Toulouse: the new annex of the departmental archives and its treasures
The departmental archives, whose headquarters have been located since 1955 on boulevard Griffoul-Dorval in Toulouse, have been equipped since May 2021 with a new annex, Chemin des Capelles, where treasures of documentation are kept.
Store better. A major concern within the departmental archives of Haute-Garonne which, in addition to its headquarters installed since 1955, boulevard Griffoul-Dorval in Toulouse, and several annexes, has since May 2021 acquired new spacious buildings, Chemin des Capelles in the Lardenne district. The move took eight months.
A new annex financed by the departmental council, which organized a visit for the press, Thursday, April 7, to the tune of 10 million euros and called “Capelles 1”. That is a 4,400 m2 “positive energy” space, equipped with 600 photovoltaic panels on the roof, all designed by the 360° Architecture studio and design offices (Technisphere and Terrel).
The new annex closed to the public
“Depositories of individual and collective memory”, the departmental archives, which welcome around 12,000 people a year, will not open the new annex to the public, “except occasionally”, it is specified. The annex houses archive stores and work premises, allowing the transfer of nearly 30 km of linear holdings over the existing 45 km.
“The objective, it is explained, is to facilitate the collection, conservation and enhancement of documents, with in particular the establishment of an electronic archiving system (SAE). And above all, ensure the temperature of the documents, the hygrometry (45% to 55%), i.e., according to the recommendations of the Archives of France, “16 and 23°C with a maximum variation of 2°C per week and 1° C per day”, we specify in the archives.
240,000 document photos
“With a special mention for the conservation of photographic documents, a little over 240,000 photos”, explains the director of the departmental archives Anne Goulet. Old documents do not support climate variations. Like this register of the Montgeard family, three years after the Revolution of 1789.
“It shows the transition, continues Anne Goulet, from the parish register kept by the priest to the civil status register kept by the mayor, from the decree of September 1792. We also digitized, a few years ago, the registers judgments of the famous Parliament of Toulouse created in 1444, which is the first provincial Parliament after Paris”.
There is a case of counterfeiting. “It was a real scandal at the time because it was an attack on public authority and royal authority in particular,” says the director of the archives. The condemned were to be dipped and boiled in oil, after being paraded through the city, the others were condemned to be hanged on the gallows”.
Thousands of old documents have been digitized and are only accessible online on the archives site (because the originals are no longer communicated to the public), such as the archives of the municipalities of the arrondissements of Toulouse and Muret, registers of the Registration and mortgages, cadastres, etc. The new appendix “Capelle 1” also preserves contemporary documents provided by the administrations, private funds allocated by the architects.