Public Archive of the State of São Paulo

The Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo, commonly known as APESP, is the archival institution of the Executive Branch of the State of São Paulo and one of Brazil’s largest public archives. It preserves, organizes, and makes available records produced by the state administration, while also holding selected judicial, municipal, notarial, institutional, and private collections considered significant to the history and society of São Paulo. Its work combines records management, historical preservation, public access, digitization, conservation, archival education, and the development of standards for government documentation. The institution’s historical roots reach back to the early eighteenth century, when Governor Dom Rodrigues César de Meneses instructed government secretary Gervásio Leite Rabelo to compile an inventory of government documents. That early documentary nucleus was kept at the Pátio do Colégio, then the seat of government in São Paulo. The modern state archive was formally organized in the republican period. In 1892, Decree No. 30 established the Statistics and Archives Department of the State under the Secretariat of the Interior. Its mandate covered the custody, classification, and preservation of materials concerning São Paulo’s constitutional, political, administrative, legal, and geographic history. The archive subsequently expanded beyond central government records to include materials from municipalities, courts, notaries, and private individuals. A major enlargement of the collection followed Law No. 666 of 1899, which ordered the transfer to the state archive of older papers, registers, and books held by judicial clerks, registry officials, and notaries. As a result, APESP became an important repository for colonial and imperial-era documentation. Its holdings include handwritten materials from Colonial Brazil, administrative records, legal and civil registers, records from the former Department of Political and Social Order (DOPS), collections of former governors and presidents, photographs, maps, newspapers, microfilm, and contemporary digital records. Notable private collections include those associated with Washington Luís, Júlio Prestes, Adhemar de Barros, and Mário Covas. APESP is currently linked to the São Paulo Secretariat of Management and Digital Government and serves as the central body of the São Paulo State Archives System, or SAESP. In that role, it coordinates archival policy across the state executive administration, supports records appraisal committees, develops retention and disposal schedules, oversees the transfer of records with permanent value, and guides the lawful disposal or preservation of government documentation. The archive also has responsibilities connected with access to information and the coordination of Citizen Information Services under São Paulo’s access-to-information framework. The institution’s principal complex is in the Santana district of São Paulo, near the Tietê Bus Terminal. The site includes storage areas, conservation and restoration laboratories, digitization and microfilming facilities, research rooms, educational spaces, and an auditorium. A purpose-built archive building opened in 2012, providing approximately 23,000 square meters of space across ten floors and environmental and technical infrastructure designed for long-term preservation. Some administrative records are held at a separate facility in Mooca. APESP reports a collection exceeding 25 million textual documents and approximately 3 million iconographic and cartographic documents. Descriptions of the holdings also identify roughly 26,000 linear meters of textual records, about 1.5 million images, a research library of approximately 45,000 volumes, a map library, and an extensive newspaper collection. The archive’s oldest identified item is an inventory dated 1578 concerning the possessions of Damião Simões. Access is supported through consultation services, certified copies and certificates, document reproduction, monitored visits, virtual exhibitions, workshops, technical publications, and educational programs for teachers and students. In the digital sphere, APESP has supported the SP Sem Papel program, working with PRODESP on document mapping, requirements analysis, system testing, and improvements to the SIGAdoc environment as the state administration moves from paper-based workflows to digital production. Through the ArquivoDigital.SP program, the institution is also developing policies, procedures, and infrastructure for the preservation of digital government records, addressing risks such as media degradation, technological obsolescence, authenticity, integrity, and long-term availability.

