Service A – Basic targeted research
Purpose :
This service is intended for the client who needs photographic reproductions of documents which he has previously located and identified, i.e. :
- The client knows the archive where the documents in question are stored ;
- The client knows the quotation of the archive box and the internal file to be requested on site ;
- The client can specify the type of document to be photographed and the number (even approximate) of paper sheets that this represents.
Example :
I am currently doing research on the Spanish War and its implications in France, in particular concerning the aid given to Republican refugees. In this context, I would like to obtain a copy of an information report drawn up by the French police in January 1940 on the activities of an association that was based in Paris under the name “Soutien aux républicains espagnols de France”. This report is kept at the National Archives, in the following box: 19940497/69, Dossier n°1596. According to the inventories I have been able to consult, the report in this file include 14 pages.
Hourly rate : 40€.
For this service, the billing includes :
- Travel time and expenses to the Parisian archives centers
- The order on site and the waiting time for the communication
- Consultation of the archive file and taking of photographs
- The transmission of these to the client by electronic means
The billing for this service A shall not be less than 2 hours. Beyond one day of work in the archive centre (i.e. 6 hours on site; from 9am to 12pm and from 1pm to 4pm), the rate will be degressive.
Service B – Complex research, known as expert research
Purpose :
This service is intended for the client whose request corresponds to a complex search requiring exploration of the archives, in other words:
- the client does not know exactly in which centres the archives relating to his or her research subject could be kept
- the client does not know the state of the documents holdings, series and sub-series in which documents likely to be of interest can be found
- the client is unaware of the nature and volume of documents that can be used to carry out his research
Example :
While looking through some family archives, I discovered that a great-uncle of my wife’s (Robert X, born on 15 March 1888 in Richmond, Virginia) had stayed in Paris (at 22 rue Rambuteau) from 1926 to 1930 and had been involved in a case of jewellery theft. Could you please research whether there are any documents concerning this man and this case in the National Archives, the Paris Archives or the Archives de la Préfecture de police de Paris? And if so, please photograph them for me, whether they are administrative documents, police reports or a possible judgment against him.
Hourly rate : 50€
For this service, the billing includes :
- Travel time and expenses to the archive centre
- Identification of the relevant documentary collections
- Research in the inventories (series and sub-series)
- Ordering the appropriate boxes and waiting time for the communication
- Thorough examination of the files contained in the archive boxes
- Photographing the relevant documents
- Electronic transmission of the photographs to the client.
This service may not be invoiced for less than 3 hours, but the rate applied from the 4th hour onwards will be degressive. Please note that for any research lasting more than 12 hours (i.e. two full days in situ), the presence at the Archives will be installed according to a work schedule that takes into account the client’s expectations and the service provider’s requirements.
For this service, a feasibility study of the work to be carried out and the time required for the research will precede the sending of the estimate to the client; in this respect, note that exploratory work in the various archive collections and inventories is always time-consuming, as is the exhaustive examination of the archive boxes ordered for consultation (all the more so as the communication of boxes is subject, in all archive centres, to daily quotas which cannot be exceeded).