The parish archives are holders of handwritten sources such as the baptism, marriage and death records. These documents make it possible to access individualized and serial information, according to the treatment and approach adopted, on different segments of Catholic societies, such as Portuguese America. Having as object the Archive of the Metropolitan Curia of Rio de Janeiro, the article presents paths and possibilities of research in History, based on selected records of its collection, in the temporal cut of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Keywords: Archive of the Metropolitan Curia of Rio de Janeiro; parish, records; baptisms, marriages; deaths.
