoretical-methodological assumptions of Cultural History, focusing on its three fundamental axes: 1) the history of objects and their materiality; 2) the history of practices in their differences, and; 3) the summing up of these two previous axes in a more general form of understanding the configurations established by the subjects involved, the changes in psychological structures, following the appropriation of different objects that express the difference of practices, and the conceptual armors that prevailed in a specific time, analyzing in these scopes in their historical variations (^{Chartier, 1988}; ¹⁹⁹¹; ^{Nunes & Carvalho, 2005}; ^{Castellanos, 2020}).

The intention here is not restricted to descriptive aspects. We seek to understand the uniform as an element that reorganizes the subjects' practices, which, at its core, carries diverse representations, from idealization to the progressive insertion in the school dynamic. We also present the impositions (obligation) and the respective resistances (opposition) through the local press, not as a single perspective but as one of the endless reactions in movement related to the phase of uniform introduction, the possible effects of its obligation in social relations. Thus, we intend to contribute to the studies in the History of Education, adding traces of the history of school uniforms in Maranhão secondary school to the ongoing productions and the national and local levels about school material culture.

School uniform as a discursive object

The first filtering of the source is mediated by the 'history of objects in their materiality.' In this axis, we must consider four fundamental aspects: form, frequency, and structure (^{Chartier, 1988}; ¹⁹⁹¹; ^{Nunes & Carvalho, 2005}; ^{Castellanos, 2017}). The aim is to understand the environment configurations in which the object expresses itself. In this study, the source is Pacotilha, and the object of analysis is the school uniform. Through the press we seek “[...] history and memory evidence of a given institution or a group, seeking to unveil the symbolic meanings that this object acquired in the school and social universe, denaturalizing and historicizing their uses” (^{Ribeiro & Silva, 2012}, p. 577).

We highlight some relevant factors that are part of the representations, elements that emanate from the universe of newspapers: the Pacotilha started to circulate in 1880, changing the management throughout the years; according to José Fernandes, it was a “[...] propagandist of abolition and the Republic [;] a diary that [for] Humberto de Campos [was] between 1910 and 1923, the best written in Brazil [...]” (^{Fernandes, 2015}, p. 62); an opinion genre that promoted “[...] the criticism against the authorities, particularities and other newspapers, when appropriate, and benefiting the community” (^{Jorge, 2008}, p. 329).

We highlight that the Republican press of Maranhão had a market not restricted to the news. Public support was fundamental not only for purchasing newspapers but also for the publication of books and other printed materials, such as advertisements, magazines, and event labels of drinks and medications (^{Fernandes, 2015}). Liceu’s school uniform, through Pacotilha advertisement, has a differentiated frequency that starts gradually, more specifically, on September 10, 1897, when Chapelaria Alemã announces bonets [hats] for “[...] the military, and other corporations such as the customs, mail, telegraph, seminar, lyceum" (^{Despachou,1897}, p. 3).

According to ^{Jorge (2008}), the newspaper was under the management of its founder, Vitor Lobato, for ten years, consolidating itself in the press as a new way of producing, distributing, and standing out due to its low cost. In 1890, Pacotilha was sold to Dr. José Barreto Costa Rodrigues, who became the newspaper's chief editor, "[...] changing its format and promising to keep the current journalistic standards" (^{Jorge, 2008}, p. 338). The first article related to the school uniform at Liceu was published on May 30, 1894, in this administrative context. When questioning the form, frequency, device, and structure of the records in the press, we dialogue with the newspaper choices on how to inform the mandatory use of school uniforms.

The ‘form’ relates to the descriptive representation of the object in the source. According to the news published on May 30, 1894, until that day, there was no single uniform model. There was no prescriptive form: “[...] it would be just as well for the students to use a certain clothing or any other, arbitrarily, as happens today” (^{O Uniforme ..., 1894}, p. 2). The obligatory uniform was imposed in two forms: a more expensive and a cheaper model. In the previous years, we identified some characteristics of one of the proposed models, the most expensive was composed of "[...] a brown shirt with black buttons and the hat with a shiny brim, where, in front and around, shined a book embroidery in gold, the badge of scholars” (^{O Manduca, 1904}, p. 1). Regarding the other, we could not find more details, just that it cost 35$000 réis (^{Uniforme..., 1894}). Furthermore, we perceived that each news outlet also had a specific form, as did the advertisements. Identifying them contributes to understanding the discourses.

