Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo

Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo (English: Public Archives of the State of São Paulo) is the archival institution of the Executive Branch of the State of São Paulo responsible for formulating and implementing the state's archives policy, through the management of documents produced by the executive branch of São Paulo, the preservation of documents categorized as "permanent storage" (also called "historical"), the dissemination of documentary heritage and access to the information contained in such documents. The APESP is located in a group of buildings in the Santana neighborhood of São Paulo, near the Tietê Bus Station. It is one of the largest public archives in Brazil, comprising an abundant collection for research and helping to rescue the public memory of São Paulo.

Created in 1891, the Public Archives is one of the oldest departments in the state of São Paulo. Its collection is composed of documents from both the State Secretariats and the Judiciary, city halls, notary offices and private funds, including manuscripts from Colonial Brazil, important records belonging to the now defunct DOPS and private collections of former governors and presidents, such as Júlio Prestes, Washington Luis and Adhemar de Barros.

Currently linked to the Secretariat of Management and Digital Government, APESP is the central body of the São Paulo State Archives System (SAESP), being responsible for the coordination and systematization of São Paulo's public archives, involving the creation of Temporality Tables, assembly and coordination of Evaluation Committees, and the effective disposal or collection of documentary sets produced by the São Paulo government.

It is one of the largest public archives in Brazil, containing a rich collection available for public research, with more than 25 million textual documents and 3 million iconographic and cartographic documents, available for research. Its collection consists of documents from agencies and entities of the São Paulo Public Administration, as well as private documents of individuals or legal entities declared to be of public and social interest. It has handwritten documents from Colonial Brazil, records belonging to the extinct DOPS, private archives of former governors such as Mário Covas, Júlio Prestes, Washington Luis and Adhemar de Barros, as well as digital documents from the 21st century.

The State Public Archive also holds the collections of defunct agencies and entities and, recently, incorporated the documents of the Companhia Paulista de Obra e Serviços (CPOS), Desenvolvimento Rodoviário S/A (DERSA), Empresa Paulista de Planejamento Metropolitano S.A. (EMPLASA), Fundação do Desenvolvimento Administrativo (FUNDAP), Fundação Prefeito Faria Lima - Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas de Administração Municipal (CEPAM) etc. In addition to consulting the collection, the State Public Archive offers, among others, the services of certificates and certified copies; reproduction of documents; monitored visits; educational action and publishing of technical manuals and the Archive Magazine.