Archives Nationales (France) - Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Archives_Nationales_(France)

Archives Nationales (France)

The (French: [aʁʃiv nɑsjɔnal], " " in English; abbreviated )
are the national archives of France. They preserve the archives of the French state, apart from
the archives of the Ministry of Armed Forces and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as these two
ministries have their own archive services, the Defence Historical Service (SHD) and Diplomatic
Archives respectively. The National Archives of France also keep the archives of local secular
and religious institutions from the Paris Region seized at the time of the French Revolution (such
as local royal courts of Paris, suburban abbeys and monasteries, etc), as well as the archives
produced by the notaries of Paris during five centuries, and many private archives donated or
placed in the custody of the National Archives by prominent aristocratic families, industrialists,
and historical figures.

1289 letter of Arghun to Philip the

Fair, in the Uyghur script, with detail of
the introduction. The letter was
remitted to the French king by
Buscarel of Gisolfe. The seal is that of
the Great Khan, in Chinese characters:
"Seal of the upholder of the State and
the purveyor of peace to the People".
The paper is of Korean manufacture.
182x25 cm. French National Archives.
[1]

The National Archives have one of the largest and oldest archival collections in the world. As of
2022, they held 383 km (238 mi) of physical records (the total length of occupied shelves put
next to each other) from the year 625 to the present time, and as of 2020 74.75 terabytes (74,750
GB) of electronic archives.[2]

To deal with this massive volume of documents, the National Archives currently operate from
two sites in the Paris Region: the historical site of the National Archives in the heart of Paris (in
the Medieval Marais district), which contains the physical records of the French state from before
the French Revolution as well as the records of the Paris notaries from all periods, and the newer

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site at Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, in the northern

suburbs of Paris, opened in 2013, which
contains all the physical records of the French
state since the French Revolution, as well as
the private archives from all periods.

Two sister agencies, the National Overseas

Archives (ANOM) and the National Archives of
the World of Labour (ANMT) are located in Aix-
en-Provence and in Roubaix respectively.
These are managed separately from the
National Archives.

History

The are heir to the Top: Façade of Hôtel de Soubise, the historic

("Charters Treasury"), the archives site of the National Archives in the Marais
district of Paris, where pre-French Revolution
of the French crown that were kept in the
records are kept.
ancient Capetian royal palace on the Île de la
Bottom: National Archives' new site at
Cité until the French Revolution, although the
Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, where post-French
was more limited in scope Revolution records are kept.
than the current , since it
contained only charters and legal records
constituting title deeds for the French crown,
used to establish the rights of French kings
over crown lands. The today
still forms one of the most renowned archival
series in the collections of the National
Archives.
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap

The were created at the 48.86029568613751°N

time of the French Revolution in 1790. It was a 2.359355640417249°E (https://geohack.tool
state decree of 1794 that made it mandatory forge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Archives
to centralise all the pre-French Revolution _Nationales_(France)&params=48.86029568
private and public archives seized by the 6138_N_2.3593556404172_E_type:landmark

revolutionaries, completed by a law passed in _region:FR) and 48.94825818490026°N

2.364806794181443°E (https://geohack.tool
forge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Archives

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forge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Archives
_Nationales_(France)&params=48.94825818
49_N_2.3648067941814_E_type:landmark_r
egion:FR)

Paris and Pierrefitte-

sur-Seine, France

1790

383 km (physical
records)(as of 2022)
74.75 terabytes
(electronic archives)
(as of end 2020)

AD 625 - present

www.archives-
nationales.culture
.gouv.fr (https://ww
w.archives-national
es.culture.gouv.fr/)

1796 which created departmental archives ( ) in the departments of

France to alleviate the burden on the in Paris, thus creating the collections of
the French archives as we know them today. In 1800 the became an
autonomous body of the French state.

Archives of France

The National Archives are under the authority of the Archives of France administration (
) in the Ministry of Culture. The Archives of France also
manage the 101 departmental archives located in the prefectures of each of the 100
departments of France plus the city of Paris, as well as various other local (municipal) archives,
plus 12 more recent regional archives (which store the archives of the regional councils and their
agencies). The departmental and local archives contain all the archives from the deconcentrated
branches of the French state, as well as all the archives of the pre-French Revolution provincial
and local institutions seized by the revolutionaries (parliaments, chartered cities, abbeys, and
churches).

