Secrétariat d'Etat à la Marine. Correspondance à l'arrivée de la Louisiane
Item
Country
FR
Name of institution (English)
National Overseas Archives
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
fra
Contact information: postal address
29 Chemin du Moulin de Testa, 13090 Aix-en-Provence
Contact information: phone number
0033 442933850
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
anom.aix@culture.gouv.fr
Reference number
COL C13
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (English)
Secretary of State of the Navy. Correspondence from Louisiana
Title (official language of the state)
Secrétariat d'Etat à la Marine. Correspondance à l'arrivée de la Louisiane
Language of title
fra
Creator / accumulator
Secrétariat d'Etat à la Marine
Date(s)
1675/1819
Language(s)
fra
Extent
5 linear metres
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This sub-series is part of Series C of the Colonial Archives and consists of the official correspondence between the Secrétariat d'Etat à la Marine and officers in the French colony Louisiana. This correspondence essentially consists of reports and memoranda addressed to the minister by the responsible authorities for the administration of the colony. Letters from individuals, such as settlers, traders or clergy members, are also added to the series. It also includes administrative and finance records.
The 1724 Black Code, which forbade the exercise of any religion other than Catholicism, officially barred Jews from establishing in French Louisiana. Notwithstanding, there is evidence in this series of Jews living in Louisiana after 1724. It is the case of David Dias Arias, a Sephardic Jew from Jamaica and a British subject who owned a vessel, the Texel, which arrived at La Balize, a military post on the entrance of the Mississippi, in March 1759. The vessel was seized, and the Ordennateur Rochemore confiscated its cargo against the intention of Governor Kerlérec. The vessel and its cargo were later returned to Dias Arias. Information on this event can be found on COL C13 A 41, fol. 201; COL C13 A 44, fol. 8; and COL C13 B 1, fol. 285. Some of these documents were published by Nasatir and Shpall (1963).
The 1724 Black Code, which forbade the exercise of any religion other than Catholicism, officially barred Jews from establishing in French Louisiana. Notwithstanding, there is evidence in this series of Jews living in Louisiana after 1724. It is the case of David Dias Arias, a Sephardic Jew from Jamaica and a British subject who owned a vessel, the Texel, which arrived at La Balize, a military post on the entrance of the Mississippi, in March 1759. The vessel was seized, and the Ordennateur Rochemore confiscated its cargo against the intention of Governor Kerlérec. The vessel and its cargo were later returned to Dias Arias. Information on this event can be found on COL C13 A 41, fol. 201; COL C13 A 44, fol. 8; and COL C13 B 1, fol. 285. Some of these documents were published by Nasatir and Shpall (1963).
Archival history
The origins of the Navy archives are still little known. A historical note written in 1879 by Octave de Branges, then assistant curator of the Archives, alleged that Colbert created the Dépôt de la Marine in 1680. However, there is no documentary evidence to support this assumption. According to tradition, the archives were initially located in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. In 1699, Jérôme de Pontchartrain (1674-1747), the Navy minister, installed the Dépôt de la Marine in a building in Place des Victories, in Paris. It was at this time that the Dépôt de la Marine started operating more systematically.
Pierre Clairambault must be considered the founder and first organiser of the archives. In 1699, he found the archives completely disorganised, and several pieces were missing. The following years were dedicated to the organisation and inventorying of the fonds. From 1740, by the hand of the archivist François-Maurice Lafîllard, the archives underwent a radical reclassification. The reorganisation of the documents followed a "blind" alphabetical order, with no attention to subjects, provenances, or matters, which was later the target of intense criticism. His successor, Laurent Truguet, tried to reverse Lafîllard's work and, in 1755, proposed a reorganisation by dividing the archives into ten divisions or series. A part of this new classification was indeed adopted, and it is still reflected in some series to the present.
At the beginning of 1763, the Archives de la Marine left Paris and went to Versailles to occupy the Hôtel de la Guerre et de la Marine building. The new archivist, Jean-Charles Horque d'Hamecourt, respected the classification adopted by Truguet, merely adding an additional division for the papers received from the Bureau des Fonds.
In 1781, the Archives de la Marine gained a new service, the Dépôt des chartes de las colonies, organised by an edict of June 1776. This institution was intended to preserve in France a duplicate of all public papers established in the colonies, such as parish records, notarial minutes, population census, and others.
The transfer of the Ministry of the Navy after the Revolution was not followed by the archives, which remained in Versailles. However, the archives' organisation and management were modified at the end of 1791, with a division into two offices: one for the Navy, headed by Antoine Villet, and the other for the Colonies, headed by Claude Deluzines.
In 1812, Nicolas- Charles Stévenot (1750-1822) replaced Deluzines and was responsible for a new classification of both the Navy and the Colonial Archives: the first divided into ten series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Contentieux; Campagnes; Missions particulières; Invalides et prisonniers; Ordonnances et arrêts; Mémoires généraux; and Objets divers), and the second into nine series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Campagnes; Concessions, commerce et domaine; Ordonnances et arrêts; Contentieux; Mémoires généraux; Colonies en général; and Objets divers). The Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies continued to be a particular fonds.
The archives returned to Paris in 1837 and were housed in a building in the courtyard of the Rue Royale. The Commission des Archives, established in 1849, was responsible for designing a new method for classifying collections. Following the recommendations of this commission, the documents were divided into seven categories corresponding to the main divisions of the Département de la Marine et des Colonies: Personnel (currently corresponding to C and CC), Matériel (D and DD), Colonies, Comptabilité (E and EE), Invalides (F and FF), Service général (B and BB), and Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies.