About the use of particular clothing, the newspaper added that the presence of specific fabric in places where students’ parents had credit was a facilitator that defined “[...] the quality of the clothes with which they present themselves to watch the lessons. [...] When imposing official clothes, this ease disappears [...]” (^{O Uniforme ..., 1894}, p. 2).

Working with 'frequency', we investigated how many times the newspaper talks about the theme and the repetition of the theme in specific forms in the paper, attempting to understand the movement of the object in the source: absences and permanences. Thus, from 1894 to 1898, 24 articles were published criticizing the obligatory use under two arguments: 1) the decision would affect the permanence of students who did not have the financial resources to fulfill the demand; 2) the disagreement with Liceu’s teaching model (day school). According to the Pacotilha publication, the obligation of certain clothes is normally used in boarding schools; in day schools, such as Liceu Maranhense, “[...] there is full freedom about this topic, respecting only the due restriction imposed by decency” (^{O Uniforme ..., 1894}, p. 2).

The differentiation between these two models is a point to be considered. With routines involving students with a shorter permanence time, the interaction with the schools' surroundings and families is broader in day schools. The longer the time, the greater the need to detail the conditions, including ways of dressing and behaving, aiming to control the complexity of the relationships of subjects in formation. When stating that this practice would only be common in boarding schools, the newspaper contradicts the discourse of the previous citation about the existence of fabrics in specific establishments where parents had credit, after all, could this not be a practice of standardization in the 'decency' standards, following the period criteria? Questions such as this make it essential to reflect on frequency because the analysis of this element evaluates not only the quantitative aspects but also the characteristics and reasons for these variations (^{Castellanos, 2017}).

The 'device' is the materiality that carries the object, the 'source.' In this case, the device is the newspaper (text). ^{Barros (2019}) classifies the newspaper as a 'cultural product' and lists five questions to be asked about this type of historical source: "What type of object is a newspaper? What is its end? What practices are associated with it? What demands does it answer? How does it affect the lives of men and women in society and in their private lives?” (Barros, 2019, p. 179). These questions should follow the whole study process, seeking its development and changes through time. According to the data of Pacotilha itself, its methods of reaching the public changed the methods of newspaper distribution in Maranhão, narrowing the contact of the press with the reader and reconfiguring its role when becoming financially more accessible and diversified.

Looking at the 'structure' means investigating other discourses surrounding the event attempting to unveil its ends beyond what was said through the dialogue enacted with other writings in the same newspaper. The article published on May 30, 1894, entitled 'Pacotilha - O uniforme dos estudantes’ [Pacotilha- students’ uniforms] appears in 2^nd column of the 2^nd page (2/4) of the artifact: on the top of the paper; beside the sermon about ‘Sciences, Letters, and Artas" and under a poem. In the device's topography, we can observe that Pacotilha inserts the theme into a more literary context and that this organization favors the access to the news for readers whose focus is entertainment.

We broadly notice that the criticisms were disseminated in a daily newspaper that, among other themes, approaches public instruction and is a showcase for commerce in school. We observed that while its criticisms circulated and the decision suffered alterations, there were no advertisements suggesting the purchase of uniforms nor similar proposals. According to the news published until 1897, there was an alternative market with a greater variety of materials to produce adequate clothes for the institution where students' guardians with less money could resort to adapt their children to the classes (^{O Uniforme ..., 1894}).

