The Brazilian Memory Centers, created in the country in the 1970s, are considered primary sources for research and, generally, include very precious thematic collections and constitute the historical and scientific heritage of many universities. In addition to preserving historic collections, the centers also work in scientific dissemination and dissemination of knowledge to different audiences, contributing to strengthening the culture, values and intellectual capital of a given community. The Medicine Memory Center of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Cememor UFMG) was one of the first centers established in Brazil and today is responsible for safeguarding a rich bibliographic, archival and museological collection related to health and the practice of Medicine.
The present project has the general objective of formalizing the union of researchers in the areas of Arts, History, Medicine, Archivology, Librarianship, Museology and Nuclear Engineering through a research group called “MeTsarte: Transdisciplinaridade – link between history, medicine, health, technology and art” for the development of transdisciplinary research that revolves around the Cememor UFMG collection. This project is justified by the need to create and finance a research group that has the university’s own assets as its universe, which will allow the strengthening of the institutional identity and the creation of stronger ties with the external community. From the creation of smaller working groups among the participating researchers, transdisciplinary research will be developed that revolve around Cememor’s special collections, in addition to practical workshops with the external community, physical and virtual exhibitions, among other products. The realization of this project would be an unprecedented initiative at the University, proving that memory centers are inexhaustible sources for teaching, research and extension activities.