French archivists, the management of records and records management since the nineteenth century: are French recordkeeping tradition and practice incompatible with records management?

ABSTRACT

French recordkeeping tradition and practice, gradually built up since the nineteenth century, are associated with the principle of provenance (respect des fonds) and with the life cycle approach (théorie des trois âges). The concept of records management seems at first glance unfamiliar to French archivists, as the difficulty of translating the term records into French would attest. This paper aims to study how and to what extent French archivists have taken into account the management of records in organisations since the French Revolution and to analyse how they have embraced the very concept of records management and got involved in the development and the implementation of the ISO 15489 standard. The study concludes that language and terminology issues, as well as training and cultural specificities have played a key role in the way French archivists have approached recordkeeping systems over time.

KEYWORDS:

• Archival science
• records management
• France
• recordkeeping tradition and practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Françoise Banat-Berger and Christine Nougaret, ‘Archival fonds’, in Luciana Duranti and Patricia C Franks (eds), Encyclopedia of Archival Science, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, 2015, pp. 50–3.

2. Michel Duchein, ‘Les archives dans la Tour de Babel: problèmes de terminologie archivistique internationale’ (‘Archives in the Tower of Babel: problems of archival terminology’), La Gazette des archives, vol. 129, 1985, pp. 103–13.

3. Julie McLeod and Elizabeth Lomas, ‘Records Management’, in Duranti and Franks, p. 346.

4. Olivier Poncet, ‘Archives et histoire. Dépasser les tournants’ (‘Archives and history: going past the turns’), Annales HSS, in press.

5. Sophie Coeuré and Vincent Duclert, Les archives, La Découverte, Paris, 2019, 3^rd ed., pp. 14–27.

6. Bruno Galland, Les archives, Presses universitaires de France, collection Que sais-je?, Paris, 2016, pp. 37–38.

7. Magalie Moysan, ‘Usages d’archives et pratiques d’archivage dans la recherche biomédicale de 1968 à 2006. L’exemple de l’épidémiologie et de la génétique’ (‘Uses of archives and archival practices in biomedical research from 1968 to 2006. The examples of epidemiology and genetics’), thesis for the degree of doctor in archival science from the University of Angers, 2019.

8. Coeuré and Duclert, p. 15.

9. Available at <https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/registry-system.html>, accessed 20 Sepember 2020.

10. Marie Laperdrix, ‘Le processus d’autonomisation des archives du ministère des Finances et la loi de 1979’ (‘The processus of independence of the archives of the Ministry of Finances and the law of 1979’) in Marie Cornu, Christine Nougaret, Yann Potin, Bruno Ricard and Noé Wagener (eds), 1979. Genèse d’une loi sur les archives (1979. Genesis of a law on archives), Institut des sciences sociales du politique/Comité d’histoire du ministère de la Culture/La Documentation française, Paris, 2019, pp. 485–92.

11. C Lassalle, Manuel de l’organisation de l’armée et du fonctionnement des services militaires à l’usage des états-majors, chefs de corps et officiers de toutes armes (Manual of the organisation of the army and the functioning of military services for the use of the general staff and officers of all forces), Librairie militaire Berger Levrault et Cie, Paris/Nancy, 1892, pp. 91–6, 108, 603–16.

12. Pierre Chancerel, ‘Construire un système d’archivage structuré au XIXe siècle. La gestion des archives par les services des Ponts et Chaussées’ (‘Building a structured archival system in the 19^th century. The management of archives by the Bridges and Roads services’), Bibliothèque de l’École des chartes, vol. 173, 2015–2017, pp. 437–58.

13. On Registratur, see Angelika Menne-Haritz, ‘La registratur: un instrument d’organisation et de direction des processus de décision’ (‘The registratur: a tool to manage and direct the decision process’), La Gazette des archives, 1995, no. 170–171, pp. 356–63. Available at <https://www.persee.fr/doc/gazar_0016-5522_1995_num_170_1_3364>, accessed 30 July 2020. See also Line Skorka, Les archives départementales de la Moselle et la mise en place de l’administration allemande (The regional archives of Moselle and the establishment of German administration), available at <http://documents.irevues.inist.fr/bitstream/handle/2042/53102/LCL2006_1-2_70.pdf?sequence=1>, accessed 30 July 2020.