In this sense, on the one hand, the newspaper shows social concern, stating that, when imposing obligatory models, the school would reduce the multiple purchase points in which parents could select the materials most adequate to their conditions; on the other hand, we do not ignore that the concern with school dropout and the pubic causes might also have a certain political bias. These perspectives do not anull each other but show how school material culture reflects the different intentions that cross the construction of school environments, their attributes, and roles (^{Castellanos, 2020}).

In the second paragraph of the article from May 30, 1894, the newspaper is concerned with the indication that presents itself as “[...] something meaningless, in appearance [...]”. However, “[...] reflecting on the subject, one can see that this issue is not indifferent [...]” (^{O uniforme ..., 1894}, p. 2). According to the publication, the obligation of uniforms implied a decrease in class presence for the poorest children, to whom the issue of clothing ' was not indifferent.' One can suppose that for the student commission who asked the creation of uniforms, whose justification was grounded on personal security, the problem of inequalities this change might cause was not visible or relevant.

Under this perspective, the resistance would have started from the families of students who could not buy them, people who were probably not a part of the decision-making processes. So far, we have observed the presence of at least two different groups: students belonging to the commission, who consider it an indispensable item, and students who could not afford to adequate themselves to this measure, regardless of whether they agreed or not with its meaning and benefit. Nevertheless, we cannot affirm if there was a direct relationship between families' purchase power and uniform approval, because we understand the symbolic weight of these objects, able to raise desire, even if resulting in higher investments than guardians' financial conditions.

Opinative and publicity genres related to the school uniform were strategically used according to the criticism towards its mandatory use. If we study the object since 1897, we can be faced with the false sensation that these clothes have always been part of the school space and that there was no conflict in their purchase. However, when analyzing the previous years of the same paper, we can perceive that the changes followed political, social, economic, and educational transformations. In this direction, the school constantly adjusts to new agents and administrative actions in a constant negotiation with families and students. Gradually, objects like the uniform merge into the school routine and are no longer a novelty, being portrayed in enrollment documents, stores, and advertisements.

Who invests/dress (in) Liceu school uniform

In the case of uniforms, the practices referring to their use or rejection are seen as representations in the newspaper discourses. To do so, we question what each subject or group makes with the same object imposed. This analytical axis deals with the 'history of practices in their differences' and is dedicated to reading about the different actions of the characters involved in the problem. ^{Chartier (1991}) explains that in the representation game, there is a two-way street, composed, on one hand, of those who hold the power to build, create, name, and classify social identities and their ramifications, on the other, composed by social groups that translate these impositions and (re)create their classifications, that is, “[...] their capacity of recognizing their existence from a demonstration of unity” (^{Chartier, 1991}, p. 183).

According to an article published on June 14, 1894, the idea of adopting a uniform might have emerged from the verbal representation of a commission of Liceu’s students that, when approved, became a public call. Thinking about a commission incites us to reflect about who their members were, and what would be the nature of the relationships established between these representatives and the State.

In 1904, a memoir was published narrating the story of Manduca, a student who would have experienced the early years of uniform imposition (1893-1894). In that period, a group of students would have asked vice-governor Casimiro Dias Vieira Junior for the use of uniforms “[...] as a guarantee against the uncontrolled recruiting enacted under the federal state orders, in the whole Republic. The revolution of September 1893 was underway” (^{O Manduca, 1904}, p. 1). The name Casimiro Dias was frequently used in the critical pieces at Pacotilha. In one of them, the author ironically states that there had never been a government as popular as that one “[...] who has given his name to the uniforms of the boys from Liceu, to the checks of the treasure that circulate around [...]” (^{Eleições..., 1894}, p. 3).

Some historical aspects help to understand this context. ^{Vidal and Silva (2013}) explain that the factory demands at the end of the 19^th century started to align with the proposal of obligatory schooling, the organization and maintenance of a routine, and discipline. This alignment implies thinking about a school material culture based on the homogeneity of teaching materials, of which uniforms are a part. A homogeneity that, in the Maranhão case, was changed. The existence of two models establishes the presence of a difference in the attending public, despite that, according to Pacotilha, the inequality problem was not solved.

