LIBRARIES A N D ARCHIVES 3. FRANCE

M. G . A. VALE University of Warwick

TO DESCRIBE the archival resources of France adequately would require many more pages than the writer has at his command. This article can serve only as a brief, practical introduction for the novice who ventures into the field of French history. The beginner need have nothing to fear when he enters his first French library or archive-as long as he has taken the trouble beforehand to familiarize himself with the rules. These are many, but, as befits a central- ized state, they are observed in both letter and spirit in central and provincial collections. The departmental archives (Archives Ltkpartementales) are ad- ministered under the authority of the Archives Nationales in Paris, while the municipal libraries (which invariably contain rich documentary collections) come under the Bibliothdque Nationale in an even looser federation. To gain admittance to the Archives Nationales the prospective reader must secure a letter from the Cultural Affairs section of the French Embassy in London and must provide himself with a large stock of passport-size (3 x 3.5 cm) photo- graphs. These are essential. The Archives Nationales (Hate1 Soubise, 60, rue des Francs-Bourgeois, Paris, 3e) requires two such images, as does the Biblioth2que Nationale (rue de Richelieu, Paris 29. The Biblioth2que also demands a letter of recommendation, if the reader is a research student, from his supervisor. Readers’ tickets for the Archives Nationales are issued for two-year periods, renewable by a stamp on expiry. These are available from the Bureau des Renseignements at the Archives, while the Bibliothdque Nationale has a Bureau des Cartes de Lecteurs open from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily. Readers who wish to use the manuscript collections of the Bibliothkque (Cabinet des Manuscrits) should ensure that their ticket bears a rubber-stamp impression in red ink reading Mss. This usually has to be specially requested, otherwise the bearer will find that he is confined to printed books and periodicals only. The issue of a reader’s ticket at the Biblioth2que has recently been subject to revision. Tickets are now issued on an annual basis, and must be renewed yearly on payment of 3 francs. The reader must show his ticket upon entering the Cabinet des Manuscrits, and must surrender it to the attendant at the door of the department of printed books (ImprimPs) together with a card bearing his seat number. The ticket is then collected by him when he wishes to leave the room. A further slight complication which can occasion- ally baffle the uninitiated is the procedure by which one leaves the Cabinet des Manuscrits. The reader, if he carries a brief-case, bag or other receptacle, must display its contents to the librarian sitting at the central desk of the

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66 LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES 3. FRANCE

room. He is then given a pass (luisser-passer) which he surrenders on exit to the attendant at the door. At the Archives Nationales a laisser-passer is required for movement from one room to another, and the reader's ticket must be left with the attendant (usually a mutile' de guerre whose ability to apprehend is questionable) at the door of the reading room.

The communication of documents at the Bibliotheque Nutioi2ale is generally very speedy and the reader (unless his documents are on the reserve list or of especial value) does not usually have to wait longer than ten minutes. Documents, whether in registers or bundles (liusses) should always be ordered in all French archives in batches of three. In some repositories (e.g. the BibZioth2que Nationale) the reader is limited to a total of ten call numbers per day and it is worth while keeping a list of documents requested so that mis- understandings do not arise. Recent changes in the rules governing hours of opening tend to render dogmatic statements on this question outdated. The Archives Nutionales, however, are now open from Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Documents are not communicated after 4 p.m. Both the Archives Nationales and all departmental archives close annually from 1st to 15th July. The BibliothPque Nationale is open to readers wishing to coiisult manuscripts from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. every day except Saturday when the hours are 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Documents are again not delivered after 4 p.m. It is closed annually for two weeks from the first Monday after Easter Monday, All archives and public libraries are closed on certain public holi- days such as Christmas, Easter, Whit-Monday, 1st May and 15th August.

For the most recent information on times of opening and closing, the researcher should consult the informative Ripertoire des Bibliotheques &Etude et Organismes de Documentution (Paris, 1963), which gives details of all central and departmental archives. This should be supplemented by thc publication entitled Archivium (latest edition vol. 15, 1965, published 1969) for changes in these regulations. In departmental archives, closing for lunch is generally between 12 and 2 p.m. But many repositories open at 8.30 a.m. and close at 6.30 p.m. at all times of the year. It has, however, been known for certain archivists to allow the hurried and voracious Anglo-Saxon researcher to be locked in during the lunchtime closure. But this is a mark of exceptional favour.

