O Passado Presente, ou como se escrevia a história do tempo presente no século XIX. Gonçalves de Magalhães e a Memória Histórica da Revolução da Província do Maranhão (1839-1840).

This paper presents the question about the history of present time and its relations with the concept of history in the early nineteenth century in Brazil. The starting point of the discussion is the article Memoria Historica e Documentada da Revolução da Provincia do Maranhão desde 1839 até 1840, published by Gonçalves de Magalhães an influential Brazilian history journal in 1848. The goal is to analyze the condition of the historian as a subject involved in his own time, the delimitation of history field, its methods and limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]