National Charter School

The idea of ​​creating a specialized educational institution for archivists was first expressed by Lacher in 1735, but was realized only after the French Revolution , when the nationalization of archives from the Old Order era raised the question of their processing. The school was established in 1821 according to the plan of the well-known publicist Desherando . As early as 1806, he presented Napoleon I with a much broader plan for such an institution, but then the plan did not materialize, and only in 1821 the royal ordinance of Louis XVIII on the establishment of the École des Chartes for training archivists followed ^[1] .

The first professors were appointed Abbot Lepin (Lespine), who had been in charge of the manuscript department at the Royal Library for 20 years, and Pavillet, M., head of the historical section of the royal archives ^[1] .

At first it was supposed to have 12 students, the selection of which was entrusted to the Academy of Inscriptions and elegant literature . The school was very unsuccessfully divided into 2 departments: one out of 6 students prepared for libraries, the other also out of 6 students for archives. Trainees were entitled to content, and in 1823 it was decided that the course should last two years. But a year later, students stopped paying maintenance, the school began to decline, and teaching stopped for five years ^[1] .

The plan for the restoration of the Charter School proposed in 1828, although approved by the king, did not materialize, and the new era for the school began with the activities of François Guizot as Minister of the Interior, although short-term, but sufficient to put the Charter School on an appropriate basis. He destroyed the duality (two departments) of the school, concentrated all teaching in one place at the public library, entrusted the elementary course to Lepin, and invited the Champollion-Fijac experienced in archival affairs to the department of diplomacy and paleography. Abbot Lepin soon died (1831), in his place the head of the elementary course was put Gerard ( Benjamin Guérard ), a pet of this school, a graduate of 1822. ^[one]

Under the influence of Guizot, the whole school structure changed; in 1839, her former graduates (a total of 48 graduates until 1839), together with her students, formed a scientific society at the Charter School (Société de l'Ecole royale des Chartes), whose bureau consisted of school professors and members of the board (steering committee) . This society began publishing the Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Chartes (Library of the Charter School), the first volume of which was published in 1839, and then continued to be published. Gerard, appointed director of the school, successfully led the task of its development: the composition of professors began to increase, eight students from the government received scholarships of 600 francs . Entering the school began to require a preliminary degree of bachelier ès lettres (corresponding academic degree of a candidate of historical and philological faculty of Russia of the XIX century); the course became a three-year one, and exams were held annually. ^[one]

Towards the end of the 1840s, the rise of the school was marked by competent persons, and when the central administration of all departmental archives was formed in the Ministry of the Interior (1850), by decree of February 4, 1850 the Charter School received an important privilege: only archivists managing departmental archives were appointed those who completed the course at the Charter School (with the title archiviste-paléographe), and only if there are no such persons - outsiders and for a special exam. This privilege, as well as changes made by the director of this school Gerard (who remained the director until his death in 1852; it was replaced first by Natalis de Wailly , and since 1868 by Léon Lacabane ), and the school’s active participation in the reorganization (since 1850) of the entire archives of France, the school was given the importance of a national institution. The development of this institution made all of French society pay attention to the Charter School; donations flowed into it, especially books and manuscripts, and she acquired her own rather rich library and had a significant annual budget ^[1] .

Far from immediately, the graduates of the Charter School received a monopoly on the posts of archivists in the public sector, but it was they who formed the classical doctrine of French archival studies. In 1990, the Charter School modernization project was discussed, but as a result of disagreements, a separate “Higher Applied School - School (Institute) of the National Heritage” was created in 1991 ^[2] .

Archivist-Paleographer Diploma

Training under the program “Archivist-Paleograph” lasts 3 years and 9 months. This oldest school curriculum has been gradually modernized since the 1960s. Shartists who passed the competition and completed the training had the right to occupy the positions of custodians of national property in archives and libraries. Since 1991, the guardian recruitment system has changed, but the scientific prestige of the School, especially in the field of auxiliary historical disciplines, has remained high. At the end of their studies, the Shartists must write a thesis giving the right to receive a diploma of an archivist-paleographer. These works are usually published in the Charter School Library series.

Master in History and New Technologies.

In 2005, a master's program, History and New Technologies, was opened at the charter school. Under this program, 20 students are trained annually, including from the Historical Archive Institute of the RSUH.

• The schedule of the first master's course consists of general and specialized disciplines, depending on the chosen specialization:

1. medieval archives;
2. modern archives;
3. manuscripts and literature of the Middle Ages ;
4. the history of books and information carriers (XVI — XXI centuries);
5. history of art and archeology.

• In the second year of the master's program, students are offered two types of activities in addition to lectures: scientific research (writing) or the creation of a multimedia product.

• Anoto, Gabriel - French diplomat, historian and politician
• Bataille Georges - French writer and philosopher
• Viollet, Paul Marie - French law historian, professor of civil and canon law at the National Charter School
• d'Arbois de Joubertville, Henry - French historian, archaeologist and philologist
• Darest de la Chavannes, Rodolph-Madeleine Cleoface - French lawyer, historian of law
• Dobiash-Rozhdestvenskaya, Olga Antonovna - Russian and Soviet historian- medievalist , paleographer
• Duanel, Jules - French occultist, founder of the first Gnostic church in modern times
• Girard, Renee - French philosopher, culturologist, literary critic
• Zikel, Theodore von - Austrian historian
• Caen, Gustave - French poet and prose writer-Symbolist
• Kishra, Jules Etienne Joseph - French historian
• Koshen, Augustin - French historian
• Courajo, Louis - French historian of medieval art
• Langlois, Charles Victor - French historian
• Larsche, Etienne Loredan - French writer
• Martin, Henri-Jean - French historian, specialist in the history of books and printing, as well as the history of writing
• Martin du Gard, Roger - French writer, Nobel laureate in literature
• Morel Fasio, Alfred - French historian-spanishist
• Paris, Gaston - French researcher of medieval literature
• Michelle Pasturo - French Medieval Historian
• Peltan, Camille - French politician and writer
• Pernu, Regin - French medieval historian
• Pajardier, Louis Lacore de la - French archivist, paleographer, librarian
• Tele, Alexander - French historian, archivist
• Jean Favier - French medieval historian, archivist, paleographer, librarian
• Fino, Louis - French archaeologist, paleographer, art historian and orientalist, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences
• Flaff, George Bernard - Canadian Cardinal , Archbishop of Winnipeg
• Fossier, Robert - French historian, specialist in Northeast France in the Middle Ages
• Heredia, Jose Maria de - French poet of Cuban descent

• Official website of the National Charter School (Fr.)