Sunday, March 18, 2012

Archives III - Archives nationales, Fontainebleau

The Fontainebleau archives location is a little trickier than the Paris location(s). Most of that comes down to the first section,

Getting There
Fontainebleau is a 35 minute train ride from Paris, and within Zone 5 of the Paris mass transit system. As such, your options are an expensive ticket from Gare de Lyon station to Fontainebleau-Avon and back, or buying/upgrading a Navigo pass to include all 5 zones. Either way, you're going to pay for it. You could also stay in Fontainebleau, I guess, but that's a long way from Paris and it's hard to imagine not wanting to be a part of the city on your trip.
You'll want to take the 8:15am train towards Montargis, because there's a shuttle to the archives that departs pretty quickly after this particular train arrives at the Fontainebleau-Avon stop in the morning. Otherwise, you're in for a 1.5km (~20-30 minute) walk, or a bus plus a 5 minute walk. The same shuttle has a few other departure times through the day, or you can schedule a special one if you arrive at a different time, but it's a good incentive to get going early. Another shuttle will depart from the archives to the station at 4:45pm, which will get you there in time for the 5:20-5:30 train back to Paris.

Your First Visit
Actually getting in the gate at the archives is a little tricky - ignore the pedestrian-size gate and just walk towards the (also gated) car entrance, which open automatically. The pedestrian gate was locked when I tried it, and after buzzing various options for five minutes someone finally came and let me in. Much easier to just bypass that hassle.
The receptionist can show you around, but it's a basic sign-in system, throw your stuff in a number-combo locker, and off to the second floor. The registration for a reader pass takes place in the reading room itself, and requires a passport or other photo ID. Once you have that (and you probably should go ahead and preregister online to speed things along), you'll get no actual card, but rather a number that will let you make requests from the 'virtual reading room' online. You can request three items beforehand to get you going, otherwise you'll be in for a wait.

Requesting documents is a real hassle here, despite the virtual reading room being potentially very powerful and helpful. There's a limit of five boxes at a time, only three of which you can submit beforehand, and then any requests made on-site have to go in before [i]noon[/i], or they won't be handled that day. The delay between request and delivery is pretty substantial, too, so basically you're looking at one request in the morning, maybe another just before noon. You really have to play the system just right to avoid wasting hours (made worse by the expense of the ticket to get there).

Rules for Things:
Technically, there are the usual restrictions limiting you to computers, cameras, and pencils. In practice, this has seemed to be completely freeform. I've seen people using pens to take notes in their own notebooks, and people with camera bags and laptop cases. There are no security checks entering or leaving.

Food
Bring you lunch with you, because pickings are slim otherwise. The closest food from the archives is at least a 7-10 minute walk away, and then only maybe one bakery and one bar. Better to just bring a sandwich and some water and eat outside before getting on with your business.

Wifi
No wifi, no plugs for ethernet connections. There are four Internet-connected computers available for use in the reading room, so that's where you'll have to access the virtual reading room.

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