Dear Nancy,
Though the specifics of your query are, well, specific, the general idea of
how to navigate through the thicket of French archives might be of
more general interest, so I thought I'd answer on list.
I'm certainly no expert on the matter and Amiens is quite a ways out of
my bailiwick *and* (as an additional qualification) I know nothing whatever
about the particular place (Poligny), but from what you write I would venture
to parse your references thusly:
(1)"A Poligny, archives du monastere Sainte Claire": [some] documents
concering the [former?] monastery of Ste Claire are [now] kept at Poligny;
(b)"A Poligny, monastere, archives du couvent des clarisses d'Amiens (ferme)
deposées a Poligny": [some] documents concering the [former?] convent des
clarisses of Amiens [the site of which is now a farm??] are [now] kept at
Poligny;
(iii)"Monastere de Poligny: archives d'Amiens": documents concering the
monastery of Poligny, are to be found in the archives départementales in
Amiens [probably they will all be together in a "_fonds de l'abbaye de
Poligny_" or somesuchlike].
The only thing which troubles me about these conjectures is the fact
that, *in principle*, all ecclesiastical property--including
institutional archives--was declared public property early in the Revolution
and, eventually, the documents which did not serve as cannon wadding during
the 25 years of the Napoleonic wars found their way into the fine system of
public archives, which includes the Archives
Nationales in Paris and the various "public record offices" (_archives
départementales_) set up in the _chef-lieu_ of each _département_, in place
and up and running before 1860 (I think).
So I don't quite understand how it could be that the monastery of
Poligny--even if it is still a going concern (or, like Fleury, re-purchased
from the State and re-seeded with monks)--could be in possession of its
pre-revolutionary archives.
But, certainly each place is unique, so anything is *possible*.
Perhaps Philip Rusche's suggestion of _The World of Learning_ (which I do not
know--thanks Philip!) will be of some help here.
As far as the departemental archives are concerned, *in principle* there are
published catalogues (_inventaires sommaires_) of the holdings of all
departemental archives in France; these were published over time, most being
completed before the first world war, but there are still volumes comming out,
in loveable glacial French fashion, and the catalogues of some _fonds_ in some
archives are even still in manuscript (or ficiers) and may only be consulted
at the archives itself.
I don't believe the latter will be the case for Poligny, however, and you
might could get a peek at what the holdings in the AD are if you can find a
copy of the appropriate _Inventaire sommaire_, which looks like it will be
this (according to the Library of Congress):
_Inventaire sommaire des Archives départementales antérieures à 1790. Somme._
Amiens, 1883-1920 [v. 6, 1910]; 6 v. in 5.
I can't tell from the catalogue which volume it will be--or if it has
even been published--but, since Poligny is/was a monastery, you will probably
want the "Series H", which contains the documents from the "regular clergy";
"Series G" has the "secular clergy" documents.
In most départements I've seen, these two series contain most of the documents
in the archives and the catalogues for them were the first published.
The bad news is that these _inventaires sommaires_ are tough little guys to
find this side of the water (or in France either, though I *think*
that each archives has a complete set for all of France--at least there was
one in Chartres), and I'd bet dollars to donuts that there's narry a one in
all of Utah.
Unless the Mormon genealogical interest extends to this level (just possible,
now that I think of it: the *complete* post-revolutionary baptismal records
for many dioceses have been microfilmed by the church,
I know).
And they are all in very tall format ("in-folio"), so photocopying is tricky.
Bon chance, alors!
Best from here,
Christopher
Nancy Warren <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I am doing some work on St. Colette of Corbie and her political connections
with the House of Burgundy, and I'm a bit confused about what's where in
French archives. I've been reading Elisabeth Lopez'z
book Culture et saintete on St. Colette, and she lists manuscripts in her
bibliography with locations as follows (please forgive the absence of
accents):
-A Poligny, archives du monastere Sainte Claire
-A Poligny, monastere, archives du couvent des clarisses d'Amiens (ferme)
deposees a Poligny
-Monastere de Poligny: archives d'Amiens
Being uncertain about French bibliographic conventions and never having
worked in French archives, I would really appreciate it if someone could
clarify what these references mean. Do they refer to different locations
in Poligny (and if so, how might I contact them)? Is the last reference to a
manuscript in Poligny or in Amiens? Any help will be greatly
appreciated, and replies off-list are fine, since I doubt this is a topic
of broad interest. Thanks in advance.
Nancy Warren
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Utah State University
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