France Neglects Over 40.000 Documents Of Algerian Archive

Report of the French Accounting Board explained that over 40.000 documents of archives, including pictures and maps were transferred from Algeria is still preserved in boxes that are not yet open, pointing to deficiencies in the conservation and classification.

The Audit Office conducted an investigation on the French National Archives that is run by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, at the request of the Finance Committee of the Senate, and concluded in its report, which was published on its website, to the classification of the Archive as “problematic” as the result of “a delay in screening and treatment”, including  the large size of the archive that was not opened since its transfer from Indochina and Algeria.

After talking about the big mess, the report spoke about the tasks of the archives, like the collection, classification, conservation and communication, which were often unfair and bad”, and among the “registered delays in categorization, it stated that some archives have not been opened since they were brought from Algeria in 1962, and then it was impossible to use these resources by researchers and citizens.

The report explained; in addition to the civil case of Algeria, the website contains over 34.000 pictures, maps, charts and other archives of more interest to the scientific research of genealogy”.