Search

The book identifies the characteristics of comparative method in the social sciences and its applications in library and information science, analyzing aims, methodological problems, phases and approaches of comparative librarianship. It is a disciplinary field, still little explored in the Italian context, which aims to examine structures, services, practices and functions of libraries to highlight aspects and peculiarities in a defined context, relating different realities, analyzing causes and effects of emerged specificities and evaluating factors that influence their development. The reflection is enriched by a critical analysis of Italian and foreign comparative researches and by the proposal of a work outline to approach comparative librarianship.

The Royal Institute of Signore Montalve alla Quiete was born between 1885 and 1886, by the union of the two congregations founded by the venerable Eleonora Ramirez de Montalvo: the Montalve di Ripoli and the Montalve alla Quiete. From them inherits the principles and the educational action carried out for over two centuries, bringing them to the threshold of the new millennium. In this analytical inventory are described the papers produced by the new Institute. The core relating to female education is only one of the subjects that this archive can offer: architectural and social transformations, the two world wars, customs and traditions of population are just some examples of the researchs offered and the Tuscan historical frame that the cards draw in a well-defined way.

Eleonora Ramirez de Montalvo is one of the most important historical figures of woman’s assistance and education during the seventeenth century. She is the founder of two lay congregations: the Minime Ancille of the Divine Incarnation (1647) and the Minime Ancille of the Holy Trinity (1650). This volume lists and describes in an analytical way the papers produced and preserved by the second of these, also known Montalve alla Quiete, which for over two centuries carried out an intense activity and exerted a considerable influence in Tuscany. The study of this archive provides a unique range of information both on the economic and political events, and on the relationships maintained by the Montalve with society growing its prestige and heritage. It also offers the opportunity to undertake countless historical research on facts that concern Florentine territory and the rest of Tuscany.