14. Archiv. diplom. AR – direction des archives – 1720–1970, box 203. Note by Charles-Jean Lassalle of 25 October 1896, then circular from the Minister of Foreign Affairs Léon Bourgeois of 15 October 1906. These practices will be generalised after 1945 by the archives departments. See ‘Avertissement’ (‘Warning’), in Les archives des postes diplomatiques et consulaires (organisation, sécurité, destructions) [The archives of diplomatic and consular posts (organisation, security, destruction)], Imprimerie nationale, Paris, 1961, pp. 5–6.

15. See Delphine Gardey, Écrire, calculer, classer. Comment une révolution de papier a transformé les sociétés contemporaines (1800–1940) [Writing, calculating, classifying. How a paper revolution transformed contemporary societies (1800–1940)], La Découverte, Paris, 2008, pp. 147–84.

16. Gaston Ravisse, La Technique du travail de bureau. Compte rendu des cours et conférences donnés pendant la semaine d’organisation commerciale de 1927 (The technique of office work. Report from the courses and lectures given during the commercial organisation week of 1927), Collection des ouvrages de la chambre syndicale d’organisation commerciale, Paris, 1928.

17. See for example M Liaudois, ‘La documentation dans les entreprises. Les moyens de l’organiser. Les services qu’elle peut rendre’ (‘Documentation in organisations. The ways to organise it. The services that it can give’), Bulletin du Comité national de l’organisation française, 1929, 3^rd year, no. 3, p. 1–12; or A Faure, ‘Organisation de la production réalisée dans une usine de construction mécanique’ (‘Organisation of the production in a mechanical production factory’), Bulletin du Comité national de l’organisation française, 8^th year, no. 6, 1934, pp. 187–90.

18. ‘Programme de l’École d’organisation scientifique du travail’ (‘Programme of the School of scientific organisation of work’), Bulletin du Comité national de l’organisation française, 8th year, no. 9, 1934, p. 316.

19. Jean Milhaud, ‘Une expérience d’organisation administrative’, Bulletin du Comité national de l’organisation française, 5^th year, no. 3, 1931, pp. 66–79, in particular pp. 77–9.

20. Jean Milhaud and Jean Coutrot, ‘L’organisation rationnelle des administrations publiques’ (‘Rational organisation of public administration’), Bulletin du Comité national de l’organisation française, 9^th year, no. 8, 1935, pp. 261–9, in particular p. 267, and 1936, 10^th year, no. 2, pp. 60–3. About Jean Milhaud, see Antoine Weexsteen’s thesis, ‘Le conseil aux entreprises: le rôle de Jean Milhaud (1898–1991) dans la C.E.G.O.S. et l’ I.T.A.P.’ [‘Advice to entrepresises: the role of Jean Milhaud (1898–1991) in C.E.G.O.S and I.T.A.P’], EHESS, 1999.

21. Amédée Petitgant, ‘La production des archives dans les affaires. Ses causes et ses effets. Ses conditions et ses dangers. Ses maux et ses remèdes’ (‘The production of archives in business processes. Its causes and effects. Its condition and dangers. Its ills and its remedies’), Bulletin du Comité national de l’organisation française, 1^st year, no. 2, 1938, pp. 57–65.

22. Renault archives, ‘Instruction générale n° 28 – Statut des archives’ (‘General instructions No 28 – Status of the archives’), 29 August 1932. See Marie-Anne Chabin, ‘Records management: des normes à la réalité de terrain’ (‘Records management: from standards to reality on the ground’), in Afnor, Fonctions documentaires (Documentary functions), 2012, article I-30-21, pp. 2–3.

23. See the ministerial circular of 9 November 1835 on the use to be made of the proceeds from the sale of waste paper, and instructions of 8 August 1839 for the custody and preservation of the archives of the ministries.

24. The instruction of 24 June 1844 concerning the removal and sale of useless papers specified, for certain series of the ministerial classification scheme, the list of records that may be removed. However, destruction could only be carried out by the archival repository and not by the office producing the documents.

