Press and History: archives brought to life through student research

How does History manifest itself through the newspapers of the past? This is the central question of the “Press and History” project, which brings together the collective work of second-year students (Political Humanities major), under the guidance of Rachel Mazuy, historian and faculty member at Sciences Po.

Initiated in 2021 on the European campus in Dijon and pursued in Paris since 2022, the project draws upon historical press resources from RetroNews and Gallica. Since 2022, Muriel Dennefeld, history reference librarian, has supported students in compiling their bibliographies and in accessing both print and digital resources.

Students produce scholarly articles based on the newspapers they consult, analyzing the cultural and social representations of the time and juxtaposing media discourse with historical research. Their topics, spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, cover a wide array of themes, including foreigners in France, intellectual couples, Paris and its suburbs, cinema, sport, the colonies, and international relations.

A selection of articles is published on RetroNews, while others are gathered within this dossier, which will be enriched annually with new student contributions.

This distinctive and collaborative project both revitalizes press archives and highlights student scholarship.