This work is the academic outcome of an action-research that lasted three years at the Horto Florestal of Rio de Janeiro. The hypothesis that nurtured the research is that the population that lives at the Horto Florestal is traditional and therefore, it holds a social memory in need to be preserved. Due to historical and contemporary urban land disputes in the area, that social memory has been systematically disqualified by the public transcripts and its agents; denied by the representatives of the land interests upon the place, and kept in the silence by the very local population as a social resistance form. This work meant to contribute with a reinterpretation of the local history, an area understood as a city’s memory place, through a social memory project developed with the local residents, from June, 2008 to February, 2012. The compilation of the documents that provide support to this work was undertake in two lines: 1) research of historical documents about the Horto, and the ancient Freguesia da Gávea in public repositories, gathering documents such as: voyagers and reports and chronics, official recent and ancient printed materials, photographs, maps, drawings, old narratives, etc. and 2) action-research through an social intervention that gave birth, and was shaped by, the construction of the Museu do Horto: social memory project of the Horto Florestal of Rio de Janeiro. The field work recorded hidden transcripts, filmed events; followed tracks within the woods; photographed people, buildings, festivals, food, herbs, etc., to document intangible cultural assets that resisted the time, the lack of credit and the disqualification of the place’s social memory. The result is a dissertation that would better be presented in hypertext, in order to allow the reader to navigate from one support to another, to learn about the non-spoken, the badly[mal]-said[dito] [maldito equal dammed] and the intentionally ignored. To visualize part of the museum’s collection, the associated chapter was formatted as a reference catalog, following specific international norms. This work counted on the participation of NGO´s, such as the Associação de Moradores e Amigos do Horto (AMAHOR) and individuals that support the local population in its struggle to preserve the local social memory as a mean to resist the threat of being removed from their place. This dissertation sustains that the settlement of the Horto Florestal do Rio of Janeiro dates from the 16th. Century, initially as headquarter of important sugar plantations and, latter on, as coffee farms. Furthermore, the local population was able to hold its social integrity and economic importance for the city of Rio de Janeiro through the last four centuries. Therefore, the place deserves the recognition as such: an important memory place in need of preservation.