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In addition to the 459 kilometres (285 mi) of physical records and 74.75 terabytes of electronic
archives kept by the National Archives and its sister agencies, the National Overseas Archives
(ANOM) in Aix-en-Provence and the National Archives of the World of Labour (ANMT) in Roubaix,
this as of the end of 2020 (373 km and 74.75 TB at the National Archives strictly speaking, and
86 km at ANOM and ANMT), another 3,591 kilometres (2,231 mi) of physical records and 225.25
terabytes of electronic archives were kept in the regional, departmental and local archives in the
end of 2020,[2] in particular the church records and notarial records used by genealogists.

The archives of the Ministry of Armed Forces (Defence Historical Service, ca. 450 kilometres
(280 mi) of physical records) and the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Diplomatic
Archives , ca. 120 kilometres (75 mi) of physical records) are managed separately by their
respective ministries and do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Archives of France
administration.[3]

Collections

Oldest record at the

preserved in its entirety:
papyrus dated June 14 (or July 1),
625 at the royal of Etrepagny.
King Chlothar II confirms a grant of
land in the city of Paris to the Royal
Abbey of St Denis previously made by
the Dagobert, son of
Baddo.

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Parchment dated December 23, 695

at the royal of Compiègne. King
Childebert III rules that the land of
Hodenc-l'Évêque belongs to the Royal
Abbey of St Denis.

The National Archives have one of the largest and most important archival collections in the
world. As of 2022, the National Archives contained 383 km (238 mi) of physical records (the total
length of occupied shelves put next to each other) and as 2020 74.75 terabytes (74,750 GB) of
electronic archives,[2] an enormous mass of documents growing every year (3.1 km of physical
records and 4.7 terabytes of electronic archives entered the National Archives in 2020 despite
the COVID-19 lockdowns).[4]

Due to the events of the French Revolution, the pre-French Revolution archives kept by the
National Archives are not just the archives of the central state, but also the many local archives
of the Paris region, such as all the archives of the abbeys surrounding Paris (e.g. the Royal Abbey
of St Denis), the archives of the churches of Paris, and the archives of the medieval Paris city
hall. Thus, the National Archives serve as the archives of the French central state for records
from 1790 onwards, but for records before 1790 they serve as both the archives of the central
state and the local archives of Paris and its region. The National Archives, however, do not keep
the pre-1790 church records of Paris (baptisms, marriages and burials). These were kept at the
municipal archives of Paris (original series from 16th century to French Revolution) and at the
Palais de Justice (duplicate registers from 1700 to French Revolution), and were entirely
destroyed by fires set by extremists at the end of the Paris Commune in May 1871 which

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destroyed both the municipal archives and a large part of the Palais de Justice.

The oldest original record kept at the National Archives is a papyrus dated AD 625 coming from
the archives of the Royal Abbey of St Denis seized at the time of the French Revolution. This
papyrus is the confirmation by King Chlothar II of a grant of land in the city of Paris to the Royal
Abbey of Saint-Denis previously made by the Dagobert, son of Baddo. This charter is
the oldest original one kept by the National Archives, but the National Archives possess medieval
copies of earlier records from the 6th century (but not the originals). The National Archives also
possess a small fragment of an original papyrus record from the year 619 or 620 (uncertain
date), a private donation, probably to the basilica of St Denis, but the charter from 625 is the
oldest one preserved in its entirety.

The National Archives keep 211 authentic, original records from the 1st millennium (later copies
and forgeries not included).[5] The oldest Merovingian records are all written on papyrus imported
from Egypt, in continuation of Roman practices. Records written on parchment appear after 670,
due to the Muslim conquest of the Southern Mediterranean, and completely replace papyrus
records within a few decades.[6][7]

Detail of the 211 authentic, original records from before the year 1000 kept by the National
Archives:[5][8][9]

Oldest record: year 625 (also fragment of an earlier record from

600-649 9
619/620). All written on papyrus.

650-699 27 8 written on papyrus; 19 written on parchment.

700-749 10 All written on parchment.

750-799 40 38 written on parchment; 2 written on papyrus.

800-849 50 All written on parchment.

850-899 51 49 written on parchment; 2 written on papyrus.

900-949 12 All written on parchment.

950-999 12 All written on parchment.

In total, the National Archives possess 47 original records from the Merovingian period (ended in

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751). They also possess 5 original records from the reign of Pepin the Short (751–768), 31 from
the reign of Charlemagne (768-814), 28 from the reign of Louis the Pious (814-840), 69 from the
reign of Charles the Bald (840-877), 4 from the reign of Hugh Capet (987–996), 21 from the reign
of Robert the Pious (996–1031), and then a rapidly increasing number of original records after
Robert the Pious, with for example more than 1,000 original records from the reign of Philip
Augustus (1180–1223) and several thousand original records from the reign of Saint Louis
(1226–1270).

