In Toulouse, the Departmental Archives of Haute-Garonne are moving
It is the memory of the Haute-Garonne which changes house. Since the summer of 2021, trucks follow one another between the Canal du Midi and the Lardenne district, where the Departmental Archives incorporate their new building. For the moment, the corridors are still filled with boxes, but the movers of a specialized company are working to dust the documents before storing them in cupboards carefully prepared and labeled.
Remi, hand vacuum cleaner, cleans the large registers of the beginning of the 19th century, of which he has just received a large cardboard box, on a pallet. “We do with a more or less flexible brush” he explains, “depending on the age of the document, and its more or less damaged condition“. In his hands at that moment, a register of receipts from the administration of the estates, dating from 1810. Recently, the movers have also dusted off “trial bags”, burlaps from the 17th and 18th centuries , containing the legal documents of the Parliament of Toulouse.
But the essential of the verification of the documents, and their good state of conservation “it’s done in advance“explains Anne Goulet, the director of the Departmental Archives of Haute-Garonne.In all, the move will have lasted three to four years” she specifies, from checking the archives to thinking about storage furniture, space, building layout, dusting, storage, etc.
A special room for sensitive documents
It must be said that the documents are diverse and varied. Parchments from the Middle Ages, books, plans, maps, models, and also an impressive photographic fund, especially on the Pyrenees. Moreover, some black and white photos are kept in a “space for sensitive documents“on the first floor, where everything is calculated, to preserve well, Anne Goulet:”in this room, it is about 15 degrees, for a hydrometry rate between 40 and 45%“.
The current building on Boulevard Griffoul-Dorval was no longer suited to the proper preservation of documents, due to the configuration of the building, or due to excessive temperature differences. In fact, these are nine different annexes which are now grouped together in one place: at 10, chemin des Capelles. A brand new building, with wide corridors, and large bright openings for the reading rooms.
Twenty kilometers of linear will ultimately be installed on the floors of the Lardenne district. And again, that’s not all! “It is only a little less than half of the totality of the departmental archives“says Anne Goulet. Everything should be tidied up at the beginning of March.