Les archives présidentielles de François Mitterrand

A scientific record of François Mitterrand's presidential archives has never before been published, and so it seemed useful to clear up the confusion that has persisted about them concerning how they were put together, their content and their use. This will enable research on a major source for French history between 1981 and 1995 and will clarify the role that the National Archives has played in this. With more than 14,000 boxes, it is the biggest and most complete of the presidential records kept in the National Archives Historic Center, a wealth explained by François Mitterrand's interest in history, the efficiency of the archives department within the Élysée itself, and by the handing-over system that guarantees the president access to documents. Through the organization and constitution of research tools, the National Archives provides the keys to the access to these records that maintain the original organization in order to take into account the work methods during the presidency, the circulation of information and the decision-making process. Presidential archives records are only freely consultable after a 60-year period. Earlier communication by special derogation of François Mitterrand's presidential archives respects the rules established by the system and by law, and the principles that obtain over the requests are applied for all the records not freely accessible Far from being "locked up", they are used for many papers, but it has to be emphasized that they have to be used in comparison with other sources and with good prior knowledge of how the institutions work.