Nise da Silveira Personal Archive

The Nise da Silveira Personal Archive is a collection of documents consisting of approximately 8,000 items, including textual, iconographic, bibliographic and press documents produced and gathered during the course of psychiatrist Nise da Silveira’s professional and personal activities. 

Nise da Silveira carried out her professional activity mainly at the National Psychiatric Center, where she founded the Occupational Therapy Section, which in 1952 gave rise to the Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente [Museum of Images of the Unconscious], today’s largest museum of its kind in the world. She introduces occupational therapy and activities of artistic expression in the treatment of psychiatric disturbances and became a pioneer in Brazil in the use of animals in therapy. Nise da Silveira corresponded with Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung, and was responsible for the introduction of Jungian psychology in Brazil. She also created Casa das Palmeiras, a rehabilitation clinic, on an outpatient basis, for patients discharged from psychiatric institutions, the first of its kind in Brazil.