Consultation of archives and research by post

On the spot consultation

The consultation centre is presently situated at the Association headquarters in Le Havre :

	Avenue Lucien Corbeaux
	BP CMA CGM 76096 Le Havre Cedex
	Tél : 02 35 24 19 13
	Fax : 02 35 25 19 37

The centre is open to researchers, either amateur or professional, subject to an appointment and the acceptation of this appointment.

The researchers have to conform to consultation and communication regulations.

Subscription to the French Lines Association or the payment of consultation right are the sine qua non conditions of access to documents. For members of the French Lines Association, access is free of charge. For non members there are two possibilities :

• Access for one day – 7,62 euros
• Access for 5 days – 15,24 euros.

French Lines archives center, in Le Havre

Research for information and/or documents

Non commercial requests

The French Lines Association can respond to certain types of request which should be addressed either by post to Le Havre or by e-mail using the form underneath. This might be used for example for genealogical research, questions on trips, personalities, shipping lines or vessels.

Prices have been set for postal requests :

Research time	Members	Non-members
Less than 30 minutes	3,81 euros	7,62 euros
Less than 1 hour	7,62 euros	15,24 euros

For practical reasons, the research centre on line proposed by Association French Lines is temporarily suspended.

Indeed, within sight of the very significant number of requests for research recorded each day, we are in the incapacity to answer all.

Moreover, it proves that approximately half of the people whom we answer do not give any return : that prevents us to take time for the really interested researchers.

However, you always have the possibility of sending to us your request for research by paper mail to the following address :

Association French Lines
Centre de documentation
Avenue Lucien Corbeaux
BP CMA CGM
76096 LE HAVRE CEDEX

Commercial requests

Direct exploitation (example: use of film clippings) or indirect (example: publication of a book written with the help of archives...) of the Association collections is subject to prior agreement and the acquittal of rights. For all information, contact Jacques Joseph at the following address :

M. Jacques JOSEPH (general secretary)
Association French Lines 
57 rue de l'Abbé Groult
75015 Paris
Phone : 01 45 33 37 43
Fax : 01 45 33 37 43

Reasons and aims of a payable consultation

Why a payable consultation?

The French Lines Association is a private organisation and thus should be distinguished from public archive services whose costs are paid for by the State budget or local authorities.

In order to make the paper collection available to the public, the Association employs two archivists who have been working on the archiving of the collections, their reconditioning and the installation of research tools.

The availability of these paper collections to the general public calls for a great deal of analysis and classification. This creates working costs such as the staffs’ salaries, upkeep of the premises, purchase of archive boxes and various other supplies, etc… It also requires an investment particularly in information technology in order to optimize the research conditions.

In addition, the communication of documents at a distance or on our premises is a time-consuming task. For on the spot consultations, the archivist receives the researcher, analyses his needs, informs him about the methods of classification, guides him in his research and makes available the documents required. To deal with requests made by post, the archivist interrogates the databases, consults the documents and finds the required information.

It is for these reasons that the French Lines Association ask the researchers to participate financially in order to help protect the maritime heritage.

What is the use of a payable consultation ?

French Lines is a non-profit making association created under the 1901 law. Consequently, the association’s profits are immediately reinvested in the protection and promotion of French maritime heritage.

The protection of the heritage means, for example, restoring archives that have been damaged through the years or by poor storing conditions. It also means gathering new collections coming from other partners from the maritime world in order to enlarge the field of study.

Promotion of the heritage means putting information and research within reach of the general public through up-to-date technologies : the scanning of images, creation of CD-Roms and web site for the consultation of documents from a distance.