This article focuses the relationships historically established between the Museu Paulista of USP and its visitors, based on personal testimonies, made in the period from 1992 to 1995. The central argument is that the secular interaction between the institution and the different classes of the audience bases itself on celebrative traditions created in regard of the Independence and, also, on a large and complex scenario of interpretations and expectations about the meanings of History museums.
Paulista Museum; History museum; Memory; Historical knowledge; Oral sources