BACK TO FRENCH HISTORY RESOURCES

ARCHIVES Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris The French National Archives: Now back in their permanent home! Access on-line inventories, check opening hours, reserve documents on the web. Centre des Archives d’Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence The French colonial archives: Collections include records of the ministries responsible for colonial administration during the Old Regime and archives transferred from the former colonies and from Algeria after independence. The CAOM does not hold the archives of the former protectorates (Morocco, Tunisia) and mandates (Syria, Lebanon). See below. Service Historique de la Défense, Vincennes A new national center for military history to be created from the separate archives of the army, navy, air force and gendarmerie announced in February 2005. To be located in the Château de Vincennes, currently home to the Service historique de l’Armée de Terre, Service historique de la Marine, and Service historique de l’Armée de l’Air. No information yet about when the new center will open, what the reform means for access during the transition, or whether there will finally be an insulated, heated place for researchers to eat lunch mitten- and overcoat-free. In the meantime, access to the army archives is much restricted because of a shortage of personnel and structural problems with the building. Call Monday morning for to reserve a seat and documents two weeks later. Each reader is allowed three reservations per week and three documents per day. Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères The archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs: independent of the National Archives, on three sites. Central archives at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris; le Centre des Archives diplomatiques de Nantes holds the records repatriated from the overseas protectorates and mandates; Bureau des Archives de Colmar, for the French occupation of Germany and the Allied High Commission after WW2. National Archives of Algeria, Algiers Official site of the Algerian national archives. Versions in French, Arabic, English or Spanish. Certain sections of the site are not yet operational. “Des lieux pour la recherche en Algérie,” by Raëd Bader, Didier Guignard and Akihito Kudo offers an invaluable overview of the archival and library resources available in Algeria for the colonial period. Archives de l’Académie des Sciences, Paris Important resource for the history of science and overseas exploration. Best to telephone ahead for access, and bring your passport to enter the Institut. Annuaire des services d’archives, Archives de France Contact information and links for local and departmental archives throughout France.