The paper informs that the average price of the cheapest uniform was 35$000 réis and, as they needed to wash it, each student would need at least two, so, 70$000 “[...] the gift given from the government to the poor parents that have their children in this education institute. If we are not mistaken, the number of students will sharply decrease with the implementation of this reform” (^{Uniforme, 1894}, p. 2).

The market enters this scenario benefiting for the large-scale production. It not only attends the schools’ needs but also them, as “[...] the connection established since the 19^th century between pedagogical innovation and material innovation [that] deepens, creating a quasi-identity between education quality and the acquisition of school artifacts, particularly in the rhetoric that dominates the field” (^{Vidal & Silva, 2013}, p. 24).

Emphasizing the obligation, this article also has a typographic highlight that explains: “[...] the government decided through the act on the 8 of the current [month] order to ‘officially adopt’ at least for the same students the uniform [...]’” (^{Uniforme ..., 1894}, p. 2); the commission has been followed by the drawing teacher, responsible for creating the clothes. In the 1904 publication, the teacher is also cited: “With great pleasure, Manduca examined his uniform with the original model executed with Ory’ that was placed in the Secretary! [...]” (^{O Manduca, 1904}, p. 1).

According to our studies, Ory might refer to Luiz Ory. We have reached this hypothesis when reading the work of Fran Paxeco, when referring to the drawing subject taught by this teacher during the first years of the Republic in which common subjects between the Liceu and Escola Normal was the norm (^{Paxeco, 1920}). ^{Guimarães and Lima (2021}) affirm that in 1906, Luiz Ory was a Public Instruction inspector. He returned to work as a drawing teacher in the Liceu Maranhense in 1909, and in 1912, he was awarded for his paintings. Furthermore, the newspaper Correio da Manhã, in a note about his death, states that he was also a principal of Liceu for several years (^{Paulo Filho & Ayres, 1932}). These different and recognized activities within teaching could explain this teacher’s influence level in the public decision and in the arts.

The students who were part of the commission in favor of the uniform justify themselves by affirming that: “[...] having a distinction that makes them recognizable for recruiters, [they would be] free from the fear of being recruited, and the embarrassments recruiting brings” (^{A sessão..., 1894}, p. 3). From reading the press in the period, we discovered that recruiting was a process of forced enlistment, also in action at Maranhão, during the 1893 Revolution. About this social problem, Pacotilha explains its position, always claiming that it was not against the uniform, its meaning and importance, but against its obligatory use in a “[...] ‘instruction establishment that should be public to the rich and the poor, not depending on this or that way of dressing, as long as decency is respected” (^{A sessão..., 1894}, p. 3).

Therefore, two hybrid groups were now in conflict, formed by the social actors that speak/act from the different places they occupy in this school plot. On the one hand, a student commission (indication), the drawing teacher - Ory (model creation), State − Casimiro Dias Vieira Junior (approval). On the other hand, the less economically privileged students and parents (without the means to acquire the uniform and, consequently, use it) and the press (Pacotilha, an opposition newspaper).

For the first group, the uniform helps students' distinction and recognition, affirms the institution's prestige projected through clothing, and decreases the risk of recruiting, besides moving the school market. For the other, it reinforces the social differences, limits the access to the institution, and disregards the education model of the Liceu (day school) and the exclusion effects: the frequency decrease and school dropout. So, there is no student unity. Similarly, we cannot homogenize the press opinion or the teaching staff.

Therefore, it is necessary to understand the temporal frameworks, the interests of representatives, and the representations built about the uniform, considering them relevant within their particularities and seeking to understand the relationships of forces instituted about school: not only those established by the State but also among students, as individuals or groups Interact according to their positions in the different environment at society and “[...] produce strategies and practices (social, schooling, political) that tend to impose an authority at the expense of others, disregarded by them, to legitimize a reforming project or justify, for individuals themselves, their choices and behaviors”. (^{Chartier, 1988}, p. 17).

