The State Museum of Pernambuco (MEP) was created on 24 August 1928, through State Law No. 1918. The law was pioneering in Northeast Brazil and in the country itself, and authorised the governor Estácio Coimbra to create the State Inspectorate of Monuments and a Historical and Ancient Art Museum.

The creation of a public archive is of paramount importance: it centralises a large number of documents in one place, and is also responsible for their selection, classification, cataloguing, restoration and conservation.

Situated in the municipality of Igarassu, it was founded by Joaquim Coelho Leite and José Joaquim Coelho Pereira Leite, who in 1891 received permission from the State of Pernambuco to build a factory, giving it the name Coelho (Rabbit). It milled for the first time in 1906.