25. Charles-Victor Langlois, ‘Introduction’, in État sommaire des versements faits aux Archives nationales par les ministères et les administrations qui en dépendent (Summary of the transfers to the National Archives by the ministries that depend on them); evoked by Vincent Duclert in ‘Archives politiques et politiques d’archives sous la III^e République’ (‘Political archives and archival policies under the 3^rd Republic’), Jean Jaurès cahiers trimestriels, no. 135, January-March 1995, pp. 11–9.

26. On the decree of 21 July 1936, see Arch. Nat. AB XXXI 3 – Commision supérieure des archives – Minutes (séance du 20 décembre 1930) f° 259, AB V^d 15 – File for the preparation of the decree regulating the deposit in the State Archives of the papers of the ministries and the services that depend on them, AB I 5 – Original copy of the decree; and Noé Wagener, ‘Papiers publics, papiers privés: les textes des années 1930’ (‘Public papers, private papers: texts from the 1930s’), in Cornu et al., pp. 121–34.

27. Gouvernement général de l’Indochine, Direction des archives et des bibliothèques, Manuel de l’archiviste (Archivist Manual), Imprimerie d’Extrême-Orient, Hanoï, 1934, pp. 37–9.

28. Charles Braibant, Un bourgeois sous trois républiques (A bourgeois under three republics), Buchet/Chastel, Paris, 1961, pp. 377–91.

29. H Péchot, ‘Une méthode de classement applicable au travail de bureau. Son rôle dans l’organisation du travail collectif’ (‘A classification method for office work. Its role in the organisation of collective work’), Revue d’artillerie, June 1928, pp. 674–99 and July 1928, p. 24–54, published by Berger-Levrault in 1929.

30. Arch. Nat. 366AP 102. Special collection Braibant. Charles Braibant, ‘Note sur un système de documentation courante pour les administrations publiques et privées’ (‘Note on a system of documentation for public and private services’), Lecture given to the Société de l’École des chartes in its session of 2 November 1936; and Charles Braibant, ‘Une méthode d’aménagement de la documentation de bureau’ (‘A method of arrangement for office documentation’), Bulletin du Comité national de l’organisation française, 11^th year, no. 4, 1936, pp. 99–102. This method is described as ‘préfiguration du “records management” à la française’ (‘Precursor of French-style ‘records management’ ‘) [Bruno Delmas, ‘Braibant (Charles)’, in Les Archives nationales. Des lieux pour l’histoire de France. Bicentenaire d’une installation, 1808–2008 (National Archives. Places for the history of France. Bicentary of the establishement, 1808–2008), Somogy/Archives nationales, Paris, 2008, pp. 341–2].

31. Arch. Nat. 366AP 102. Special collection Braibant. Charles Braibant, Letter from Louis Tisseau, Chief Archivist of the Allied Control Authority in Berlin to Charles Braibant, 27 January 1948.

32. Arch. Nat. 19950505/21, Director’s file, ‘Note sur les inspecteurs généraux es bibliothèques et des archives’ (‘Note on general inspectors of libraries and archives’) written by Charles Braibant in 1944.

33. McLeod and Lomas, p. 347.

34. Paul Aimès. ‘Avant-projet d’une théorie archivistique moderne’ (‘Draft of a modern archival theory’), La Gazette des archives, no. 11, 1952, pp. 15–27; or Jacques Levron, ‘Le triage des archives (Rapport au 3^e Congrès international d’archives)’ [‘Archives selection (Report to the 3^rd International Congress on Archives)], La Gazette des archives, no. 20, 1956, pp. 15–23.

35. Arch. Nat. AB XLII 6 (Archives nationales, section contemporaine). Jacqueline Mady and Robert-Henri Bautier, II^e Conférence internationale de la Table ronde des archives, Namur, 1955, Les Archives et les papiers administratifs modernes (Second International Conference of the Archives Round Table, Namur, 1955, Archives and Modern Administrative Papers), Paris, 1955.

36. Arch. Nat. AB XLII 6 (Archives nationales, section contemporaine). Robert-Henri Bautier, III^e Conférence internationale de la Table ronde des archives, Zagreb, 23–25 mai 1957, La place des archives et des archivistes dans l’État. Rapport général (Third International Conference of the Archives Round Table, Zagreb, 23–25 May 1957, The place of archives and archivists in the State. General Report), Paris, 1957.

