Presentation of the Contemporary History Archives
The Contemporary History Archives service was established in 1971 by the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (FNSP) and has been attached to the Sciences Po Centre for History (CHSP) since 1989. It holds more than 100 collections donated by French political, cultural, and media figures. The Contemporary History Archives has two main missions: to provide research assistance and to promote the collections. To fulfil these missions, the service collects, classifies, inventories, and informs researchers about the collections placed in its care.
Research assistance
The Archives team offers personalised support for researchers and doctoral students. Readers may request an individual interview to guide them through the FNSP’s and other institutions’ collections.
The collection inventories are freely accessible to readers in paper and/or digital format. Similarly, in addition to the archive collections, the Centre for History offers a series of scholarly and reference works for consultation, particularly works researched using the collections. A consultation guide (PDF, 2,3Mo, FR) provides a comprehensive overview of the collections held at the Archives.
Promotion of the collections
The Archives maintain a large photographic collection, in which images can be found to illustrate many academic works and media contributions. As part of its mission to enhance the use of the archive collections kept by the FNSP, the Contemporary History Archives service can:
- loan documents for exhibitions, subject to insurance coverage, or produce facsimiles,
- authorise the reproduction of documents or photos for use in a film, documentary, or publication, provided that the user meets the costs of digitisation.
- present the collections during workshops or visits.
- organise and participate in symposia and workshops.
