Arquivo Historico do Partido (PT) Nacional, Fundação Perseu Abram


Date of tip: September 2006

Source: Guy Burton G.J.Burton@lse.ac.uk

 

Archive: Arquivo Historico do Partido (PT) Nacional, Fundação Perseu Abramo (archives relating to the PT, or Workers Party)

 

Location: Rua Francisco Cruz, 234 - V. Mariana - CEP 04117-091 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil

 

How to get there: Take the Metro to Vila Mariana.  From the station take the right exit to the bus station (Terminal de Onibus) onto Rua Professor N. Azevedo.  Walk away from the station to the south; Rua Francisco Cruz is the second on the left, after Rua Doutor Pinto Ferraz.  The Fundação Perseu Abramo is on the right-hand side of Rua Franscisco Cruz and is noticeable as two light blue town houses joined together.  

 

Language: Portuguese.

 

Getting started: You will need to make an appointment to use the archives.  It would also help to explain the detail of your work prior to this as relevant material may be stored across different archives since the team working in the Fundação's archives section is small.  They will ask you to fill out a registration form upon arrival.  This needs to be done once and is sufficient to cover the entire period of work you undertake in the archives.  Although the form can be sent to you prior to your arrival the staff prefer that you fill out the form on your first visit.

 

Opening Hours: 10am-5pm 

 

General working conditions: The archives are located at the back of the Fundaçao, on top of a specially built building that includes a seminar room below and the archives above.  There is limited space to work, owing to the ongoing process of cataloging that is taking place.  Use of pens is acceptable although you will need to wear plastic gloves when handling the material.

 

Consultation: You may consult as many documents as you like as there are presently no limits on the number that may be used.  However, this also depends on the number of researchers and staff at a given time, owing to the small number presently employed there and their present work in cataloging the material.  The staff also seem inclined to let researchers go through individual boxes of archives themselves rather than functioning as intermediaries, so long as they are put back correctly.

 

Policy on technology: The use of laptops is allowed in the archives.  Scanners may also be used, depending on the state of the document.

 

Photocopy policy: The staff allow up to 30 photocopies to be made per visit, free of charge.  In addition three copies of the videotapes that they have in their collection may also be made.  Depending on copyright, copies of photos in the Jorge Mariano and Vera Iursys collections may or may not be made.

 

Particularities: The archives at the Fundação are divided into four main sections: institutional sources (e.g. Comité de Solidariedade aos Povos da América Latina, Instituto Cajamar, Movimento Comunista Revolucionário and the PT based in São Paulo state, São Bernardo do Campos and the National Directorate), personal sources (José Genoíno Neto, Lula and Perseu Abramo), collections (mainly photographs) and other material.  At present the only documents that are fully available are those related to the pre-1989 period of PT history.  Because the archives section suffers from a limited number of people and ongoing work not all of the material they have received has been catalogued, while other useful material has yet to be passed over, remaining in private or other public collections (e.g. former PT president Jose Dirceu's papers are housed at the UNICAMP university in Campinas, São Paulo state). Much of the material relating to the post-1989 history of the PT is still being put together by the National Directorate (located at Praça de Se).  However, conversations with the staff will generally identify where relevant material is located and possible contacts.

 

How to apply for classified files: All material prior to 1989 is available.  Material after 1989 may be available depending on the situation (i.e. extent to which it has been catalogued or is available in the archives).

 

Contact name in case of questions regarding classified files: Dainis Karepovs, curator. (011) 5571 4299 ext 55

 

Etc: Vila Mariana is located just to the south of Sao Paulo's central and business districts.  In the other, northward direction from Vila Mariana Metro station, is located UNE and UBES (the National Students Union and Brazilian Secondary Students Union respectively) at 2485 Rua Vergeiro on the right-hand side.  There are a range of cheap places to eat in the vicinity, including snack bars and self-service buffet restaurants.