On the other side of this imposition are appropriation tactics. The existence and permanence of students with less financial conditions in school expresses a resistance form grounded in practices that circumvent the limits of a supposed determination. According to the newspaper Pacotilha, before the obligatory issue was published, the group of less favored students already had their own means to access the clothing industry (^{A sessão..., 1894}). Another reflection of the resistance tactics of this group and their influence is the emergency of a new model. It is not clear where the alternative came from, if from the State, the student or the teacher bodies, but this initiative indicates that despite not solving the central issue, which would be the uniform cost, shows the presence of this financial or opinion diversity. This diversity is strengthened by the press itself, with the exemption requests and other actions that, though silent, have marked its existence in time.

Though denying the request, when exposing the identity of students who demanded to be exempt from the obligatory use, the State registered in the papers the lives of two representatives contrary to its imposition: "[...] Joaquim de Oliveira Santos and Francisco de Carvalho Filho, students at Lyceu Maranhense, demanding exemption from the uniform the students of the same Lyceu will use - There is nothing to approve" (^{Maranhão, 1894}a, p. 3). So, amidst what was said and written, to understand the uniform and its obligatory use, we need to understand the circumstances, similarities, and differences in the history of secondary school uniforms, locally and nationally.

The stage of representation struggles about uniforms

The history of social, conceptual, and psychological configurations (as the third axis of Cultural History) that we use to understand these representation fights combines the two first axes, considered in the scope of instruction and education more generally; that is, analyzing the uniform issue in the national and local Republican context (Brazil and Maranhão, respectively). According to ^{Silveira (2016}), in Brazil, uniforms started to emerge in the 19^th century, with early diferences related to gender that, later, as schools became co-ed, started to unify the model and clothing materials, according to the type of tasks needed to be performed at school and the availability of resources at the time, regardless of genre.

The uniform also follows the schooling process and insertion of different social groups in school. The widening of education access was initially thought in terms of primary bases: read, write, and count, with no direct connection to secondary or higher education (^{Faria Filho, 2007}). Therefore, when Colégio Pedro II was founded in 1837, secondary education was still predominately elitist. As ^{Lonza (2005}, p. 35) states: “[...] though public it was not free to all [;] only for those in need, always in a smaller number than the paying ones [...]”. The idea of school was to be a model of education quality; reason why the State should especially care for its organization, making it an institution with curricula from all areas of knowledge, which would shape the individuals to occupy the most diverse public positions. Reflecting on the aspects of visibility and recognition allows us to understand the importance of the uniform, as it worked as a “[...] component of body control, from strategies of visibility to institutional and governmental projects” (^{Ribeiro & Silva, 2012} p. 578).

Therefore, it is understandable that during the Imperial period this artifact of material culture was already part of Colégio Pedro II regulation, where there is a list of clothes with all the obligatory elements and use prescription. The clothes should be numbered and kept in private lockers in the ‘vestiaria': a space of access restricted to the workers responsible for the sector, which should operate under the treasurer's vigilance and had a representative teacher to manage the distribution and sewing services, ironing, maintenance, and substituion of clothes (when necessary) (^{Brasil, 1838}). All these details indicate that the uniform was not only a form, nor ends in the students’ use; in the boarding system, there is a series of other practices and subjects that keep them in circulation, that is, it is fundamental to understand the school routine to translate the role of objects within these systems.

In Maranhão, though the Liceu Maranhense was created in 1838 and a common clothing might have existed mainly based on “decency” and the alternatives available in the textile market, as the source indicates, the discussion focused on obligation gains space in Pacotilha since 1894. At this time, the local economy had industrialization as one of the main objectives, building from 1885 and 1895 around 27 factories, out of which “[...] ten spinning and cotton-fabric; one cotton spinning; one hemp fabric; one woolen factory; one hosiery [...]” (^{Dourado, 2008}, p. 40) among others.