The Second Empire (1852-70) was an extremely active period in which the old series and the first part of the modern series gradually took on the organisation that is still in use at present. The Correspondance à l'arrivée de la Martinique series was classified and bound during this period. However, the lack of rigour and knowledge of colonial history caused some inconsistencies in its organisation.
Pierre Clairambault must be considered the founder and first organiser of the archives. In 1699, he found the archives completely disorganised, and several pieces were missing. The following years were dedicated to the organisation and inventorying of the fonds. From 1740, by the hand of the archivist François-Maurice Lafîllard, the archives underwent a radical reclassification. The reorganisation of the documents followed a "blind" alphabetical order, with no attention to subjects, provenances, or matters, which was later the target of intense criticism. His successor, Laurent Truguet, tried to reverse Lafîllard's work and, in 1755, proposed a reorganisation by dividing the archives into ten divisions or series. A part of this new classification was indeed adopted, and it is still reflected in some series to the present.
At the beginning of 1763, the Archives de la Marine left Paris and went to Versailles to occupy the Hôtel de la Guerre et de la Marine building. The new archivist, Jean-Charles Horque d'Hamecourt, respected the classification adopted by Truguet, merely adding an additional division for the papers received from the Bureau des Fonds.
In 1781, the Archives de la Marine gained a new service, the Dépôt des chartes de las colonies, organised by an edict of June 1776. This institution was intended to preserve in France a duplicate of all public papers established in the colonies, such as parish records, notarial minutes, population census, and others.
The transfer of the Ministry of the Navy after the Revolution was not followed by the archives, which remained in Versailles. However, the archives' organisation and management were modified at the end of 1791, with a division into two offices: one for the Navy, headed by Antoine Villet, and the other for the Colonies, headed by Claude Deluzines.
In 1812, Nicolas- Charles Stévenot (1750-1822) replaced Deluzines and was responsible for a new classification of both the Navy and the Colonial Archives: the first divided into ten series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Contentieux; Campagnes; Missions particulières; Invalides et prisonniers; Ordonnances et arrêts; Mémoires généraux; and Objets divers), and the second into nine series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Campagnes; Concessions, commerce et domaine; Ordonnances et arrêts; Contentieux; Mémoires généraux; Colonies en général; and Objets divers). The Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies continued to be a particular fonds.
The archives returned to Paris in 1837 and were housed in a building in the courtyard of the Rue Royale. The Commission des Archives, established in 1849, was responsible for designing a new method for classifying collections. Following the recommendations of this commission, the documents were divided into seven categories corresponding to the main divisions of the Département de la Marine et des Colonies: Personnel (currently corresponding to C and CC), Matériel (D and DD), Colonies, Comptabilité (E and EE), Invalides (F and FF), Service général (B and BB), and Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies.
The Second Empire (1852-70) was an extremely active period in which the old series and the first part of the modern series gradually took on the organisation that is still in use at present. The Correspondance à l'arrivée de la Martinique series was classified and bound during this period. However, the lack of rigour and knowledge of colonial history caused some inconsistencies in its organisation.
Administrative / Biographical history
The period from the 1600s to 1815 is usually called the "premier empire colonial" (first colonial empire). France settled in Canada, the West Indies, French Guiana, the Regency of Algiers, Saint-Louis du Sénégal, Gorée, and Rufisque. In the Indian Ocean, it gained a foothold in Madagascar (Fort-Dauphin), Ile de France, and Ile Bourbon. In India, the French colonial empire established itself in Surat, in Pondicherry in 1673, and then in the whole Deccan peninsula.
Louisiana was a French colony from 1682 to 1763. Discovered by Cavelier de La Salle in 1682, it only really became populated with the arrival of Lemoyne d'Iberville and an establishment in Biloxi in 1699. Louisiana was entrusted in 1712 to Antoine Crozat, who founded a company to develop the territory. However, in 1717, Louisiana passed to the Compagnie des Indes. The colony was ceded to the Crown in 1731. In 1762, the western territory (right bank of the Mississippi) was secretly ceded to Spain to compensate for the country's loss of Florida and silence its claims on Saint-Domingue. After the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the left bank was ceded to England. Spanish Louisiana was a refuge for the French expelled from Acadia and Canada. In 1800, Spain returned its part of Louisiana to France, which sold it to the United States in 1803.
Louisiana was a French colony from 1682 to 1763. Discovered by Cavelier de La Salle in 1682, it only really became populated with the arrival of Lemoyne d'Iberville and an establishment in Biloxi in 1699. Louisiana was entrusted in 1712 to Antoine Crozat, who founded a company to develop the territory. However, in 1717, Louisiana passed to the Compagnie des Indes. The colony was ceded to the Crown in 1731. In 1762, the western territory (right bank of the Mississippi) was secretly ceded to Spain to compensate for the country's loss of Florida and silence its claims on Saint-Domingue. After the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the left bank was ceded to England. Spanish Louisiana was a refuge for the French expelled from Acadia and Canada. In 1800, Spain returned its part of Louisiana to France, which sold it to the United States in 1803.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
Records are arranged chronologically.
Access, restrictions
Digital copies are available online:
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2023
Published primary sources
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