Links and Lugares da Memória: The Douro’s Historic distributed commercial archive

About a decade ago, I asked one of the more venerable British port houses if I could consult their records from the early nineteenth century. They were gracious enough not only to grant my request, but also to invite me to lunch with the directors of the firm. At about one o’clock I was shown into a beautiful dining room, where the elegantly dressed directors were preparing to sit at an immaculate white cloth on an elegantly ordered table. I, alas, had come from the “archives”.