The first factory in São Luís (Companhia de Fiação e Tecidos Maranhense) had been recently created in 1890 (^{Dourado, 2008}). However, the fast growth of this industry had a sudden decrease for “[...] several reasons, such as the low exchange rate or the bad management [...] for the complete lack of experience in the sector” (^{Andrade, 1984}, p. 29). Thus, in Pacotilha, we found a series of advertisements that aimed to sell clothing materials and products, such as Casa Fluminense, Casa Americana, Loja do Sant’Anna, and Cooperativa Maranhense de Consumo. In this sense, the first advertisement related to the uniform in this newspaper only appeared on September 10, 1897, for Chapellaria Allemã, “[...] Offering every quality of hats for military, and other corporations such as customs, mail, telegraph, seminary, lyceu [...]” (^{Despachou, 1897}, p. 3).

In the same newspaper and other documents at the time, such as the ^{Anais do Congresso Legislativo (1894}), we can see that there was, in fact, a drop in enrollments, but for other issues that can be added to the uniform, such as the possibility of receiving a diploma without the complete course. At the same time, there were students like Manduca, from the story told, who would proudly buy and use the uniform, reinforcing the importance of this decision in the feeling of belonging to the student body and in their socialization. School clothes translate into a tool that imposes on the different bodies that appropriate the practices to shape their behaviors (^{Ribeiro & Silva, 2012}). For example, Manduca’s behavior is described as respectful and shy among his classmates; at home, he was “[...] a reformer and doctrinaire, full of calculations, a great admirer of the sentimental poems he always recited and had philosophical discussions. [...] He told the parents about the classmates’ merits [...], holding them up as an example” (^{O Manduca, 1904}, p.1).

We can perceive how Manduca, when feeling a part of the school space, became not only a son (belonging to a family) but also a Liceu student (belonging to an institution and a student group); status that granted him social prominence and, consequently, influenced their behavior: in the school, ‘respectful and shy’; at home, ‘reformer and doctrinaire’. In this sense, within the disciplinary process of school, the uniform contributes to a type of body domestication (^{Dussel, 2005}) through silent control and the apparent advantage to those who submit themselves to its determinations, which are reinforced by social acceptance, as students' guardians recognize and validate this differentiated behavior of the students in the family environment and, consequently, outside the house in their particular social cycles. We highlight that Manduca lived not only the period of uniform obligation at Liceu Maranhense, but also the peak/decline of industrialization, more precisely, Maranhão textile industry. An oscillation that takes place in the Republic consolidation phase, whose intensity is delineated in the period from 1889 and 1898; a common instability nationwide: “[...] an adjustment phase of Brazilian students to the new mechanisms of economy control and the adaptation to a new power order, still not fully assimilated” (^{Andrade, 1984}, p. 29).

In 1894, the primary appointments about school material culture in Maranhão continued to incide over the building that hosted the institution. In the meeting minutes of the ordinary session from June 15, 1894, president Monsenhor Mourão declared that “[...] That building [was] damaged, needing repairs and urgent repairs [considering that] the building’s interior is highly deteriorated” (^{Maranhão, 1894}b, p. 70- 71). The criticism calls attention to the urgency of repairing the institution and gave space for Law n. 69 from July 12, 1894, which allocated resources for this end (^{Maranhão, 1894}b, p. 71). Therefore, we observed an administrative crisis regarding the distribution of public investments for instruction despite the relevance of Liceu Maranhense as an institution that formed intellectuals. For example, it would be difficult to consider that part of the resources could be used to mass-produce school uniforms while the building was a priority.

Another important aspect in evaluating these decisions that apparently ignored students' financial hardships is understanding that Maranhão secondary education was also not free, exempting the State from the responsibilities that could be transferred to the students. According to the Regulamento da Instrução Pública, in Art. 4º: “Secondary education would be administered at the Lyceu Maranhense and the private establishments of secondary instruction [...]” (^{Maranhão, 1894}b, p. 277). Though primary education was offered for free; to join the Liceu the student should pay in enrollment an amount of “[...] 5$000 réis per class” (^{Maranhão, 1894}b, p. 282). On the other hand, despite school funds to acquire and maintain items that favored class regularity, we found no state data indicating any investment toward clothing; all evidence identified held the students responsible for purchasing one of the models. Until that moment, students had to be punctual and neat; with the obligation, families should adequate as fast as possible to the new order.

