Arquivo Público do Estado de Santa Catarina APESC Consulta ao Acervo (AtoM)

History and Founding

The Arquivo Público do Estado de Santa Catarina (APESC) has a complex founding history. It was first created by Law No. 1,196 of 26 September 1918 during the governorship of Felipe Schmidt, but lack of leadership led to its effective dissolution shortly thereafter. It was revived in 1931 by Decree No. 186 but again extinguished in 1933. The archive was definitively and permanently established by Law No. 2,378 of 28 June 1960 under governor Heriberto Hülse, from which date it has consistently carried out its mandate. The institution is linked to the Secretaria de Estado da Administração (SEA) and, from 2019, to the Fundação Escola de Governo (ENA) following a legislative reform.

Although technically founded in 1960, the idea for the archive dates further back: civil engineer Hercílio Pedro da Luz is credited with first envisioning such an institution as early as 1898. The archive's current headquarters is located in the Kobrasol neighbourhood of São José (adjacent to Florianópolis).

Collections and Holdings

The APESC holds approximately 2,500 linear metres of documents — equivalent to roughly 130,000 volumes or 6 million pages — organised into more than 200 documentary collections. Its holdings trace the political and administrative history of Santa Catarina from 1703, documenting the island government's relationships with royal and central powers from the colonial period through the imperial era and into the twentieth-century republican period.

Of particular note for press history research, the APESC holds a complete collection of the Diário Oficial do Estado de Santa Catarina (Official State Gazette), published since 1934. Editions from 1934 to 2011 have been digitised and are accessible through the online access portal, which runs on the open-source AtoM (Access to Memory) platform. This digitisation project was financed by the state attorney-general's office Reconstruction Fund (FRBL).

Access and Usage

The archive is open to the public Monday through Friday from 1 pm to 6:30 pm. The online AtoM portal offers remote access to finding aids, digitised Official Gazette editions, and an expanding iconographic collection. Telephone and email enquiries are also handled.