Manuscripts & Archives Catalogue collectif de France (CCFr) Bibliothèque nationale de France

Overview

The Manuscripts & Archives portal of the Catalogue collectif de France (CCFr) is an online union search interface maintained by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). It enables simultaneous searching across France's principal national manuscript and archival catalogues through a single interface. The CCFr itself was established as a project of the French Ministries of Culture and Education together with the BnF, and has developed progressively since the late 1990s.

Scope and Collections

The CCFr Manuscripts & Archives section consolidates multiple national catalogues into a unified search portal. These include the Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques françaises (CGM), which covers manuscripts in French public libraries and has roots in publication series dating to the nineteenth century; BnF Archives et manuscrits (BAM), the BnF's own catalogue of manuscript and archival holdings across its departments; the Répertoire des manuscrits littéraires français du XXe siècle (PALME), covering twentieth-century French literary manuscripts; and Calames, the union catalogue of archives and manuscripts held at French universities, the Institut de France, the Muséum d'Histoire naturelle, and other major research institutions. Together, these catalogues provide discovery access to millions of manuscript and archival records distributed across hundreds of French institutions.

Notable Holdings for Journalism and Media Research

Through BnF Archives et manuscrits and the broader CCFr manuscript network, researchers can discover archival fonds relating to the performing arts, literature, press history, and other media-related fields. The BnF's own departmental holdings include press archives, literary manuscripts, and sound archives. PALME specifically addresses twentieth-century literary and journalistic manuscript collections.

Access and Usage

The CCFr Manuscripts & Archives portal is freely accessible online. Searches can be conducted by keyword, language, institution, collection type, and date range. The portal is exclusively in French. Individual items are held at their respective institutions, which must be contacted for physical access. Many records include digitised versions accessible through Gallica, the BnF's digital library.