If, on the one hand, it is clear the institutional role of Liceu Maranhense, mentioned and demanded by Pacotilha, regarding the access to secondary public education, as “[...] The state would continue to keep, in the capital, the establishment of secondary instruction called ‘Lyceu Maranhense,' whose end [was] to freely provide the intellectual culture needed to enroll in the high education courses of the Republic’ [...]” (^{Maranhão, 1894}b, p. 279). On the other hand, the desire to repair the building and to adapt it to the Planos do Ginásio Nacional [National Gymnasium Plans] seems to circulate more around the curriculum and structural part than the effective organization of the student body, as well as the resources they should have to participate in the school space, transferring for a student commission and for a representative teacher the responsibility of managing the processes of uniform idealization, only acting in the legal part of its affirmation.

Conclusion

To conclude, we believe that there is no object, in this case the obligation of school uniform, without a means to allow its reading and translation, as there are also no translation of meaning that disregards the social, conceptual, and psychological aspects where the individuals identified in the sources, and ourselves as researchers, were/are immersed in particular times. In this sense, we organized our analysis using the three axes that support the theoretical methodology of cultural history.

Regarding the ‘history of objects in their materiality,' we highlight the characteristics and press influence as a form, identifying evidence referring to clothing. Until 1894, there was no determined model; with the demand by the student commission, two models were created, although we identified the characteristics of only one: a brown shirt with black buttons and a hat. Regarding the ‘frequency’ from 1894 to 1898, 24 articles criticized the mandatory use under two arguments: school dropout and the disagreement with the institution's teaching model as a day school, in which it would be dispensable. Considering the Pacotilha as a device in use, we can affirm that the structure of the news is centered on the location, stipulated for the record in the geography of the paper, competing with the literary themes, which seem to allow greater access to the readers in plural (^{Certeau, 1995}).

Regarding the ‘history of practices in their differences", several groups in a dispute about the uniforms contrapose a student commission for its acceptance/ poor students and families reevaluating; State institutionalizing it/ press disregarding it; Pacotilha (and its management) criticizing the government/idealizing teacher helping in the petition. Thus, identifying the change in management and recognizing the federal representative José Barreto Costa Rodrigues, since 1890, has helped understand the political bias of the criticism against Casimiro Dias Vieira Junior (vice-governor) and not necessarily the concern for the underprivileged with this artifact of school material culture; identify the drawing teacher Luiz Ory as its idealizer, as well as perceiving its influence in public instruction, in the work at Liceu Maranhense, or in the Normal School, indicates the differences of these practices; though we understand that the differences in the wishes to of having a uniform are not restricted to the economic factor, considering the urgency for a Liceu student identity, faced by the problems of 1893 Revolution, reinforce the symbolic aspect through distinction. On the other hand, with the alternative model, we can imagine that the difficulty of obligatorily acquiring an item in the short term with the classes already underway and not the wishes/expectations of its use marked resistances and inventiveness: different positions and divergent practices as a whole set of practices.

Starting from the third axis, we understand that some aspects might have favored the suggestion and acceptance of the school uniform as an obligatory item: 1) Colégio Pedro II already prescribed the details of the artifact’s form and use since the early years of its foundation but is different from Liceu Maranhense due to the nature of both institutions, the first a boarding school, and the other a day school; 2) Although the uniform was not an object easily accessible, the representations it carried promised not only to guarantee intellectual recognition but also safety, saving the constraints of forced recognition, and the constant threat of enlisting during the Revolution, these reasons that could have favored the acceptance of this imposition, even among families whose financial resources would not allow for a fast adaptation; 3) Liceu Maranhense had a series of problems related to the physical structure of the building, which might have made the uniform a secondary concern. The State might have been more concerned with answering institutional problems, such as architectural structures, without assessing the obligation and its impacts in the private scope.