37. Isabelle Guérin, ‘Le “National Records Management Council” et son rôle dans l’organisation des archives d’entreprises aux États-Unis’ (‘The “National Records Management Council” and its role in the organisation of business archives in the United States’), La Gazette des archives, no. 16, 1954, pp. 9–13.

38. Arch. Nat. AB XXXI^C 249 (direction des Archives de France, inspection générale des archives), note from Yves Pérotin, director of the archival repository of the Seine region and the city of Paris to the director general of the Archives de France, 18 April 1959.

39. Arch. Nat. 20030279 93 (direction des Archives de France, service technique), copy of the report to the Prefect of the Seine addressed to the Director of the Archives de France on 16 February 1961.

40. Yves Pérotin, Le records management et l’administration américaine des archives. Rapport de mission adressé à M. le préfet de la Seine. (Records management and American archives administration. Report of the mission to the Prefect of the Seine), Paris, 1962. Yves Pérotin insisted particularly on the importance of the responsibility of organisations (letter to Bailhache, 12 October 1962, Arch. Départ. Paris, dossiers de la direction, box 142).

41. Yves Pérotin, ‘Le “Records management” et l’administration anglaise des archives’ (‘“Records management” and English archival administration’), La Gazette des archives, no. 44, 1964, pp. 5–17.

42. Arch. Départ. Paris (direction des archives, box 142).

43. Yves Pérotin, Robert Favreau and Henri Blaquière, ‘Les archives en formation et le pré-archivage’ (‘Archives in the making and pre-archiving’, in Association amicale des archivistes français, Manuel d’archivistique. Traité et pratique des archives publiques en France (Manual of Archives Management. Theory and practice of public archives in France), SEVPEN, Paris, 1970. pp. 103–25.

44. At the end of the seventh conference of the Madrid Round Table, held in May 1962, Yves Pérotin also drew up the report on the treatment of contemporary papers: Direction des archives de France, Actes de la septième conférence de la Table ronde internationale des archives. Le concept d’archives et les frontières de l’archivistique (Acts of the Seventh Conference of the International Archives Round Table. The concept of archives and the frontiers of archival science), Imprimerie nationale, Paris, 1963, pp. 14–20, in particular p. 17.

45. Arch. Départ. Paris (direction des archives, box 142). Letter from Gérard Naud, director of the Meuse Archives to Yves Pérotin, received on 12 September 1962: ‘une action sur l’organisation du travail de bureau me paraît plus intéressante ici [dans la Meuse] que les dépôts intermédiaires’ (‘an action on the organisation of office paperwork seems to me to be more interesting here [in the Meuse] than the records centres’).

46. Annual report of the director of the archival repository of the Seine department and the City of Paris, 1962–1963, p. 8 (direction des Archives de France, service technique) and Arch. Départ. Paris (dossiers de la direction, boxes 142 and 145).

47. See the annual reports of the director of the archival repository of the Seine department and the City of Paris, Arch. Nat. 20030279 93 (direction des Archives de France, service technique) and Arch. Départ. Paris (dossiers de la direction, boxes 142 and 145).

48. Florence Descamps, ‘Une tentative de politique de productivité dans les services publics: Gabriel Ardant et le Commissariat général à la productivité, 1954–1959ʹ (‘An attempt at productivity policy in public services: Gabriel Ardant and the General Productivity Commission’), in Philippe Bezès, Florence Descamps, Sébastien Kott and Lucile Tallineau (eds), L’invention de la gestion des finances publiques. Du contrôle de la dépense à la gestion des services publics (1914–1967) [The invention of public finances management. From expenditure control to public services management (1914–1967)], Institut de la gestion publique et du développement économique, Comité pour l’histoire économique et financière de la France, Paris, 2013, pp. 401–42.

49. See, for example, the note addressed to the Secretary-General of the Commission centrale des marchés on 9 September 1960, containing methodological principles relating to the preparation of a filing scheme. Centr. Arch. Écon. et Finan., B 46816 (direction du budget, Service central d’organisation et méthodes).

50. Note on the organisational studies which could be made in 1962 to the Association française de normalisation, 21 December 1961. Centr. Arch. Écon. et Finan., B 46816 (direction du budget, Service central d’organisation et méthodes).

