ABSTRACT
This is the trajectory of the Santa Teresa Asylum created in the Province of Maranhão in 1855, exposing its institutional purposes of sheltering, protecting, supporting and educating orphans. This paper was described the school practices inside this educational space. The text talks about the nature feminine formation directing to the domestic jobs of the aristocracy of Maranhão or take care of the home, the husband and children. It was prepared from the exploration of handwritten sources, articles published in newspapers, reports from the directors of the establishment in question and the presidents of the Province and the bibliography produced in the support and instruction of poor and helpless girls from Maranhão.
Keywords: Female Education; Maranhão Empire; Santa Teresa Asylum