El gabinete de Juan Vucetich: un laboratorio de experimentación. La Plata, Argentina: 1891-1901

Abstract

At the end of the XIX Century, Argentina was one of the main centers for the development of Fingerprinting as well as for its global diffusion. In the early 1890s, Juan Vucetich (1854-1925) began exploring at the Identiication Ofice of the Buenos Aires Police in La Plata City (Argentina) the possibilities offered by ingerprints for identifying repeat offenders and conduct police investigations. By the end of the century he had managed to perfect the Sistema Dactiloscópico Argentino [Argentine Dactiloscopic System], which would revolutionize the identiication methods at a local and regional level and would spread in Latin America, several European countries and China.To advance an explanation of the particular development of Fingerprint-ing in Argentina and Latin America, this article analyzes the work of Juan Vucetich during the last decade of the XIX Century. Through the study of a number of publications, institutional sources, and personal papers it explores the years prior to the inal formulation of the ingerprint classiication system. This period is extremely rich to analyze the reception, adoption, hybridization and innovation of police technologies. The article argues that the building of a bureaucratic architecture and the problem solving experience acquired before the inal formulation of the Sistema Dactiloscópico Argentino constitute key aspects for an explain of its success and rapid international diffusion.