Mission of the archives of the Ministry of Culture and Communication

See the list and the coordinates of the various missions in the ministries, on the site of the Archives of France: http://www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr/annuaire-services/presidence-ministeres/.

The work of these missions is coordinated by the Service Interministériel des Archives de France. The heads of missions are usually agents of the Ministry of Culture (heritage curators), and teams composed of agents of the host ministry.

Presentation of the Mission Archives of the Ministry of Culture and Communication

The Archives Mission of the Ministry of Culture and Communication is attached to the General Secretariat, Financial and General Affairs Department, Real Estate and General Affairs Department. Its role is to advise and support the archiving policy of the central administration, the departments with national competence, the public institutions under its supervision and, More broadly, all cultural institutions that receive a majority of grants from the Ministry are seeking assistance in this area. She works there both through the awareness of the agents to the archiving and the reminder of the rules in force for the public archives, as recalled in the law of 17 July 1978 (law CADA) and the Heritage Code (book II). It also monitors the organization of the intermediate archives services defined by the Prime Minister’s circular of 2 November 2001 and the State’s scientific and technical control of the archives produced.

Its action takes the form of the setting up of management tables which determine the duration of administrative utility (DUA), and the final fate of the documents, in connection with producer services. The mission also supports the services and takes charge of the collection of intermediate archives, their processing (classification and writing of research instruments) and their transfer to the National Archives. The mission also ensures the administrative communications of these archives and produces the research instruments allowing the guidance of researchers. She is called upon to collaborate in the work of the History Committee of the Ministry.

The mission also has a steering role for the professional network Archives en Musées, and participates in seminars and study days in its field of expertise.

Statement of Funds

The Archives Mission has more than ten repositories where nearly 10 linear kilometres of archives are kept. In 2013, more than one kilometre of documents were collected and, at the same time, nearly two kilometres were eliminated. In terms of disbursements, no less than 763 metres of classified historical archives were transferred to the National Archives that same year.

Types of holdings held or contributed by the Mission to the National Archives:

• Cabinet archives since the creation of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs (1959)
• Archives of Headquarters Services
• Archive of operators

Here are some of the emblematic collections that the Mission has been asked to collect, classify and transfer to the National Archives:

• Paul Leon
• Palm game
• MNATP (National Museum of Folk Arts and Traditions)
• NMA (National Museums Archives)