Flora Cavalcanti de Albuquerque was born in 1863[1] in Cachoeirinha, Pernambuco,[2] Brazil to aristocratic mill owners who owned a sugar plantation in the state.
As a daughter of the aristocracy, she was educated at home, studying English and French and being trained as the wife of a public official, who would have social duties to help construct and mold the national identity.
At the age of 28, in 1891, she married Manoel de Oliveira Lima[1] (1867-1928),[4] giving the trader's son, social status,[1] which resulted in a diplomatic posts in Lisbon, Berlin, Washington DC, London, Tokyo, Caracas, Brussels and Stockholm.
[1] In 1916, a decision was made to donate the library which contained many original sources, and collections of both historic and literary import to Portuguese Brazilian culture.
[4] In 1920, after securing agreement from the Catholic University of America that the library would remain a separate, autonomous facility and that he would be the first librarian, the couple left Europe and moved to Washington, DC.