Heritage Preservation and Encouragement of Interest in Napoleonic History
On 5 February, 2014, Thierry Lentz, director of the Fondation Napoléon (stepping in for the indisposed president of the Fondation Napoléon, Victor-André Masséna) and Bruno Racine, President of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), signed an agreement of cooperation in documentary and digital affairs. Both institutions have as their missions heritage, preservation and the encouragement of interest in, and study of, the two French Empires.
An innovative joint project
The cooperation agreement envisages the following joint action, namely: the mutual development and enhancement of the historical holdings related to the First and Second Napoleonic Empires at both institutions via the interoperability of their digital collections and the inclusion of the Fondation Napoléon’s holdings in the Répertoire national des bibliothèques et des fonds documentaires and the inclusion of the Bibliothèque Martial Lapeyre catalogue in the Catalogue collectif de France.
Via this partnership, the BnF and the Fondation Napoléon continue in their determination to search out innovative cooperation opportunities. The bedrock of the agreement is a concerted programme of digitisation. In accordance with her innovative policy, the BnF is creating new partnerships in order to provide an optimal diffusion of the contents of hers and her partners’ digital libraries via Gallica, notably in this case to the researchers and scholars gravitating around the Fondation.
Furthermore, BnF curators will give talks in the Fondation Napoléon’s Cercle d’Etudes series related to the resources on Gallica and elsewhere. From 2015, the BnF will also put in place an enhanced system of welcome and assistance for winners of Fondation Napoléon study grants.
More details
Presentation of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) (French National Library)
Gallica, the BnF digital and documentary portal
Presentation of the Fondation Napoléon
Bibliothèque Martial Lapeyre (Fondation Napoléon Library, 7 rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Paris, 5e)