Collins Memorial Library: French & Francophone Studies: Primary Sources

Primary Sources in French Studies

What you will use as primary sources in French Studies will depend on the context of your assignment:

An assignment on some aspect of French civilization could use art or film as primary sources.
An assignment for a French literature class would use literary texts as primary sources.
A class on contemporary popular French culture could use current magazines or newspapers.

ARTFL

ARTFL Encyclopédie
The Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une Société de Gens de lettres was published under the direction of Diderot and d'Alembert, with 17 volumes of text and 11 volumes of plates between 1751 and 1772. Containing 74,000 articles written by more than 130 contributors,

ARTstor

Visual materials, including images, are examples of primary sources. There are many image collections in ARTstor that are pertinent to French Studies, including the Languages and Literature featured group which "highlights Artstor content related to languages and literature, including images of renowned authors and depictions of literary themes and characters, as well as contextual images that enhance understanding of the time periods and cultures shaping literary production."

Learn more about ARTstor collections relevant to Languages and Literature.

Artstor on JSTOR
A digital library of images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences, with a set of tools to view, present, and manage images.
Artstor is now available in its new home on JSTOR! When you search JSTOR, you will find Artstor’s 2+ million licensed images and more than 1,700 additional primary source collections alongside JSTOR’s vast collection of books, journal articles, and research reports.

French Language Current Newspapers

Access World News
Find global information on topics related to business and economics, the environment, global issues, health, international studies, literature, performing and fine arts, politics and government, science, social issues, technology and more from a variety of news media featuring newspapers, videos and web-only content.
International Newsstream
Provides the most recent news content outside of the US and Canada, with archives which stretch back decades featuring newspapers, newswires, and news sites in active full-text format. Includes access to "Le Monde."

Puget Sound Archives & Special Collections, French Studies

The Archives & Special Collections collects, preserves, and makes available primary source material documenting life at the University as well as collections representing regional, national and international issues.

A small selection of material is listed below, for additional sources, please contact archives@pugetsound.edu.

Bernard, Jean Louis, Tours d’arithmétique contains arithmetic exercises as well as numerous hand drawn illustrations from 1810.

Sarrans, B. (Bernard), Memoirs of General Lafayette and of the French revolution of 1830.

Descartes, René, Les principes de la philosophie, 1659.

French Magazines

Collins Library subscribes to the print format of some popular French magazines. Past issues are located downstairs in the periodical collection, organized alphabetically by title.

The magazine collection includes:

Le Nouvel Observateur
A weekly current affairs and comment magazine; website is updated daily.
Paris Match
A French weekly news magazine.
Charlie Hebdo
French satirical weekly.

Selected Digital Collections and Primary Sources Online

Gallica
Digital library from the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). Essential site for French digital images and documents.
Archives nationales
The National Archives of France. Links to the archives' five centers, information on how to do research, historical background, and more.
French Revolution Digital Archive
A collaboration of the Stanford University Libraries and the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). The archive is based around two main resources, the Archives parlementaires and a vast corpus of images first brought together in 1989 and known as the Images de la Revolution française.
Louvre Collections Database
Consists of entries for more than 480,000 works in the Musée du Louvre and Musée National Eugène-Delacroix. Updated daily.
Manuscrits Médiévaux France-Angleterre 700-1200
A collaboration between the BnF and the British Library. Explore digital editions of medieval manuscripts by theme, author, place, and century. Provides additional links to resources for scholars.
Digital Library of Medieval Manuscripts
Currently encompasses the Roman de la Rose Digital Library and the Christine de Pizan Digital Scriptorium. A joint project of the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
The French Book Trade in Enlightenment Europe
Maps the trade of the Société Typographique de Neuchâtel (STN), a celebrated Swiss publishing house that operated between 1769 and 1794.
L'histoire par l'image
Explorer les événements de l’histoire de France et les évolutions majeures de la période 1643-1945. À travers des peintures, dessins, gravures, sculptures, photographies, affiches, documents d’archives, nos études proposent un éclairage sur les réalités sociales, économiques, politiques et culturelles d’une époque.
Newberry French Pamphlet Collection
Primarily consists of material published between 1780 and 1810 from the French Revolution Collection (FRC), the Louis XVI Trial and Execution Collection, and several smaller collections of French Revolution era material.
Paris: Capital of the 19th Century
This site, initiated by the French Studies and Comparative Literature Departments of Brown University, provides a window into the cultural, political and social context of 19th century Parisian culture. Includes a chronology, an annotated bibliography, and links to online resources.
H-France Digital Humanities Database
A searchable database of French and Francophone Studies digital projects.