The Public Archive of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Portuguese: ''Arquivo Público do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (APERJ)''), is an agency of the Government of the State of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil that is responsible for archiving for the state administration. APERJ is an integral part of the structure of the civil government under the Secretary of State. It is responsible for the collection and preservation of documents produced by the state government and its executives and an

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

of materials ranging from the 18th century to the present day. The archive contains 4,000 linear meters of documents, including

map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

blueprints A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets. Introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842, the process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...

photographs A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now created ...

microfilms Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original document size. F ...

audiotapes Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording te ...

videotapes Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette ...

, and

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. The APERJ also offers a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

of secondary sources, specializing in

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolled bill, enrolling, enactment of a bill, enacting, or promulgation, promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous Government, governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law i ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, and

archival science Archival science, or archival studies, is the study and theory of building and curating archives, which are collections of documents, recordings and data storage devices. To build and curate an archive, one must acquire and evaluate recorded m ...

. It is a part of the Conselho Nacional de Arquivos (CONARQ), as decreed by Law 8.159, passed on January 8, 1991. The archive is open Monday through Friday, from 9am to 5pm. It is located in the

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

neighborhood of

Rio de Janeiro (city) Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Access to documentation is free and open to any researcher, foreign or national. Researchers are assisted by staff members in the identification of relevant documents and protocol for their proper review. Users have access to print and electronic research tools and are required to register their personal information upon arrival. As a registered user at the APERJ, researchers are required to sign in and out during each session. Only pencils, erasers, and loose sheets of paper, and personal computers are allowed in the consultation room (sala de consultas) for notation.

History

The APERJ was created by government Decree n. 2638 on August 25, 1931. Originally named the General Archive of the State (Arquivo Geral do Estado), it was under the jurisdiction of the Director of the Interior and of Justice and located in Niteroí, RJ. Among its responsibilities, it was to receive, classify, preserve, and organize the papers and books pertinent to the Secretary of the State of Rio de Janeiro. It was also tasked with cataloging collections of laws, decrees, and legislative deliberations annually to be published. Two years later, the archive's name changed to the Arquivo Publico e Biblioteca Universitaria (Public Archive and University Library). In 1938, the archive was separated from the Library but remained under the purview of the Justice Secretary until 1958 when it went under the Secretary of Administration. In 1961, the documentation for the President of the Province and the President of the State of Rio de Janeiro was contained in the basement of the Aurelino Leal school, part of the palace for the President of the Province in Niteroi. The collections were transferred to the Public Archive and, later, to the Sala Matoso Maia de Documentação Fluminense at the Rio de Janeiro State Library. With the fusion of the states of Guanabara and Rio de Janeiro in 1975, the Public Archive went back under the control of the Secretary.of Justice. In 1979, the President of the Province and President of the State of Rio de Janeiro collections were returned to the institution. By 1985, the functions and patrimony of the General Department of Documentation (also part of the Secretary of Justice) were incorporated into the APERJ. A library specializing in legislation and law was also included in the APERJ. The directorship, as well as the research and accessible legislation sectors, remained in Rio de Janeiro with the sectors responsible for technical processing and archive usage remaining in Niteroi. The Public Archive installed itself in the building once belonging to the Auditors Court in Niteroi in 1989 and, once there, united all of its activities with the institution and remained at the address for seven years. Since then, the APERJ continued to intensified the collection of documents produced by the public administration of the state. Since then, the APERJ increased its collection of documents produced by the Public Administration of the State, which featured the archives of the Political Police of Rio de Janeiro, the Candido Mendes Penal Institute in Ilha Grande, and the State Program for the Protection and Orientation of the Consumer in the State of Rio de Janeiro (PROCON/RJ). In 1995, the APERJ was transferred from Niteroi to a building on the property of the State Water and Gas Company of Rio Janeiro (CEDAE), on Rua Riachuelo in Rio de Janeiro. This building proved unsuited for the needs of the archive and it was moved shortly after. Three years later, in 1998, another move brought the archive to the Praia de Botafogo, n.480, in Rio de Janeiro, where it is located today.

Collections

The archive contains documents of diverse themes and types, including: texts, audiovisual sources, maps, books, electronics, images, and other objects relevant to the study of the history of Rio de Janeiro state in the second half of the eighteenth century. These are original documents from the Executive powers of the State of Rio de Janeiro and private archives. The materials contained in the APERJ cover a broad range of themes, including: agriculture, diplomacy, political campaigns,

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

, crime and punishment, education,

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, espionage,

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, industry and commerce,

the military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

, social movements, public works,

the police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

, land ownership, transportation, and taxes. The most commonly requested documents for research are contained in the Political Police of Rio de Janeiro (Polícias Políticas do Rio de Janeiro- POL) collection, the Special Delegation on Political Security (Delegacia Especial de Segurança Política e Social-DESPS) collection, the Autonomous Department for the Political and Social Order of the State (Departamento Autônomo de Ordem Política e Social do Estado do Rio de Janeiro- DOPS/RJ) collection, the Department of the Political and Social Order of the State of Guanabara (Departamento de Ordem Política e Social do Estado da Guanabara-DOPS/GB) collection, the Division of the Political and Social Police (Divisão de Polícia Política e Social-DPS) collection, the President of the Province (Presidência da Província- PP) collection, the President of the State (Presidência do Estado- PE) collection, the Department of Education (Departamento de Educação) collection, the House of Detention (Casa de Detenção) collection, the Conselho Ultramarino collection, the Feminist Movement for Democratic Liberties (Movimento Feminino lela Anistia e Liberdades Democráticas-MFALD) collection, and the Secretary Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Secretaria de Governo do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) collection. In addition, the APERJ possesses private collections related to the general interests of the institution, such as the: Ângela Borba, Daniel Aarão Reis Filho, Jair Ferreira de Sá Jean Marc von der Weid, Silas Ayres de Mattos, Robespierre Martins Teixeira, and Vera Silvia de Magalhães collections.

Locations

Since its creation in 1931, the archive was in several different locations. Initially, it was on Rua Doutor Celestino n.1 in Niteroi. At the time, it shared a building with the State Library (Biblioteca Estadual de Niteroi). After 1985, the directorship, research and legislation divisions were moved to Rio de Janeiro and moved into the building of the extinct General Department of Documentation (Departamento Geral de Documentação-DGD). The departments responsible for the technical processing and consultation of archival materials remained in Niteroi. In 1989, the APERJ left the building it shared with the DGD and established itself on the Avenida Erasmo Braga in Rio de Janeiro. The Administrative Secretary moved into the old State Treasury building (Tribunal de Contas do Estado) on the Rua Jansen de Melo in Niterói. The institution eventually united all of its parts and installed itself in the old CEDAE building in 1995 on the Rua Riachuelo in Rio de Janeiro. Finally, in 1998, the APERJ was transferred to a building on the Praia de Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro, where it is still located today.

References

External links

Official Site for the APERJ

Online Catalogue for the APERJ
{{authority control Archives in Brazil Government of Rio de Janeiro (state) Buildings and structures in Rio de Janeiro (city)