51. In particular, Le problème des archives dans les administrations publiques (The problem of archives in public administration), Paris, 1968.

52. On the draft decree of 1967, see Arch. Nat. 20110275/45 (direction des Archives de France, service technique) and Centr. Arch. Écon. et Finan., B 46699 et 46700 (direction du budget, Service central d’organisation et méthodes); and Christine Nougaret, ‘Le “projet de décret sur les archives des administrations publiques” ou projet de décret de 1967’ (‘The draft decree on the archives of public services or draft decree of 1967’), in Cornu et al., pp. 185–92.

53. Michel Duchein. ‘Le pré-archivage: quelques classifications nécessaires’ (‘Pre-archiving: some necessary classifications’), La Gazette des archives, no. 71, 1970, pp. 226–36, in particular p. 230.

54. Christine Pétillat and Hélène Prax, ‘Les archives contemporaines ou l’arrivée du flux au quotidien’ (‘Contemporary archives or the arrival of daily flux’), in La Pratique archivistique française (French Archival Practice), Direction des archives de France, Paris, 1993, pp. 231–312, in particular p. 248.

55. Duchein. ‘Le pré-archivage’, pp. 226–36, in particular p. 230.

56. Yves Pérotin, ‘Le grenier de l’Histoire et les récoltes excédentaires’ (‘The attic of History and the harvest of surpluses’), La Gazette des archives, no. 50, 1965, p. 134: and Yves Pérotin, ‘Les archivistes et le mépris’ (‘Archivists and contempt’), La Gazette des archives, no. 68, pp. 7–23, in particular p. 13.

57. Arch. Nat. 19950505/6 (direction des Archives de France, dossiers du directeur). Yves Pérotin told André Chamson: ‘si l’administration française des archives laisse passer les occasions et ne pose pas sa candidature pour le records management elle sera rejetée dans une activité culturelle respectée tandis que les sources de l’histoire future seront sabotées. […] Il faudrait aussi que le records management fût enseigné au cours du stage des archivistes et au cours d’un stage spécial destiné aux sous-archivistes.’ (‘if the French archival administration passes up the opportunities and does not call for records management, it will be relegated to a respected cultural activity while the sources of future history will be sabotaged. […] Records management should also be taught during the archivists’ internship and during a special internship for assistant-archivists.’) Yves Pérotin to André Chamson, 1962.

58. ‘Programme présenté à M. le Secrétaire d’État à la Culture’ (‘Programme presented to the State Secretary for Culture’), [1976], Arch. Nat. 19960505/5.

59. Duchein, ‘Le pré-archivage’, p. 230.

60. Michel Duchein. ‘Tri, sélection, échantillonnage. À propos de deux manuels et d’une circulaire’ (‘Sorting, selecting, sampling. About two manuals and a circular’), La Gazette des archives, no. 120, 1983, pp. 41–50.

61. Michel Duchein, ‘Pérotin (Yves). Le “Records Management” et l’administration américaine des archives. Rapport de mission adressé à M. le Préfet de la Seine’ [‘Pérotin (Yves). The records management and American archives administration. Report of the mission to the Prefect of the Seine’], La Gazette des archives, no. 39, 1962, p. 198.

62. Duchein, ‘Tri’, pp. 41–50.

63. Centr. Arch. Écon. et Finan., B 46785 (direction du budget, Service central d’organisation et méthodes), letter of 8 January 1976 from IRMF to SCOM.

64. Michel Duchein, ‘Le préarchivage à l’américaine’ (‘Pre-archiving American style’), La Gazette des archives, no. 94, 1976. pp. 189–91.

65. Arch. Nat. 20030279/93 (direction des Archives de France, service technique), copy of the report to the Prefect of the Seine region addressed to the Director of the Archives of France on 16 February 1961.

66. Arch. Départ. Paris (dossiers de la direction, box 142).

67. Descamps, pp. 401–42, mainly pp. 440–1.

68. Arch. Nat. 20110275/45 (direction des Archives de France, service technique), letter from the Minister of PTT (postal services and telecommunications) to the Minister of Culture dated February 1968 (written by the Organisation et méthodes service of the PTT).