The National Archives also hold the original draft of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of
the Citizen, dating from 1789, a core statement of the values of the French Revolution which had
a major impact on the development of popular conceptions of individual liberty and democracy in
Europe and worldwide. It was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme Register
in 2003 in recognition of its historical significance.[10]

Sites

Due to the massive volume of documents and records kept by the National Archives, these have
been divided among two sites, one in the historic center of Paris, the other one in the northern
Parisian suburb of Pierrefitte-sur-Seine (opened in 2013), complemented by a microform centre
at the Château d'Espeyran, in Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, serving as a back-up in case original
documents are destroyed. A third site in the Paris Region, at Fontainebleau, was closed in 2016
and its content moved to Pierrefitte-sur-Seine.

Historic compound of the

, in the Marais district, Paris.

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Handwriting of King Louis XIV kept at the

historic Paris site of the National Archives.
First page of a letter sent to Louis XIV on
July 20, 1706, by Jérôme Phélypeaux, comte
de Pontchartrain, Secretary of State of the
Navy, in which he explains that an English
fleet is approaching Ushant and may bomb
Brest. In the left margin the 67-year-old king
wrote a reply with his own hand: "

" which means "The decision that

was taken is very good and nothing must be
done before making sure of the enemy's
intentions. As you can see I agree with you.
L".

The National Archives has been located since 1808 in a group of buildings comprising the Hôtel
de Soubise and the Hôtel de Rohan in the district of Le Marais in the centre of Paris.

Since the opening of the Pierrefitte-sur-Seine site in 2013, the historic Paris site stores only the
documents and records from before the French Revolution, as well as the so-called
of Paris, i.e. the archives of all the Parisian notaries extending from the 15th century to
the beginning of the 20th century.[11] Since 1867 it has also housed the Musée des Archives
Nationales.

In 2004, the Paris site of the National Archives kept 98.3 kilometres (61.1 mi) of physical records:
15 kilometres (9.3 mi) of pre-French Revolution archives; 52 kilometres (32 mi) of records of the

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French central state from 1790 to 1958; 20 kilometres (12 mi) of Paris notary records (
); 5.8 kilometres (3.6 mi) of private archives, notably the archives of the aristocratic
families seized at the time of the French Revolution; 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) of books; and finally
1 kilometre (0.62 mi) of ancient maps and plans.

In 2012-2013, all archives, maps and plans from 1790 to the 20th century, as well as all private
archives from all periods, were moved to the new site of Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, and as a result the
amount of archives stored at the historic Paris site was reduced to 45.8 kilometres (28.5 mi) of
physical records (situation as of the end of 2015).[12]

The space liberated by the departure of more than 50 km of records allowed the National
Archives to resume the collection of archives from the Paris notaries, in particular late 19th and
early 20th centuries records which hadn't been collected yet. As of 2022, the of
the Paris notaries stored at the National Archives was filling 23.8 kilometres (14.8 mi) of shelves,
representing 20 million notary records from the 1460s to the first half of the 20th century.[13]

First page of the government decree

abolishing slavery in the French colonies,
April 27, 1848, kept at the new Pierrefitte site
of the National Archives.

The construction of a new National Archives centre at Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, in the northern

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suburbs of Paris, was decided in 2004 to alleviate the burden on the historic Paris sites of the
National Archives as well as on the newer Fontainebleau site. Designed by the Italian architect
Massimiliano Fuksas, it opened to the public in January 2013.[14] It was meant to become the
main site of the National Archives, with a capacity of 380 kilometres (240 mi) of shelves, one of
the largest storage capacities in the world.[14]

In 2012-2013, more than 50 km of records from the historic Paris site and 150 km of records
from the newer Fontainebleau site were moved to the new Pierrefitte site. By the end of 2015, the
Pierrefitte site kept 219.5 kilometres (136.4 mi) of records.[12] The decision to close the
Fontainebleau site in 2016 after the discovery of structural issues in 2014 has led to the transfer
of all Fontainebleau's remaining archives to the Pierrefitte site, a transfer that was to be
completed in 2022,[15] at which point the Pierrefitte site of the National Archives would store
more than 300 kilometres (190 mi) of physical records, close to maximum capacity, at a much
earlier date than was originally anticipated. As a result, the National Archives have launched the
construction of new storage capacity (100 km of shelves) at the Pierrefitte site, which should
bring the total capacity of the Pierrefitte site to 480 kilometres (300 mi) of shelf space by 2026.
[16]

