Abstract

It is very widely accepted that the French Revolution represents a decisive moment in the history of archives, not only in France but throughout the world. The great German-born scholar Ernst Posner, writing in 1940, claimed that it "marks the beginning of a new era in archives administration."1 Posner's view has been reaffirmed many times since, in one form or another, by authors of various nationalities.In France itself this opinion is not contested. Rather than assert a claim of historical primacy, however, the interest has been instead to emphasize the link between the Revolution and the present system of archival organization. A 2001 petition calling for the National Archives to be brought together under one...