Analysis of the influence of the proclamation of the republic in the organization and selection of contents of Maranhão school books in uses, as well as their authors and motivations. It is based on the theoretical-methodological assumptions of cultural history to identify school works and their materiality in Pacotilha (1880-1939), the subjects involved according to the impositions of power agencies for their production, appropriation tactics undertaken by the authors and the antagonistic conceptions and positions about content. It is concluded that school books were fundamental instruments to put the republican project into practice, both in the fight against illiteracy and in the propagation and formation of new generations.