In terms of his career in public administration, it seems António Ferrão entered and advanced quickly following the establishment of the Republic in 1910. He served as head of department and head of service at the Directorate-General for Secondary, Higher and Artistic Instruction and the Ministry of Public Instruction. During this time he contrinuted to the pedagogical reforms of the provisional government, facilitating Portugal’s accession to the Berne Convention for the protection of literary, scientific and artistic property in 1911. He also held the positions of general secretary and director of the Liga Nacional de Instrução [National Instruction League], which operated out of the Sociedade de Geografia [Geographical Society]. Various governments commissioned him to select materials from the historical archives of the Ministry of Justice to be sent to the inspectorate of libraries and archives in 1920. Three years later, he was commissioned to research and promote the cataloguing of the inspectorate's collection, which had by then become the inspectorate of learned libraries and archives. In 1929, he was appoined sub-inspector of this inspectorate.

In intellectual terms, he was also active: in 1915, he was commissioned to publish a six-volume work on the life and governmental achievements of the Marquis of Pombal; however, only two volumes were published immediately due to budgetary constraints. He undertook service commissions abroad in 1914, 1919, 1926, and 1927 to study the organisation of fine arts services, archives, and libraries in various countries, including Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands.

During these trips, he took the opportunity to study, extract, and cite works of significance to Portuguese culture and history, following a tradition that dates back to the 18th century among diplomats and members of the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa. From 1912 to 1922, he represented the Liga Nacional de Instrução at various national events and represented Portugal at international meetings, including those commemorating centenaries in Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and France between 1924 and 1927. It is therefore not surprising that in the 1930s, he was successively appointed deputy director, effective director, regent, and appointed to a chair on the Curso Superior de Bibliotecário-Arquivista [Higher Librarian-Archivist Course.]

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