69. Centr. Arch. Écon. et Finan., B 46699 (direction du budget, Service central d’organisation et méthodes), exchanges of correspondence between the Archives de France and the SCOM, 1968–1970.

70. Centr. Arch. Écon. et Finan., B 46785 (direction du budget, Service central d’organisation et méthodes), 1967–1968. On the autonomy of the archives service of the Ministry of Finance, see Laperdrix. See also Alice Guillemain. ‘Les archives en formation et le pré-archivage: réflexions à propos d’un chapitre du Manuel d’archivistique’ (‘Archives in the making and pre-archiving: reflections on a chapter of the Manual of archives management’), La Gazette des archives, no. 71, 1970, pp. 251–8.

71. Centr. Arch. Écon. et Finan., B 46699 (direction du budget, Service central d’organisation et méthodes), correspondence between the Archives de France and the SCOM, 1968–1970.

72. Arch. Nat. 19950505/5 (direction des Archives de France, dossiers du directeur). Comité central d’enquête sur le coût et le rendement des services publics, Jean Villain, La constitution et la conservation des archives administratives (The formation and preservation of administrative archives), November 1974, p. 70, 144.

73. Yves Pérotin. ‘L’administration et les trois âges des archives’ (‘The administration and the three ages of archives’), Seine-et-Paris, no. 20, 1961, pp. 1–4.

74. See for example Henri Gilles, ‘Les missions de conservateurs d’archives dans les ministères’ (‘The missions of keepers of archives in the ministries’), La Gazette des archives, no. 25, 1959, pp. 11–7; Daniel Farcis, ‘La collecte des archives ministérielles: les “missions” des Archives nationales’ (‘The collection of ministerial archives: the “missions” from the National Archives’), La Gazette des archives, no. 119, 1982, pp. 188–209; or Amable Sablon du Corail, ‘Les missions des Archives de France placées auprès des ministères: soixante ans de pratique, de réflexions et d’expérimentations’ (‘The missions from the National Archives in the ministries: sixty years of practice, reflections and experimentation’), La Gazette des archives, no. 229, 2013, pp. 71–83.

75. Arch. Nat., 19960505/6 (direction des Archives de France, dossiers du directeur). Files relating to the preparation and execution of equipment plans. See also Guy Duboscq and AW Mabbs, Organisation du préarchivage (Organisation of pre-archiving), collection Documentation, Bibliothèques et Archives: Études et Recherches, no. 5, Paris, 1974.

76. Pétillat and Prax; and Françoise Durand Évrard, ‘L’évolution de la notion de pré-archivage en France’ (‘The evolution of the concept of pre-archiving in France’), La Gazette des archives, no. 170–1, 1995, pp. 370–6.

77. Chabin, pp. 2–3. See also Marie-Anne Chabin, Archiver et après? (Archiving, then what?), Éditions Djakarta, Paris, 2007, pp. 51–2.

78. Marie-Anne Chabin and Françoise Watel, ‘L’approche française du records management: concepts, acteurs et pratiques’ (‘The French approach to records management: concepts, actors and practices’), La Gazette des archives, no. 204, 2006, pp. 113–30; and Chabin, ‘Records management’, p. 3.

79. Christine Pétillat, ’L’évolution de la production administrative et de son utilisation’ (‘The evolution of administrative production and its use’), in La Pratique archivistique française, pp. 95–129; and Guy Braibant, Les archives en France: rapport au Premier ministre (Archives in France: report to the Prime Minister), La Documentation française, Paris, 1996, pp. 19–20.

80. On the development of the ISO 15489 standard, see for example Susan Healy, ‘ISO 15489 Records Management – its development and significance’, Records Management Journal, vol. 11, no. 3, 2001, pp. 133–42.

81. On this subject, see Damien Hamard, Des paléographes aux archivistes. L’Association des archivistes français au cœur des réseaux professionnels (1970–2010) [From paleographers to archivists. The Association of French Archivists at the heart of professional networks (1970–2010)], Rennes, 2020.

82. See for example Pierre Fuzeau, ‘Records management: France in search of a direction’, Records Management Journal, vol. 13, no. 3, 2003, pp. 130–5.

