A noble, difficult and useful task: the historian’s ethos in the 19th century

Abstract

This article analyses the origin of the historian’s ethos from the 19th century basedon three topoi recurrent on the historical writings: sincerity, scientificity, and utility.These elements shaped the historiography practice as they were associated tothe kind of connection between the historian, the history itself and the nationalproject to be implemented. In this text I delimitate some continuities as well asruptures in the model of historical statement of Sílvio Romero, after a brief reviewof the imperial historiography tradition, i.e. von Martius and Varnhagen.