In 1900, Pedro de Azevedo was already working at the Royal Archive of the Torre do Tombo, appointed to the position of amanuensis palaeographer, a position he was naturally qualified for due to his education as a librarian and archivist. Shortly afterwards, in 1902, he was confirmed as the institution ’ s first curator and placed in charge of the first section of the archive, where the most precious manuscripts were deposited. He was also responsible for running the department ’ s office, with the obligation of drawing up regular reports, which reveal a large part of his clerical work, divided between palaeography classes, organising competitions, settling internal disputes and managing documentary collections. In this context, for example, he was in charge of managing the Special Collection – made up of bulls, briefs and other ecclesiastical documents – supervising the cataloguing of the important and extensive registry of the Coimbra C athedral and organising the service at the Registo das Mercês , a task that would have been only temporary had it not been for the death of the curator Almeida Caldeira.

He had just started working at the Archive of the Torre do Tombo when he was invited to lecture and teach diplomacy at the Higher Degree in Libraries and Archives, taking over from João Basto, the previous head of the subject. From there, in 1902, he was transferred to the chair of palaeography in view of his special knowledge , which qualified him, more than anyone else, to teach this subject. During the years he combined teaching with working in public archives, he always attached great importance to pedagogical content, as evidenced by the detailed plans he prepared for the Latin and Portuguese palaeography classes, which are proof of his deeply systematic and Cartesian spirit.

In 1918, after several years as a teacher and as the first curator of the Archive of Torre do Tombo, he was called to the National Library in Lisbon to head the important section of Reserved Books. He was appointed interim director of the institution in 1927, a position he held until his death.

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