Les archives du ministère des Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones (1945-1991) aux Archives nationales : une source pour la connaissance de l’architecture

oleh: Charlotte Leblanc

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication 2018-05-01

Deskripsi

Founded in 1879 and finally dissolved in 1991, the French Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telecommunications guaranteed the smooth running of material and immaterial communications in France. It was the owner of some 14,000 buildings across the country, which, in spite of their ordinariness, were immediately recognisable in the urban and rural landscape. Their programmes met the technical, administrative and aesthetic requirements of their time, in keeping with stylistic characteristics appropriate to their period of their construction. From the end of the nineteenth century, aware of the symbolic significance of the post office building, the Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telecommunications exercised full control over the design of its properties. The creation of a group of postal architects as well as a service dedicated to the construction of buildings allowed the conception of buildings rich in sensibility, buildings that became true testimonies of an era of information and communication. The archives of the administration of the Posts, Telegraphs and Telecommunications, housed today at the French National Archives in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine (north of Paris), are a precious source for research in postal architecture, telecommunications, or architectural typology in general. This article aims to demonstrate the main characteristics of these archives.