La conservation et la gestion des archives communales : étude des politiques mises en œuvre en France et perspectives pour le Pas-de-Calais

Abstract

William Maufroy, Conservation and management of municipal archives ; a study of the current policies in France and a view on the future in the departement of the Pas-de-Calais. In France, the conservation and management of municipal archives are the responsibility of the " communes " (municipalities), under the scientific and technical control of the State. This control is exercised by the directors of the Départemental (i.e. provincial) Archives. In reality, however, most of the 36,000 French " communes " dedicate only a very small amount of resources to their archives. The directors of Départemental Archives have not time enough to exercise an actual control on the municipalities so that they ensure an adequate management of their archives. About ten French departements have therefore created posts of " intercommunal archivists ", whose function is (1) to visit the " communes " in order to evaluate the situation of their archives, and (2) to train the personnel of the municipalities on the management, arrangement and description of these archives, under the authority of the director of the Departemental Archives. The author studies the possible adaptation of this system in the departement of Pas-de-Calais, which is caracterised by a numerous population (1,400,000 inhabitants) and a number of " communes " (898) too great for the director of the Departemental Archives to be able to control each of them efficaciously.