Can material culture change people’s perception and empower communities? This question, which has been at the center of our reflections over the last few decades, also guides the present text. What follows here is fruit of an intellectual partnership that raises the issue of the importance of collaborative work between universities and communities. The aim of this paper is to show how, through collective research in the historical center of the city of Curitiba, where the Paraná State Museum is located, and using museum material, the principles of public archeology can guide us in the construction of more pluralist narratives on the city’s past, raising issues of memory, exclusion and empowerment. Through these reflections, we seek to contribute to a contemporary debate on the importance of material culture in the construction of spaces for dialogue and human rights guarantees.