Emilia Santamaria: A Pedagogist between Self-Writings and Publishing

This article retraces the biography of Emilia Santamaria (1877–1971), a pedagogist, historian, teacher, and collaborator in the publishing house run by her husband, Angelo Fortunato Formiggini. It discusses Santamaria’s choice to self-represent as an established scholar, through her scholarship and her three autobiographical writings. It also retraces the essential role played by Santamaria in preserving the memory of her husband and his publishing house, a memory endangered by the political hostility of the Fascist regime. By saving the archives from political oblivion, Santamaria established one of the first publisher’s archives in Italy, now held at the Biblioteca Estense in Modena, and used by historians of literature, philosophy, political and intellectual historians, and book historians. However, there are only a few traces in the archives of Santamaria’s work for the publishing house; the choice to minimise her role in the family business will be discussed in relation to her self-representation choices.