83. The following developments are based on the files dedicated to France’s participation in the development of the ISO 15489 standard, Arch. Nat. 20110275/145-149 (direction des Archives de France, service technique).

84. Michel Cottin and Sylvie Dessolin Baumann, ‘La famille des normes ISO sur le records management’ (‘The ISO standards family on records management’), La Gazette des archives, no. 228, 2012, pp. 119–33, in particular p. 119.

85. Arch. Nat. 20110275/147 (direction des Archives de France, service technique).

86. Philippe Barbat, ‘Records management et archivistique française’ (‘Records management and French archival management’, Documentaliste – Sciences de l’information), 1998, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 169–74.

87. Geneviève Drouhet, Georges Keslassy and Elisabeth Morineau, Records management: mode d’emploi (Records management: user manual), Paris, 2000.

88. Bernadette Ferchaud, ‘Journée d’étude AAF-ADBS. Records management: principes et réalisations’ (‘Study day AAF-ADBS. Records management: principles and implementation’), Documentaliste-Sciences de l’Information, vol. 40, no. 1, 2003, pp. 33–6. Available at <https://www.cairn.info/revue-documentaliste-sciences-de-l-information-2003-1-page-33.htm>, accessed 30 July 2020.

89. Cottin and Dessolin Baumann, pp. 119–33, in particular p. 120. On the guidebook, see ‘Comprendre et pratiquer le records management. Analyse de la norme ISO 15489 au regard des pratiques archivistiques françaises’ (‘Understanding and practicing records management: Analysis of the ISO 1589 standard in view of French archival practices’), Documentaliste-Sciences de l’Information, vol. 42, no. 2, 2005, pp. 106–16. Available at <https://www.cairn.info/revue-documentaliste-sciences-de-l-information-2005-2-page-106.htm>, accessed 30 July 2020.

90. Arch. Nat. 20144705/51 (direction des Archives de France, bureau des Missions).

91. Available at <https://web.archive.org/web/20060210054343/http://www.records-management.fr/>, accessed 30 July 2020.

92. Marie-Anne Chabin, Thibaut Girard, Céline Jourdan, Élodie-Cécile Marrel and Frédérique Pilleboue, ‘Archives courantes et intermédiaires’ (‘Current and semi-current records’), in Association des archivistes français, Abrégé d’archivistique (Synopsis of Archives Management), 1^st ed., Paris, 2004.

93. ‘Formations au records management’ (‘Courses in records management’), La Gazette des archives, no. 228, 2012, pp. 295–99.

94. Available at <http://www.cr2pa.fr/>, accessed 30 July 2020.

95. Direction des Archives de France, Moreq2, Exigences types pour la maîtrise de l’archivage électronique (Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records – MoReq2 Specification), translated by Marie-Anne Chabin, Direction des Archives de France, Paris, 2008. Available at <https://francearchives.fr/file/ce58d52843203ac64fc398e637f4aadcfe0fcc0a/static_2094.pdf>, accessed 30 July 2020.

96. It was only in Melbourne, in November 1999, that the title ‘Records management’ was chosen for the draft standard, while the term ‘recordkeeping’ was preferred by other countries, including Anglo-Saxon countries. Arch. Nat. 20110275/147 (direction des Archives de France, service technique), ‘Résolutions du SC 11 à la réunion de Melbourne’ (‘Resolution from SC 11 at the Melbourne meeting’), Novembre 1999.

97. Vocabulaire des archives. Archivistique et diplomatique contemporaines (Archival vocabulary. Contemporary archival science and diplomatics), Afnor, Paris, 1986, p. 47. The definition was: ‘Document résultant de l’inscription automatique d’informations, sur un support, à l’aide de machines’ (‘Document resulting from the automatic inscription of information, on a support, with the help of machines’).

98. ISO 15489-1:2001. Information et documentation – ‘Records management’ – Partie 1: Principes directeurs (ISO 15489-1:2001. Information and documentation – Records management – Part 1: Concepts and principles).

99. Journal officiel de la République française, 22 avril 2009. Available at <https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=7491D051E7BE8BDA11503DA4E0700981.tplgfr33s_3?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000020538058&dateTexte=&oldAction=rechJO&categorieLien=id&idJO=JORFCONT000020537362>, accessed 30 July 2020;and Marie-Anne Chabin, ‘Normalisation et évaluation de l’archivage: perspectives internationales’ (‘Standardisation and evaluation of records management: international perspectives’), La Gazette des archives, no. 216, 2009, pp. 165–82, in particular p. 167.

