Fundação Casa de José Américo: memory of the writer and the state

Opened in 1982 on Avenida Cabo Branco, the Fundação Casa de José Américo brings together a museum, library, archive of governors and the writer's mausoleum.

The Fundação Casa de José Américo occupies a building on Avenida Cabo Branco built in the early 1950s, which belonged to the Paraíba-born writer, journalist and politician José Américo de Almeida. The idea of turning the residence into a memorial space arose on the very day of his wake, on March 10, 1980, when then-governor Tarcísio de Miranda Burity announced the creation of a museum dedicated to preserving his historical documentation.

Opened in 1982, the institution today brings together a museum, library, newspaper archive, popular culture collection, exhibition gallery, archives of Paraíba's governors and other Paraíba figures, as well as the mausoleum where José Américo de Almeida is buried. The site also houses a film club, extending the foundation's work beyond literary and political memory.

José Américo de Almeida is remembered as the author of regionalist novels such as "A Bagaceira" and as a weighty figure in Paraíba and national politics in the first half of the 20th century, having held posts such as federal interventor in Paraíba and minister of state. The collection held by the foundation documents both his personal career and part of the state's political history.

Open to visitors, the Fundação Casa de José Américo serves as a research space and cultural reference, part of the group of memory institutions in João Pessoa alongside museums such as the Sacro-Escola and the Walfredo Rodrigues Photographic Museum.