ABSTRACT
This text aims to analyse the transformation of the image and identity of Portland cement and reinforced concrete in Portugal from the 1860s up to the end of the Second World War, as portrayed in the press. The dissemination of the material and the building system sometimes followed parallel and sometimes overlapping paths. In both cases, the purposes, limitations, advantages and disadvantages of the material and the process alike were discussed in the different media and by the range of stakeholders. Rhetoric, marketing and propaganda were carefully fashioned by combining scientific study, statistical data, graphics with slogans and photographs—along with other aspects such as the social benefits and guarantees for cement factory employees—to depict Portland cement in its different applications to a range of audiences. Sources included not only all the main specialized journals, patent records and daily newspapers but also monographs sponsored by cement factories, contractors and the State itself to promote their own corporate identity, vision, mission and culture.