When he uses French departmental archives in the provinces, the reader must adopt a different mode of behaviour from that common in English local archives. In the first place it is considered polite always to write in advance to announce one's arrival. The Archives Dt!purtementales can often be an important meeting-place for the locality. Tolerance of conversation, smoking, and occasional heated argument must on all accounts be exercised. Complaints about the inadequacies of the cataloguing system must be kept to a minimum. One must look for oneself, for that, according to at least one departmental archivist, is one of the joys of research. It is perhaps easier to chance on the unexpected and unnoticed in French provincial archives than elsewhere. The Archives Dkpartementales received treatment from cataloguers during the mid and late nineteenth century but very little since then. But the history of these

M. G . A. VALE 67 archives can sometimes assist the researcher to find out where certain docu- ments are likely to be. At the Revolution it was decreed that ‘feudal’ docu- ments should be destroyed (although this was rarely observed to the letter, and many departmental archives contain important collections of estate and family papers). The archives of religious houses passed to the archives of the dipartenzent in which the house was situated, and the contents of their libraries went to the nearest municipal library. A cartulary can therefore be found in either the departmental archive or the municipal library. Exceptionally fine and valuable books and documents were sometimes sent to Paris. For the Archives Dipartementales the quarto series of Inventaires Sommaires are by no means comprehensive, as they include only those documents dating from before 1790. Many entries are incomplete and the description of the contents of a Ziasse often ends in a tantalizing etc. The Inventaire for each department is available in the major English libraries, and the British Museum possesses a complete series. For later material the researcher must fall back on typescript catalogues in the archives themselves. There is no Historical Manuscripts Commission or National Register of Archives for France. For guides to the central collections, the reader should consult the useful Guide du Lecfeur (Paris, Les Amis des Archives, 1964) available from the Archives Natiorzales. This lists the principal inventories of the Archives, as well as giving a classi- fication of all the classes of archives under their index letters (e.g. J: Trisor des Chartes, X: Parlement de Paris) for national, departmental and com- munal archives both before and after the Revolution.

The BibliothZque Nationale offers no such elementary guide to its contents. The reader must therefore consult the separate catalogues of Fonds Zatins and francais, of which the Catalogue des fonds francais by H. Omont and others (Paris, 1895-1948) is a useful part. There is little calendaring of documents in these volumes, and the reader must again look for himself. For the great private collections which now form part of the BibZiothZque’s resources, such as the Clairambault, Duchesne, Brtquigny and Dupuy fonds, recourse must be had to the separately published volumes listing their contents. For the departmental collections, a scrutiny of the relevant lnvenraire Sommaire is sufficient to gain an impression of their resources. Some Archives Dkparte- mentales obviously offer riches which few, if any, English County Record Offices could rival. The great Burgundian archives at the Archives Dkparte- mentales du Nord (Lille) and CZte &Or (Dijon) are unparalleled even in the rest of France. But a small provincial town can sometimes possess archives of great importance, such as the fonds of Foix-Btarn, Albret and Armagnac in the Archives Dkpartennzenntales at Pau. Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) possesses the remainder of the Armagnac collection, while other southern repositories such as Bordeaux (Gironde), and Toulouse (Lot-et-Garonne), are noted for their large collections of notarial archives. Further comment on the contents of provincial archives would only reflect personal experience, and the reader must seek out the information he desires from the sources already listed.

To discover the contents of the many municipal archives of France, the

68 LIBRARIES AND ARCHlVES 3. FRANCE

rescarcher should consult the volumes in the series entitled Inventaire Sum- maire des BibliothLques Municipales. These list all collections in the Biblio- thtques Municipales, some of which contain valuable manuscripts. For the Archives Communales, often kept at the Mairie of the smallest towns, the Inventaire Sommaire for the relevant department should be used. The communal archives can often yield important material on such topics as town finance and administration, justice, police, religion, public buildings and works, education, military affairs, and local politics in general. Many of the Inventaires Sommaires include supplementary volumes devoted to cataloguing the more important of these collections. Documents from Archives Commu- nates can normally be read, with the permission of the departmental archivist, at the Archives Dkpartementales. It is also possible, if good notice is given, for documents to be transferred for the benefit of a researcher from one departmental archive to another. This can prevent costly and often fruitless journeys. Similarly, with notice, documents from the Archives Dkparte- mentales can be sent at the reader’s request to the Archives Nationales in Paris. As long as no more than three bundles or registers are ordered at a time, this system will be operated for any researcher who wishes to use one major archive as his base.

All central and local archives in France permit the use of fountain and ball-point pens. A special permit, however, is required to take a tracing of a document such as a map. Most departmental archives possess facilities for microfilming documents. Sometimes it is necessary for the actual photo- graphy to be done at another departmental archive (e.g. Toulouse for Montauban). The Archives Nationales and Bibliothtque Nutionale both possess microfilming facilities. At the Bibliothtque, a delay of at least six months must be expected between ordering the films and their receipt. Pay- ment must be made in advance. The problem of over-crowding has apparently not yet afflicted French archives to the extent of necessitating queues. The Archives Nationales, however, has a small reading room, and an early arrival in the morning is advised. The departmental archives, in the writer’s experi- ence’ rarely suffer from pressure of numbers and in some of them it is still possible to be the only occupant of the salle de travail. There is little hope that this will remain the case for very long.

1 For manuscript books (as opposed to archives) however, the only comprehensive guide is the Catalogue giniral des manuswits des biblioth2ques publiques, 28 vols. for Paris (Paris, 1888 -1928) and 48 vols. for the Dkpartements (Paris, 1886-1933).