Brazilian National Archives

The National Archives of Brazil (Portuguese: Arquivo Nacional, AN) were created in 1838 as the Imperial Public Archives. The Archives were renamed in 1911, and are located in Rio de Janeiro. The National Archives of Brazil is the Brazilian institution responsible for the management, preservation and dissemination of federal government documents. Since 2011, it is subordinated to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.

The AN has the following responsibilities, according to the Decree No. 9,360 of May 7, 2018, which grants it as the main body of Archival Documents Management System (in Portuguese: Sistema de Gestão de Documentos de Arquivo – SIGA) of the federal government: "to guide the main organizations and entities of the federal Executive Power in the implementation of document management programs; oversee the application of procedures and technical operations related to the production, registration, classification, control of the processing, use and evaluation of documents, to modernize government archival services; promote the collection of permanent guard documents for technical treatment, preservation and dissemination, to guarantee full access to information, in support of governmental decisions of a political–administrative nature and to the citizen in the defense of their rights, aiming to encourage the production of scientific and cultural knowledge; and supervise and apply the national policy archives, established by the National Council of Archives (Conselho Nacional de Arquivo – CONARQ)".

The National Archives of Brazil thus fulfills a double and essential function for the Brazilian State and society – both in the management of archival documents that are produced in all federal institutions and in safeguarding and giving access to fundamental fonds for history.

The National Archives of Brazil (AN) fulfills part of its institutional mission by offering guidance, technical assistance and training to the servants of other federal public administration bodies throughout Brazil in the area of management, preservation, technical processing, access and dissemination of documents under the Archival Documents Management System (in Portuguese: Sistema de Gestão de Documentos de Arquivo – SIGA). Through its conservation area, the National Archives of Brazil guarantees the protection of the fundamental documentary heritage for the country. These actions are complemented by the technical treatment of its fonds, to make it available to the public through search systems and research instruments.

Thus, the National Archives offers thousands of documents in its custody accessible anywhere in the world through the Internet; On the other hand, it is possible to consult the documents in person at your two units (in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia) or the distance or by email. The National Archives currently has 10 electronic sites, 7 databases and 42 research tools that allow its users access to information on the document, as well as information about its activities and events. The Information System of the National Archives – SIAN is its main system. The access to information and documents of the National Archives of Brazil is enhanced by various dissemination actions, such as electronic research sites, exhibitions and publications. Among them, the Arquivo em Cartaz – International Archives Film Festival, Revista Acervo, National Archives Week; Memórias Reveladas; besides having a great presence in social medias, joining in 2017 the GLAM project of the Wikicommons. The Archives also holds pre-1959 diplomatic records between Brazil and the United States of America. It may be necessary to contact Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to access some of the records.

The regulation No. 2, of January 2, 1838, created the Public Archives of the Brazilian Empire, as provided for in the Constitution of 1824, provisionally established in the Secretariat of State for the Business of the Empire. The creation of the National Archives, together with the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute, which added to the Imperial Academy of the Arts, joined the regency effort of Pedro de Araújo Lima, future Viscount and Marqués de Olinda, for the construction of an imperial State.

The Public Archives of the Empire was intended to safeguard public documents and was organized into three sections: Administrative, responsible for the documents of the Executive and Moderator powers; Legislative, in charge of the custody of the documents produced by the Legislative Power and the Historical Section, responsible for the most important documents for the history of Brazil. Its first headquarters was located in the building of the Ministry of the Empire, in the street of the Guarda Velha Street, current Treze de Maio Avenue. In 1844, the Public Archives of the Empire came to stay in Praça do Comércio, on Direita Street, today Primeiro de Março Avenue, Rio de Janeiro.

Initially the organ functioned as a distribution attached to the Secretariat of State for the Business of the Empire, becoming autonomous in 1840. However, it occupied the secretarial building until 1854, when it was transferred to the upper floor of the Convent of Santo Antônio. In 1860, decree n. 2,541 reformed the institution, maintaining the same division of the sections, however, detailing a little more the attributions of each one.