The Pierrefitte-sur-Seine site of the National Archives stores all the archives of the French central
state since 1790 (except those of the Ministry of Armed Forces and of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, which have their own archive agencies, the Defence Historical Service and the Diplomatic
Archives respectively), as well as all the private archives from all periods seized during the
French Revolution or deposited at the National Archives since then (archives of aristocratic
families, industrialists, major historical figures, etc).[11] The Pierrefitte site will receive all the new
records from the central state every year for the next 30 years after its opening.

The Centre for Contemporary Archives ( or ), founded as

the , opened in Fontainebleau in 1969. It was the repository for
documents produced by the French central state since 1958 (founding of the Fifth Republic). In
2006 it contained 193 kilometres (120 mi) of physical records. The Fontainebleau site also
stored the electronic archives collected by the National Archives, as well as the audio and video
files kept by the National Archives.

With the construction of the new Pierrefitte-sur-Seine site of the National Archives, it was
decided to transfer most of the archives stored at Fontainebleau to Pierrefitte, and to keep at

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Fontainebleau only the electronic archives, the audio and video files, as well as some series of
physical records concerning specific individuals, such as naturalization records or the career files
of government employees, representing an estimated 60 km of shelf space.[11]

After the discovery of structural issues with the buildings at the Fontainebleau site in 2014, it was
decided to permanently close the Fontainebleau site in 2016, and move all the remaining physical
records stored there to the Pierreffitte site of the National Archives.[17] The removal of more than
70 km of records to Pierrefitte was due to be completed by 2022.[15]

The National Microfilm Centre ( ), opened in the Château d'Espeyran,

in Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, in 1973. This centre stores original microforms of documents held in
other archive centres, both national and departmental, in case the original documents were
destroyed. This centre keeps approximately 61 million views of original documents.

Sister agencies

The National Overseas Archives ( or ), originally the Centre

for Overseas Archives ( ), opened in Aix-en-Provence in 1966. It
stores the archives from the ministries in charge of the French colonies and Algeria until the
1960s (such as the Ministry of Colonies) as well as the archives transferred from the French
colonies and Algeria at the time of their independence between 1954 and 1962. The ANOM also
possesses private and corporate archives related to the former French colonies and Algeria. In
total the ANOM keeps 36.5 kilometres (22.7 mi) of archives[4] from the 17th to the 20th century
covering more than 40 currently independent countries spread over 5 continents. Note that the
archives concerning Tunisia and Morocco, which were protectorates and not colonies, are kept
by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its Diplomatic Archives.

In addition to these 36.5 km of archives, the ANOM also possesses 60,000 maps and plans going
back to the 17th century, 150,000 photographs, 20,000 postcards, and 100,000 books.

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The National Archives of the World of Labour ( or ANMT),

originally the Centre for the Archives of the World of Labour (
), opened in Roubaix in 1993. It stores the archives of businesses, trades unions,
associations and corporations, and architects. In total it contains 49.8 kilometres (30.9 mi) of
archives (as of 2020).[4] Most of the archives at the ANMT are private archives.

See also

• Rue des Archives

References

1. , Archives Nationales de France, p.38, 2007.

2. "Activité des services d'archives en France : données 2020 - Conservation et restauration" (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20220616050909/https://francearchives.fr/file/26fd8af1762e37a6b252a54f04e8
9dec9273cd37/ConservationRestauration_2020.ods) . . Archived from the original
(https://francearchives.fr/file/26fd8af1762e37a6b252a54f04e89dec9273cd37/ConservationRestaur
ation_2020.ods) (ODS) on 2022-06-16. Retrieved 2022-04-30.

3. Court of Audit (France) (November 2016). "Les Archives nationales - Les voies et moyens d'une
nouvelle ambition" (https://www.ccomptes.fr/sites/default/files/EzPublish/20170202-rapport-archiv
es-nationales.pdf) (PDF). p. 14. Retrieved 2022-05-12.

4. "Accueil" (https://www.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/fr/web/guest/chiffres-cles) .

5. Atelier de Recherches sur les Textes Médiévaux (ARTEM), University of Lorraine (10 June 2010).
"Chartes originales antérieures à 1121 conservées en France" (http://telma.irht.cnrs.fr/outils/origina
ux/listechartes/) . Retrieved 2022-05-12.

