Le origini del periodico «Pro Infantia» alla luce di alcuni documenti d’archivio

This paper explores the motives and personalities that, at the end of the Giolittian Era, persuaded the Brescia-based publishing house La Scuola of the urgent need to address the challenges then facing the early childhood education sector by founding a dedicated journal. The periodical in question, «Pro Infantia», has never been subjected to systematic and exhaustive analysis. The study presented here investigated the journal’s cultural agenda, based on documents held in the General Archive of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (the Salesian Sisters), a religious congregation that played a significant part in the life of the publication. This line of inquiry has brought to light previously unknown aspects of the early stages of «Pro Infantia»’s history and clarified the Salesian Sisters’ role during this period.