100. Chabin, ‘Records management’, pp. 4–5.

101. Arch. Nat. 20110275/146-149 (direction des Archives de France, service technique).

102. Lydiane Gueit-Montchal, Vincent Boully and Antoine Meissonnier, ‘Les documents d’activité à l’âge courant et intermédiaire’ (‘Records in the current and semi-current stages’), in Association des archivistes français, Abrégé d’archivistique, 4^th ed., Paris, Association des archivistes français, 2020, pp. 47–95.

103. Amable Sablon du Corail, ‘La circulaire de 200: enjeux et définition d’une politique pour les archives centrales de l’État’ (‘The 2001 circular: issues and definition of a policy for the central archives of the State’), La Gazette des archives, no. 238, 2015, pp. 15–22.

104. La Gazette des archives, no. 228, 2012–4. Thematic issue entitled ‘Normalisation et gestion des documents d’activité (records management): enjeux et nouvelles pratiques pour notre profession’ [‘Standardisation and the gestion of current records (records management): issues and new practices for our profession’].

105. Catherine Dhérent, ‘Le pilotage et l’évaluation du système de records management de la Bibliothèque nationale de France’ (‘Pilot project and evaluation of the records management system of the French National Library’), La Gazette des archives, no. 216, 2009, pp. 131–44; and Catherine Dhérent, ‘Document management at the French National Library’, Records Management Journal, vol. 16, no. 2, 2006, pp. 97–101.

106. Sylvie Dessolin Baumann and Walid Brahim, ‘Analyse des processus: l’exemple de la gestion des dossiers offres stagiaires à l’AFPA’ (‘Functional analysis: the example of the management of internship offers files at the AFPA’), La Gazette des archives, no. 228, 2012, pp. 221–35.

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108. Report available at <https://www.enssib.fr/bibliotheque-numerique/documents/79-audit-de-modernisation-relatif-a-l-archivage-rapport-interministeriel-d-analyse-de-l-existant.pdf>, accessed 30 July 2020.

109. Available at <https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4344984/>, accessed 11 September 2020.

110. Marianne Aptel and Sylvie Dessolin-Baumann, ‘L’ISO réunie en Nouvelle-Zélande: l’AAF représentée!’ (‘ISO meets in New Zealand: AAF is represented!’), Archivistes, no. 119, October–December 2016, p. 61.

111. Marie-Anne Chabin, ‘La norme ISO 15489 s’est-elle fait hara-kiri ?’ (‘Did ISO 15489 commit hara-kiri’), 13 March 2017, available at <https://transarchivistique.fr/la-norme-iso-15489-sest-elle-fait-hara-kiri/>, accessed 30 July 2020.

112. Gueit-Montchal, Boully and Meissonnier.

113. See <http://www.chartes.psl.eu/fr/formation-continue/records-management-0>, accessed 30 July 2020.

114. ‘La parole est aux responsables universitaires de formations en archivistique’ (‘It is the turn of the people responsible for archival training in universities to speak’), Archivistes, no. 125, April-June 2018, pp. 28–30; and Virginie Barreau-Delaforge, ‘La nouvelle version du Référentiel métiers va bientôt sortir’ (‘The new version of the Professional Frame of Reference will come out soon’), Archivistes, no. 121, April–June 2017, pp. 54–5. The 2017 version of the Professional Frame of Reference is available at <https://www.archivistes.org/Referentiel-metiers-et-fiches-de-poste>, accessed 30 July 2020.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Édouard Vasseur

Édouard Vasseur, archiviste paléographe, Ph.D., graduated from the École nationale des chartes and the Institut national du patrimoine. He was head of the holdings department at the Centre des archives contemporaines (2002–2006), archivist at the Ministry of Culture (2006–2012), chargé de mission at the Ministry of the Armed Forces (2012–2015), then functional head of the Vitam digital preservation program (2015–2019). He is currently Professor of institutional history, diplomatics and archival science (19^th-21^st centuries) at the École nationale des chartes.