From School Periodical Repertoires to the Biographical Dictionary of Education: Turin’s Contribution to the Identification of New Sources for Historical-Educational Research

Abstract

In the 1980s, a group of scholars, both young and senior, from various Italian universities gathered around the figure of Giorgio Chiosso with a project aimed at introducing significant innovations in national historical-educational research from a variety of perspectives. First, the group set out to identify unexplored thematic areas and to adopt a new methodological approach. Moving beyond the idealistic vision rooted in Gentile’s thought, and inspired by insights from the international scientific community, they promoted a history of schooling and education attentive to educational institutions, teaching practices, and everyday life inside classrooms. This made it necessary to resort to new types of sources (pedagogical and school press addressed to teachers, school manuals and publishing, biographies of teachers and educators), which became the focus of different phases of a research program developed over two decades. The results of this collaborative work were published in printed repertories as well as in an online version.