Archives

Created in 2021, the Archives Department of Sciences Po Library (Scientific Information and Resources Department, DRIS) is the result of the merger of the Contemporary History Archives of Sciences Po Center for History (CHSP), the Mission Archives and the CEVIPOF Documentation Center. 

• The first archival service of Sciences Po was established in 1971. The Contemporary History Archives were in charge of collecting political archives and to provide research assistance to students and scholar. 

• Sometime after the foundation of the Centre d’études de la vie politique française (CEVIPOF) in 1960, a documentation center was created to centralize the sources and the scientific production in the field of political sciences and sociology.

• In 2004 a new service was created : the Mission Archives de Sciences Po. It was in charge of the administrative records and historical documents of the Institut d’études politiques of Paris and the Fondation nationale des sciences politiques (FNSP). The service contributed to the elaboration of the institutional archiving policy. 

The institutional archives division helps Sciences Po central departments, schools and research centers to manage their paper and digital records. This division ensures compliance with existing procedures and standards (archives legislation, GRDP, etc.). Furthermore, it is in charge of the preservation of the university historical heritage:

• École libre des sciences politiques (ELSP), Fondation nationale des sciences politiques (FNSP) and Institut d'études politiques (IEP) historical archives (particularly the presidents, directors and secretary general archival holdings),
• The Academic Direction archives and the student files,
• The administrative records of Sciences Po central departments,
• The administrative and historical records of the research centers (Sciences Po/CNRS).

Sciences Po Politics Archives division (extendend name : Pole of Excellence of Politics Archives and Data of Île-de-France) has inherited Contemporary History Archives and CEVIPOF Documentation Center archival holdings. The collection is composed of :

• Private archives donated by politicians, political organizations, scholars and public personalities,
• Electoral archives, political manifestos and leaflets and the opinion poll collections.

There are 145 archival holdings composed of different typologies : paper documents, iconography, oral and audiovisual archives, objects. The collections are dated from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 21st centuries. Politics archives offer a variety of sources that help scholars to deepen the understanding of different subjects of contemporary history.

Research Archives is a new division created after the department merger in 2021. It witness the existing links between Sciences Po Archives and the academic world. Research Archives has gathered all the collection acquired by the former services along the years. In particular:

• Archives produced by Sciences Po scholars during their teaching and research activities,
• Qualitative and quantitative, collective and individual inquiries,
• Scientific production of Sciences Po scholars.

An ongoing project with CRIPOLIS research unit (Université Paris Cité) is acquiring digitized versions of social science inquiries realized during the last years.