In the early twentieth century, Francisco Bulnes questioned the hegemonic representation of Benito Juarez. One of the answers was a literary contest to celebrate the first century of his birth. Rafael de Zayas Enriquez was rewarded for his biography, and Ricardo Garcia Granados, Andres Molina Enriquez and Porfirio Parra for their sociological studies of the Reform. This paper reconstructs the authors’ ennunciation horizon, analyzing specifically the ways of representing the past from the viewpoint of history, historical critique and sociology, as well as the uses of the past to diagnose national problems, to reform the institutional framework and its political practices, and to create a homogeneous national identity.