Muslim and Ottoman press · Open Jerusalem

Identity area

Reference	FR-CADN/294PO
Title	Repatriated documents from the French Consulate in Jerusalem
Covering dates	1781-01-01-1998-12-31
Dates Start	1781-01-01
Dates End	1998-12-31
Level of description	Fonds
Extend and medium	Global extent: unknown; extent of Series B: 6,70 linear meters, 199 files; the 71 first files of the series are described

Context area

Repository	Centre of Diplomatic Archives in Nantes (CADN)
Name of creator(s)	French General Consulate in Jerusalem (CGFJ)
Archival history	The oldest documents of the Consulate fonds date back to 1840. Consul Boppe rearranged them in 1904. In a 1958 review, the Consulate was congratulated about its records organization : « Jérusalem peut actuellement servir d'exemple à d'autres postes » (Jerusalem can now be an example for other consulates). The fonds is made of two subfonds which count 9 series : Part 1, subfonds 1781-1948 : - Series A « Holy places », 1840-1914. - Series B « Thematic files of the French consulate in Palestine and Emirate of Transjordan », 1781-1941. - Series C « Delegation of Free France and End of the British Mandate », 1941-1948. - Series E « Registers » 1843-1947. Part 2, subfonds 1848-1991 : - Series 2, 1948-1966. - Series 3, 1967-1977. - Series 4, 1978-1991. - Series 5, 1994-1998, thematic arrangement. - Series F « Registers » 1948-1969. The current series A and B were at first only one series : secretary Paulette Gustin organized and made an inventory of them in the 1956 (the canvas-binded inventory). In 1977, the 56 first boxes have been reorganized in 140 items by Agnès Pouillon, curator at the Foreign Office Archives : they now constitute the A series which has a dedicated inventory. The following boxes have been reassigned numbers from 1 to 299 and now constitutes series B. Still currently used, the 1956 handwritten canvas-binded inventory has been reworked since 2014, as the B series files have been reorganized and better described. A new analytical inventory was published on February 12th, 2016, based on the new description of boxes one to seventy one. The upgraded description of the following boxes is on-going. This work was the occasion to put the « Papiers Neuville » back in the fonds. These files had been sent to the French diplomatic National Archives in 1973 : they were found in the hotel room of M. Yves Neuville, son of a French Consul in Jerusalem (Consul from 1946 to 1952), who died in an accident in Palma de Majorque. They have been partly reintegrated on January, 20th 2016 : - Documents reintegrated in January 2016 : the part of the files which did not concern religious issues and which dated from 1840 to 1914 was put back into the B series with, on each file, an explanation of its origin and the date of its reintegration. - Documents still not reintegrated : - a number of files dealing with religious issues and dated from 1840 to 1914 have been organized and are now waiting for their reintegration in A series. - a number of files dated from 1915 to 1940 have been organized and a reference code has been suggested.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer	Several missions took place in the Consulate to prepare the documents repatriation to French diplomatic National Archives. Curators Ms Pouillon and Mrs Pozzo di Borgo came and worked on a two months mission from october to november 1977. - Series A « Holy places », 1840-1914 : files repatriated to Paris with series B in 1978. - Series B « Thematic files of the French consulate in Palestine and Emirate of Transjordan », 1781-1941 : repatriated to Paris in 1978. - Series C « Delegation of Free France and End of the British Mandate », 1941-1948 : repatriated to Paris in 1978 and 1998. - Series E « Registers », 1843-1947 : repatriated to Paris in 1978 and 1998. - Series 2, 1948-1966 : repatriated in 1983. - Series 3, 1967-1977 : repatriated in 1998. - Series 4, 1978-1991 : repatriated in 2005. - Series 5, 1994-1998, thematic arrangement : repatriated in 2011. - Series F « Registers » 1948-1969 : transferred in 2013.

Content and structure area

Description

The consulate’s archives show how worked the representatives of France in Jerusalem since 1842 and reveal whom they interacted with : local authorities, the different communities living there, Consulates from other countries, the French Embassy and the French Foreign Office.
These documents are also a way to understand the political and religious conflicts that took place from time to time during that period (Crimean War in 1853).

Conditions of access and use

Conditions governing access

Subject to the authorization of Centre of Diplomatic Archives in Nantes (CADN)

Finding aids

First inventory made in 1956 by Paulette Gustin, chancellery reporter : A and B series were described as one.
Analytical inventory (handwritten) of series A made by curator Agnès Pouillon in 1977 and upgraded in march 2007 by Sylvie Louis-Aublé.
Analytical inventory of items 1 to 71 from series B typed up on February 12th, 2016 by Adélaïde Laloux, on Open-Jerusalem Program (ERC European Research Council financed program, Starting Grant n°337895), supervised by Bérangère Fourquaux, curator at the Centre of Diplomatic Archives in Nantes (CADN).

Allied materials area

Publication notes

LEMIRE (Vincent), « Histoire des réseaux techniques dans la municipalité ottomane de Jérusalem : Enjeux de souveraineté, conflits de pouvoirs, réseaux de mémoires », dans Denis BOCQUET et Samuel FETTAH (dir.), Réseaux techniques et conflits de pouvoir : les dynamiques historiques des villes contemporaines, Collection de l’École Française de Rome 374, École Française de Rome, 2007, p. 31-56.
LEMIRE (Vincent), "Les lieux saints réinventés : les points d’eau comme points de repère (Jérusalem, XIXe s.)", dans Barbara HAIDER (dir.), Europa und Palästina 1799-1948. Religion, Politik, Gesellschaft, Vienne, janvier 2009.
LEMIRE (Vincent), Jérusalem 1900, la ville sainte à l’âge des possibles, Paris, Armand Colin, 2013, 251 p.
VRIGNON (Alexis), Le protectorat religieux de la France en Palestine (1852-1914), mémoire de Master, Université de Nantes, 2006.

Catalogue references area

Rules or conventions	International standard for archival description, General, etc.
Date of the catalogue	Catalogue prepared on January 2016
Archivist's notes	Inventory of a range of 71 items from “Series B, Repatriated documents from the French General Consulate in Jerusalem”, (1781-1941), held by the Centre of Diplomatic Archives in Nantes (CADN), made by Adelaïde Laloux, supervised by Bérangère Fourquaux, (based on Sylvie Louis-Aublé’s analytical inventory of April 2007), 2016.
Sources	http://www.archives.openjerusalem.org/index.php/repatriated-documents-from-the-french-consulate-in-jerusalem

Browse from here by hierarchy

Fonds - 1 : Repatriated documents from the French Consulate in Jerusalem
- Subfonds - 2 : "Part 1, Old fonds, 1840-1947"
  - Series - 3 : “Series B, Thematic files of the French consulate in Palestine and Emirate of Transjordan”
- Subfonds - 2 : Part 2, Post-1948 archival deposits
  - Series - 3 : 1948-1966