6. Laurent Morelle. "Une royauté par éclats et lambeaux : les papyrus mérovingiens des Archives
nationales" (https://www.college-de-france.fr/media/jean-luc-fournet/UPL1322102765605427775_M
orelle_papyrus.pdf) (PDF). École pratique des hautes études. Retrieved 2022-05-12.

7. Henri Pirenne (June 1928). "Le commerce du papyrus dans la Gaule mérovingienne" (https://www.pe
rsee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1928_num_72_2_75598) .
. (2): 178–191.

8. Archives nationales. "Cartons des rois - Inventaire des actes produits entre la fin du VIe siècle et 986"
(https://www.siv.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/siv/rechercheconsultation/consultation/ir/pdfI
R.action?irId=FRAN_IR_053826) . Retrieved 2022-05-12.

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9. Archives nationales. "« Monuments historiques » - Titre I : Cartons des rois - Inventaire analytique de
K 1 à 164" (https://www.siv.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/siv/rechercheconsultation/consultati
on/ir/pdfIR.action?irId=FRAN_IR_032111) . Retrieved 2022-05-12.

10. "Original Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789 1791)" (http://portal.unesco.org/c
i/en/ev.php-URL_ID=23268&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html) . UNESCO Memory of the
World Programme. 2009-02-27. Archived (https://archive.today/20100120091850/http://portal.unes
co.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=23268&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html) from the original
on 20 January 2010. Retrieved 2009-12-10.

11. "Rapport d'activité 2011-2012" (https://www.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/documents/10157/1

1405/RAN.pdf/4ecd26f0-b7af-4027-a9c2-791ffbf068e0) . .
p. 16. Retrieved 2022-05-13.

12. Court of Audit (France) (November 2016). "Les Archives nationales - Les voies et moyens d'une
nouvelle ambition" (https://www.ccomptes.fr/sites/default/files/EzPublish/20170202-rapport-archiv
es-nationales.pdf) (PDF). p. 36. Retrieved 2022-05-12.

13. "Chantiers d'inventaires du Minutier central des notaires de Paris" (https://www.siv.archives-national

es.culture.gouv.fr/siv/cms/content/helpGuide.action;jsessionid=B314F964D891898BAB04147E4B5
5D556?preview=false&uuid=2c6d64b0-8395-49a0-a913-4ad39d4c1b94) .
. Retrieved 2022-05-12.

14. "Livret de présentation du site" (http://static.apidae-tourisme.com/filestore/objets-touristiques/docu

ments/120/78/937592.pdf) (PDF). Archives nationales. p. 6. Retrieved 2022-05-13.

15. "Archives nationales - Site de Pierrefitte-sur-Seine" (https://www.lejournaldesarts.fr/lieu/archives-nati

onales-site-de-pierrefitte-sur-seine-10140) . . 2021. Retrieved 2022-05-13.

16. "Rapport d'activité 2020" (https://www.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/documents/10157/1140

5/Rapport+annuel+AN+2020/c3a6792f-394b-4cd5-bc3f-751834ea9713) .
. p. 45. Retrieved 2022-05-13.

17. Françoise Banat-Berger (2019). "Les Archives nationales : une institution en profonde mutation" (http
s://journals.openedition.org/histoirepolitique/3409) . . Sciences Po. (39): 144–
162. doi:10.4000/histoirepolitique.3409 (https://doi.org/10.4000%2Fhistoirepolitique.3409) .

• Favier, Lucie, 2004. . Paris: Fayard.

ISBN 2-213-61758-9.

• Claire Béchu (dir.),

, Paris, Somogy & Archives nationales, 2008, 384 p.
(ISBN 978-2-7572-0187-9)

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• Philippe Béchu & Christian Taillard, , Paris, Somogy, 2004,

488 p. (ISBN 2-85056-796-5)

• Miller, David C.(2019) "Armand-Gaston Camus: Catholic Scholar, Revolutionary, and Founder of
the National Archives of France." (December) 90, no.2

External links

• Media related to Archives nationales (France) at Wikimedia Commons

• Archives nationales official website (http://www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/)

• (in French) La mémoire de l’Etat: Histoire des archives nationales (http://www.canalacademi

e.com/article236.html)

• Ideology, practicality, and fiscal necessity: The creation of the Archives Nationales and the
triage of feudal titles by the Agence Temporaire des Titres, 1789–1801 (Katherine L. Cox) (ht
tps://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:181663)

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