Development of the administrative-accounting system of the Conservatorio S. M. degli Angiolini in Florence from 1785 to 1859: Institutional changes and isomorphic pressures

Abstract

S. Maria degli Angiolini in Florence, founded as a monastery in 1507, became a conservatorio (a special type of girls’ school) in 1785 and thereafter carried out the education of young females. Between 1785 and 1859, it underwent various changes due to political, social, cultural, religious and economic events. These events, the result of the liberal enlightenment age, influenced the institution’s configuration, its formal organisation structure, teaching activity (pedagogic approach, methods, criteria and contents of the training offered), as well as its accounting system (system of book-keeping and method of registration). This article presents the analysis of rare documents, laws, regulations and account books to identify, in light of new institutionalism, the principal agents of transformation, in particular in accounting systems, within conservatori, with focus on S. Maria degli Angiolini.