Prado, Paulo (1869–1943)

Paulo Prado (b. 20 May 1869; d. 3 October 1943), Brazilian businessman and historian. Scion of an influential coffee-planting family, Paulo Prado was a native of São Paulo and the son of Antônio Prado, one of the last ministers of agriculture under the monarchy. He graduated from the São Paulo law school two weeks before the fall of the empire, in November 1889, and soon departed his uncertain homeland for a grand tour of Europe. Returning to Brazil during the period of Paulista ascendancy, he joined the family coffee-exporting firm and, in 1897, became its president. Under his direction, the company attained new levels of wealth and power. Prado served briefly as president of the National Coffee Council after the 1930 Revolution.

A patron of arts and letters, Prado made large donations to the São Paulo Municipal Library and supported the 1922 Modern Art Week celebration. He befriended some of the most talented Brazilian historians of his time and facilitated their work. His own major publications consist of two collections of historical essays: Paulística (São Paulo-like, 1925), in which the theme is regional, and the broader Retrato do Brasil (Portrait of Brazil, 1928). Prado's historical writings are strongly influenced by the work of João Capistrano de Abreu.

See alsoBrazil: Since 1889; Capistrano de Abreu, João; Coffee Industry.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Geraldo Ferraz, "Paulo Prado e duas reedições," in Província y nação, edited by Paulo Prado (1972).

Additional Bibliography

Berriel, Carlos Eduardo Ornelas. Tietê, Tejo, e Sena: A obra de Paulo Prado. Campinas, SP, Brazil: Papirus Editora, 2000.

Levi, Darrell E. The Prados of São Paulo, Brazil: An Elite Family and Social Change, 1840–1930. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987.

                                           Neill Macaulay