The institutional history of the São Paulo State Public Archive combines an eighteenth-century documentary origin with formal establishment during the early republican period. In 1721, Governor Dom Rodrigues César de Meneses directed his government secretary, Gervásio Leite Rabelo, to prepare an inventory of government documents. The materials assembled through that initiative were kept at the Pátio do Colégio and formed an early nucleus of the collection that APESP preserves today. The archive received a formal administrative structure in 1892. Decree No. 30 created the Statistics and Archives Department of the State under the Secretariat of the Interior. The department was charged with safeguarding, organizing, and classifying records concerning the constitutional, political, administrative, legal, and geographic history of São Paulo, together with other documents designated by public authorities. Its scope soon extended beyond state government offices. Materials from municipalities, courts, notarial offices, and private individuals entered its custody, establishing the archive as both a government records repository and a broader historical institution. Law No. 666, enacted on September 6, 1899, significantly expanded the archive’s historical holdings by requiring the transfer of older papers, books, and registers from judicial clerks, registry officials, and notaries. This brought substantial colonial- and imperial-era documentation into state custody. The resulting collections now support research on administration, law, property, family history, slavery, politics, social life, and the development of São Paulo. During its first decades, the archive occupied several locations in central São Paulo. It was initially housed at the Pátio do Colégio and later used part of the Nossa Senhora dos Remédios church complex on Rua Onze de Agosto. It subsequently operated in a building on Rua Visconde do Rio Branco, near Rua dos Timbiras. In 1949, the institution was forced to leave an expropriated building, and its holdings were divided among three locations. The disruption generated criticism and limited the archive’s activities for a period. In 1951 it moved to the former Sorocabana railway building at Largo General Osório, a site also associated with the Department of Political and Social Order. In 1953, it moved to Rua Dona Antônia de Queiroz, in a former carpet-manufacturing building, where it remained until 1997. On April 22, 1997, APESP moved to a renovated complex in Santana, adapted from the former Ita Carpet Factory. The site provided storage, laboratories, reading and consultation rooms, and an auditorium. A portion of the administrative archive was maintained in an industrial warehouse in Mooca. In 2012, the Santana complex gained a new purpose-built facility designed to meet archival preservation requirements. The building has approximately 23,000 square meters of built area across ten floors, including high-ceiling storage levels and laboratories for preventive conservation, restoration, microfilming, and digitization. APESP’s modern role extends beyond custody of historical materials. As the central body of the São Paulo State Archives System, it coordinates archival policy throughout the state executive administration. Its responsibilities include developing retention schedules, supporting records-appraisal committees, organizing transfers, determining which records have permanent value, and supervising the lawful disposal of records without enduring archival significance. Its position within the Secretariat of Management and Digital Government also connects archival practice with public-sector modernization and transparency policy. The archive’s holdings include more than 25 million textual records and approximately 3 million iconographic and cartographic documents, alongside around 26,000 linear meters of textual documentation, approximately 1.5 million images, microfilm, maps, newspapers, and a research library of about 45,000 volumes. The collections include public records, private archives, notarial records, materials from discontinued public bodies, and records of former political and administrative organizations. Recent accessions have included documentation from defunct or reorganized state entities such as CPOS, DERSA, EMPLASA, FUNDAP, and CEPAM. The institution has also developed public-facing education and access programs. Workshops for teachers and students, virtual exhibitions, monitored visits, reproductions, certificates, technical publications, and research services help connect archival holdings with schools, scholars, and the wider public. In the digital era, APESP has participated in SP Sem Papel with PRODESP and has developed ArquivoDigital.SP to address digital authenticity, integrity, security, availability, media degradation, and technological obsolescence. These initiatives reflect the archive’s continuing transition from a primarily paper-based repository into a coordinating institution for both physical and digital public memory.

• 2012

  Purpose-built archival building inaugurated

  [1]Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloen.wikipedia.org

  A new building designed for permanent-record preservation opened within the Santana complex.

• 2012

  Access-to-information coordination expanded

  [1]Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloen.wikipedia.org

  São Paulo’s access-to-information framework gave APESP responsibilities related to the coordination of Citizen Information Services.

• 1997

  Santana complex becomes the main site

  [1]Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloen.wikipedia.org

  APESP moved to renovated buildings at the former Ita Carpet Factory in Santana, adding archival storage, laboratories, consultation rooms, and public facilities.

• 1953

  Move to Rua Dona Antônia de Queiroz

  [1]Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloen.wikipedia.org

  The archive moved into a former carpet-manufacturing facility that served as its principal location until 1997.

• 1951

  Move to the Sorocabana building

  [1]Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloen.wikipedia.org

  The institution was installed in the former Sorocabana railway building at Largo General Osório.

