The National Archives and the law of 7 mesidor. Notes for an archeology of historical knowledge in France

Abstract

In this article, we review the debate on the genesis of historical knowledge in France. In general, the official view is that professionalisation is a process stretching back to the university reforms of the Third Republic. What is proposed here, however, is a change of perspective on the subject. Far from exhausting the analysis in the codification of the method and the creation of a standardized teaching, we will proceed to the study of other factors that have also concurred with the emancipation of historical knowledge. In this sense, the creation of the National Archives plays a fundamental role. Emerging from the policy of confiscations sponsored by the French Revolution, the National Archives propose important changes in the physiognomy of the archival space, thus laying the foundations for the development of a research community based on consultation and regular contact with documents. Finally, we reflect on the legislative context of this emergence of the archives and on the politics of memory that is revealed in the law and the classification frameworks that regulate their operation.