Our Partners
The Souvenir Napoléonien
The Souvenir napoléonien was created on 27 December 1937, and has been a registered charity (‘reconnu d’utilité publique’) since the 5 November, 1982. It is the largest Napoleon organisation in Europe, and meets regularly at the Fondation Napoléon to organise a wide range of events, study days, seminars, lectures and commemorations, which are held in France and elsewhere in Europe. The President of Souvenir napoléonien (who is a permanent member) and four designated members are on the Fondation Napoléon’s Advisory Board. La Revue du Souvenir napoléonien (in French)
The Souvenir napoléonien’s website
The Bibliothèque Nationale de France
The Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Fondation Napoléon signed a digital and documentation partnership agreement on 5 February, 2014. The First- and Second-Empire material at both institutions is reciprocally enhanced via a synergy between the two institutions, notably by making the catalogue of the bibliothèque Martial Lapeyre library at the Fondation Napoleon accessible through the French National Répertoire national des bibliothèques et des fonds documentaires, and also the Catalogue collectif de France (The French National Collective Catalogue) and Napoleonic digital material at the Bibliothèque nationale available via the online catalogue of the Fondation’s own library. By cooperating in this way, the BnF and the Fondation Napoléon are committing themselves to a series of innovations, with a programme focused on digital communication. As part of its cooperation policy, the BnF is also associating with new partners so that content from Gallica, the BnF’s digital library and that of is partners, is made as accessible as possible, and to make sure that it is shared effectively amongst relevant interested parties, in this case the researchers and academics with which the Fondation works, and the partners and the networks within which it operates.
The Bibliothèque Nationale de France’s website
The Archives de France
Under the initiative of Martine de Boisdeffre, Director of the Archives de France (2001-2010), the Archives de France and the Historical Centre of the Archives Nationales chose to participate in the Fondation Napoléon’s project to publish Napoleon’s Correspondence. They have been on board with the project since its launch date in 2002. The Archives de France made it possible for the Fondation to print all of the microfilms from the archives of the second Commission Historique du Second Empire (400AP) on paper, and they also helped with identifying letters and with research. Without them, the project would not have been possible. Their assistance with the publication of the volumes of the Correspondence générale has also been invaluable.
The Archives de France website
The French Archives Nationales
On 14 December 2015, a six-year partnership agreement was signed between the National Archives and the Fondation Napoléon, setting out the framework for collaboration in the field of archival research, namely: sorting out of the collections and drafting of documentary notices relating to the Napoleonic archives section of the National Archives, specific research projects will thus be shared and disseminated jointly by the French National Archives and the Fondation Napoléon. The two institutions also plan to collaborate in cultural, educational and scholarly events, as well as through the joint publication of books and the digitisation of archival documents.
Website of the French Archives Nationales
The Archives of the French Ministère des Affaires Etrangères
The Archives of the Minister for Foreign Affairs have had an essential input in the project to publish the Correspondance de Napoléon, by sharing all of the letters they have which are signed Bonaparte or Napoleon, equating to more than twenty volumes of letters. These are versions of letters which were actually sent, and mostly received by their addressees, and they allow us to compare them with the versions kept by secretaries before sending, providing indispensable historical detail. As part of this partnership, joint seminars and study days have also been organised.
The Archives of the Minister of Foreign Affairs website
The Institut Catholique d’Études Supérieures
The Fondation Napoléon and the Institut Catholique d’études supérieures (ICES), in partnership with the City of La Roche-sur-Yon, the Conseil Général de la Vendée, the Centre Vendéen de Recherche Historique (CVRH), created the Chaire Napoléon. The agreement between these five partners was signed on Wednesday 3 December 2014, at Haras de la Vendée. The Chaire Napoléon will last for a three year period, and is subject to tacit renewal. The agreement sets out the development of an academic course on the History of the Consulate and the Empire as part of a second year undergraduate history degree. A Study Day is organised annually at the ICES, and the conclusions are published in Napoleonica.La Revue, published online by the Fondation Napoléon. As well as this, two to three annual lectures are on offer, for free, for students and a wider public. The Bibliothèque de la Fondation Napoléon gives a special welcome to lecturers and students from the ICES. The students can apply for Study Grants which the Fondation Napoléon gives out each year.
Find out more about the Chaire Napoléon
The Musée de l’Armée
On 6 April 2010, Victor-André Masséna, Prince d’Essling, President of the Fondation Napoléon, and General Robert Bresse, who was the Director of the Musée de l’Armée at the time, signed an agreement which links the two establishments and organises their joint projects. As part of this agreement, the Musée and the Fondation agree to use their respective skills to organise: events and especially exhibitions, academic discussions and, in general, all actions which will help to develop Napoleonic history and its interest for the wider public. The signatories will support, in particular, research by historians and members of the public working on the imperial periods, in particular by providing the support of their documentation centres. They will work together on joint research subjects and joint publications.
The Musée de l’Armée’s website.
The Service Historique de la Défense – département Terre
For several years now, the Service Historique de l’Armée de Terre in Vincennes, and since 2005 the Département Terre in the Service historique de la Défense, is a privileged partner of the Fondation Napoleon, working with them on seminars, academic publications and conclusions from seminars, and exhibitions. It has been one of the regular participants of the project to publish Napoleon’s Correspondence since the project began in 2002, by sending us numerous copies of letters, especially those which are catalogued in private archives.
The website of the Service historique de la Défense.
The Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution of the State University of Florida, USA
In September 2007, the Fondation Napoléon and the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution at the State University of Florida at Tallahassee signed a general partnership agreement. The two organisations develop their academic projects together and put together their means to encourage and favour historical scholarship on the Napoleonic era.
The Museo Glauco Lombardi
In June 2023, a partnership agreement was signed between the Museo Glauco Lombardi (Parma, Italy) and the Fondation Napoléon for the online publication of the correspondence of Marie-Louise, the second wife of Napoleon I who became Duchess of Parma after the fall of the Empire. The transcriptions of these letters will eventually be made freely accessible the Fondation Napoléon’s digital archive site: Napoleonica® les archives. In order to prepare the most comprehensive publication possible, the partnership includes joint annotation work between the two institutions.
The Musée National de la Marine
On Monday, 3 June 2019, at the Musée National de la Marine, the President of the Fondation Napoléon, Victor-André Masséna, Prince d’Essling, and the Director of the Musée National de la Marine, Commissioner-General Vincent Campredon, signed a partnership agreement between the two institutions to carry out joint actions as part of their respective activities to promote and disseminate Napoleonic heritage.
The Museum and the Fondation will jointly organise events and collaborate on the production of exhibitions covering the Napoleonic period. They will also work on the conservation and enhancement of the collections in connection with the Napoleonic period. A monitoring committee will meet at least once a year to coordinate working meetings, monitor the application of this agreement and schedule collaborations.
website of the Musée National de la Marine