• 1949

  Forced relocation disrupts operations

  [1]Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloen.wikipedia.org

  The archive was required to leave an expropriated building, leading to the temporary division and disorganization of its collection across three sites.

• 1899

  Older judicial and notarial records transferred

  [1]Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloen.wikipedia.org

  Law No. 666 ordered the transfer of pre-nineteenth-century records from judicial clerks, registry offices, and notaries to the state archive.

• 1892

  Statistics and Archives Department established

  [1]Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloen.wikipedia.org

  Decree No. 30 formally established the Statistics and Archives Department under the Secretariat of the Interior and defined its preservation and classification responsibilities.

• 1891

  Institutional foundation

  [1]Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloen.wikipedia.org

  The Public Archive of the State of São Paulo is identified as having been created in 1891, placing it among the state’s oldest public departments.

• 1721

  Early government-document inventory begins

  [1]Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloen.wikipedia.org

  Governor Dom Rodrigues César de Meneses instructed secretary Gervásio Leite Rabelo to compile an inventory of government documents, creating an early nucleus of the future archive’s holdings.

Public archival institution and central coordinating body for the State of São Paulo’s archival policy

• Archival service

  Archival consultation and research access

  Public consultation of government, judicial, notarial, municipal, private, iconographic, cartographic, newspaper, and library collections. Services support historical research, genealogy, institutional research, and public access to documentary heritage.

• Document service

  Certificates and certified copies

  APESP provides certificates, certified copies, and reproductions of eligible archival documents, allowing users and institutions to obtain authoritative documentary evidence from the collections.

• Preservation service

  Conservation, restoration, and digitization

  Specialized facilities support preventive conservation, restoration, microfilming, digitization, and the long-term care of paper, photographic, cartographic, and other archival materials.

• Digital preservation program

  ArquivoDigital.SP

  A program for digital-preservation policies, security procedures, and infrastructure intended to protect the integrity, authenticity, availability, and long-term usability of São Paulo government records.

• Education and outreach

  Archival education and publications

  Educational workshops, virtual exhibitions, monitored visits, technical manuals, and archival publications connect the institution’s holdings and professional expertise with teachers, students, researchers, and the public.

• Archival education program

  State of São Paulo · Brazil

  APESP’s educational action develops workshops for teachers and students, virtual exhibitions, and activities designed to bring educational institutions into contact with historical documents and the documentary history of São Paulo.

  Outcome. The program supports public engagement, historical learning, and broader use of archival collections.

  Source
• SP Sem Papel

  State of São Paulo

  APESP collaborated with PRODESP on the transition of state administration toward digital document production, including system tests, requirements analysis, document mapping, and improvements to SIGAdoc.

  Outcome. The initiative supports reduced dependence on paper workflows while integrating records-management and preservation requirements into digital administration.

  Source
• ArquivoDigital.SP

  State of São Paulo

  The program addresses digital preservation, security, authenticity, integrity, availability, technological obsolescence, and the degradation risks affecting digital government records.

  Outcome. A pilot trustworthy digital archival repository is being developed for long-term intermediate and permanent storage.

  Source

• 2012

  Adoption of a purpose-built preservation facilityStrategy

  Background

  The archive required infrastructure capable of storing and preserving a large permanent collection under appropriate technical conditions.

  Action taken

  APESP opened a purpose-designed building within its Santana complex, with dedicated storage areas and conservation, restoration, microfilming, and digitization laboratories.

  Aftermath

  The facility strengthened the institution’s capacity to safeguard permanent records and provide research and preservation services.

  Source

• Move toward digital government recordsStrategy

  Background

  São Paulo’s public administration was moving from paper-based document production and processing toward digital workflows.

  Action taken

  APESP worked with PRODESP through SP Sem Papel and developed ArquivoDigital.SP to incorporate records-management and long-term preservation requirements into digital systems.

  Aftermath

  The initiatives expanded APESP’s role from physical-record custody to statewide digital-preservation policy and infrastructure.

  Source

1. 1Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Official website of the Arquivo Público do Estado de São Pauloarquivoestado.sp.gov.br