Francisco Iglésias (1923-1999)
Francisco was of Spanish descent, as you might have noticed from his name (I love to start with names—they tell you a lot).
Francisco was a lifelong resident of Minas Gerais (“General Mines”), that important inland state that produced many of Brazil’s greatest intellectuals and politicians. He was a historian at the University of Minas Gerais (one of the country’s best) and wrote on the history of his state and on the history of the empire.
He was a great teller of anecdotes about the royal family. As a beginner in a foreign country, I learned much from raconteurs, especially when accompanied by the right dose of the right whiskey.
I knew him during several visits to Belo Horizonte, his city of residence. Also in Rio—once, when attending the inauguration of a mutual friend into the Brazilian Academy of Letters, I walked up to F. to say hello and he looked startled. I suddenly realized there had been a “desliga” in our relationship! Some years ago I had sent him a manuscript in progress. It was badly written and sloppily researched. He very kindly replied, sending an excellent and detailed critique. I realized I had wasted his time on an inferior piece of work. I never acknowledged his letter, to my shame. Nevertheless we chatted amiably. We never mentioned it. What are friends for?
Francisco was painfully shy. He lived in a small apartment in Belo Horizonte. He always received me graciously. He was great friends with Miss Eleanor Halle, who was the United States Information Agency officer in Belo Horizonte.
That was back in the old days when Uncle Sam still had enough money to fund cultural exchange in distant lands.
She introduced me to a raft of cultural figures in Belo. My connection was via my good friend George Boehrer, then U.S. cultural attaché in Rio.
“Miss Halle,” as she was known to her many Brazilian friends, arranged a lecture trip for Francisco to the States. His route brought him to the University of Wisconsin where I was then teaching. He stayed with our family and we gave a cocktail party (not his best venue) to meet faculty friends. His shyness prevailed and I spied him on the sofa nibbling his tie.
All went well and I know he enjoyed it.
He had the kind of incisive mind I always associated with his home state.
When he wrote me (in neatly typed paper-thin paper) his letters were always crisp and affectionate. His several books were well thumbed by yours truly. I still have them in my private library, which I donated to Brown University. A little of Minas Gerais in Providence, Rhode Island.
Further Readings
Iglésias, Francisco. Política econômica do govêrno provincial mineiro, 1835-1889. Rio de Janeiro: INL, 1958.
Iglésias, Francisco. Constituintes e constituições brasileiras. São Paulo, SP: Brasiliense, 1985.
Iglésias, Francisco. Trajetória política do Brasil, 1500-1964. São Paulo, SP: Companhia Das Letras, 1993.
Francisco Iglésias was born in Pirapora, Minas Gerais. In 1949, he began working as a professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) as part of the Faculty of Economic Sciences, teaching the General History of Economics and the History of Brazil. Iglésias also helped co-found and edit the literary magazine Edifício in 1946, along with Otto Lara Resende, Hélio Pelegrino, and other colleagues. Iglésias published much of his research on political and economic history, including the Política econômica do governo provincial mineiro (1835-1889).