The recording of the long-standing activity of regional philharmonic bands in photographic, phonographic, videographic and multimedia media, carried out by their directors, conductors, performers, associates and sympathizers, and prophesiedly safeguarded and collected by governing bodies, remains in funds (or sub- specific. Although scarce for the period of foundation and first decades of activity of the great majority of philharmonic bands, the photographic, phonographic and multimedia registers assert the artistic merit (and the administrative work that sustains it) of those communities and their members, constituting themselves as testimonies of great relevance of the milestones that were marked in one hundred and seventy years of regional and national philharmonic movement.

Introduced in Portugal at the time of the seminal constitution of several philharmonic societies, daguerreotype and photography are extremely relevant documentary sources, often unique, that allow us to know the constitution, uniforms, instruments and, above all, the symbolic and recreational activities of regional philharmonic bands in the period that extends from the second half of the nineteenth century to the last decades of the twentieth century. The vast photographic collection of regional philharmonic bands must therefore be preserved and disseminated. We invite you to recall several highlights of the Banda Municipal de Santa Cruz.