It was established by like-minded individuals in 1942, who founded that institute in order fill a gap in the archipelago's legal charter, the Estatuto dos Distritos Autónomos das ilhas Adjacentes (1940–47).
[1][2][3] The creation of the institute was led by Luís Ribeiro and José Agostinho, both public educators with vocations in ethnography, history and natural sciences, and who were influenced by the Instituto de Coimbra, as well as other Portuguese and international societies.
In 1985, its constitution was reformulated in order to adapt the association to the new reality, that abandoned the district system in favor of the autonomy model in the Azores.
It publishes an annual bulletin that includes fundamental studies of the history, ethnography and documents of cultural interest relative to the Azores.
These have included: Ilha Terceira: Notas Etnográficas by Frederico Lopes Jr. (1980), Obras by Luís Ribeiro (three volumes, published in 1982), The Image of the Azorean by Mary T. Vermette (1984), Ruas da Cidade e outros escritos by Henrique Bras (1985), Os Açores e o Domínio Filipino by Avelino Freitas de Meneses (two volumes published in 1987), 'Tradições e Festas Populares da Freguesia dos Altares by Inocêncio Enes (1988), Apontamentos para a História dos Açores by Francisco Ferreira Drummond (text and transcription of the manuscript by José Guilherme Reis Leite, 1990).