The Thomas Naff microfilm collection on French-Ottoman relations at PSU

 

"Correspondance Politique Turquie," 1794-1821.

 

 

Overview

 

The materials that Thomas Naff has contributed to PSU include a collection of 32 microfilm reels that he describes as:

  • "Microfilms of the Complete Correspondence by the French Ambassadors and Consuls in the Ottoman Empire from 1774-1842. Volumes 204-229, 26 Roles, Plus Three (3) Supplemental Correspondence [23-25] and Three (3) Roles of Miscellaneous Correspondence. Quai D'Orsay Archives, Paris."

These reels are part of the basis of the research for his dissertation and one article:

The first 31 reels of this collection reproduce a coherent series of documents in the archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The one remaining microfilm reel, though related in content, reproduces documents from the French National Archives.

 

 

I. JX1794 .A7 (reels 1-31) [French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives]

 

With certain exception (see part II below), France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not deposited its archives at France's National Archives. Instead, it maintains its own archival institution at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, with its own distinctive system of call numbers. This institution is known as the "Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères de France," commonly abbreviated "AAE." One of the major series of documents within the AAE is called "Correspondance Politique" (Political Correspondence). This series preserves the official correspondence between the Foreign Affairs Ministry and France's diplomats abroad. Within this series, papers are divided into sub-series by individual foreign state. Within each sub-series, papers are ordered primarily by date.

 

The thirty-one microfilm reels that comprise JX1794 .A7 reproduce AAE Correspondance Politique Turquie, volumes 196-203 (excerpts, 1796-1802), volumes 204-229 (complete, 1802-1815), and supplemental volumes 23-25 (complete, 1794-1821). For a guide to this archival series, see:

  • Antoine Hokayem, Les provinces arabes de l'Empire Ottoman aux Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères de France, 1793-1918 (Beyrouth: Editions universitaires du Liban, 1988), pp. 5-7, 16. [Millar Library: CD1201 1988]

The breakdown of the microfilm reels is as follows:

 

JX1794 .A7:

Reel #

Series

Volume

Date range

1

AAE: CP-Turquie

Excerpts from vols 196-198

1797-1798

2

AAE: CP-Turquie

Excerpts from vols 198-203

1798-1802

3

AAE: CP-Turquie

204

1802

4

AAE: CP-Turquie

205

1802-1803

5

AAE: CP-Turquie

206

1803

6

AAE: CP-Turquie

207

1803-1804

7

AAE: CP-Turquie

208

1804

8

AAE: CP-Turquie

209

1804-1805

9

AAE: CP-Turquie

210

1805

10

AAE: CP-Turquie

211

1806

11

AAE: CP-Turquie

212

1806

12

AAE: CP-Turquie

213

1807

13

AAE: CP-Turquie

214

1807

14

AAE: CP-Turquie

215

1807

15

AAE: CP-Turquie

216

1808

16

AAE: CP-Turquie

217

1808

17

AAE: CP-Turquie

218

1809

18

AAE: CP-Turquie

219

1809

19

AAE: CP-Turquie

220

1810

20

AAE: CP-Turquie

221

1811

21

AAE: CP-Turquie

222

1811

22

AAE: CP-Turquie

223

1811-1813

23

AAE: CP-Turquie

224

1812

24

AAE: CP-Turquie

225

1812

25

AAE: CP-Turquie

226

1812

26

AAE: CP-Turquie

227

1813

27

AAE: CP-Turquie

228

1813

28

AAE: CP-Turquie

229

1814-1815

29

AAE: CP-Turquie

Supplemental vol. 23

1794-1805

30

AAE: CP-Turquie

Supplemental vol. 24

1806-1810

31

AAE: CP-Turquie

Supplemental vol. 25

1810-1821

 

II. JX1794 .A73 (single reel) [French National Archives]

 

The final reel of the Thomas Naff microfilm collection reproduces excerpts from two different series at France's National Archives, or "Archives Nationales de France," located in Paris on the rue des Francs-Bourgeois, and commonly abbreviated "AN." The first set of excerpts is from series AD, "Archives Imprimées" ("Printed Archives"). The second set of excerpts is from series AE B III, a collection of papers entitled "Consulats: Mémoires et documents" ("Consulates: Memoirs and Documents") that the Foreign Affairs Ministry transferred to the National Archives in the early 1930s. The breakdown of this microfilm reel is as follows.

 

JX1794 .A73:

Series

Documents

Date range

AN: AD XV

1 excerpt from dossier 39

Undated (1789-1815)

AN: AD XV

Excerpts from dossier 40

Undated (1789-1815)

AN: AE B III

Excerpts from carton 415

1785-1820

AN: AE B III

1 excerpt from carton 459

1837

 

For a guide to both of the archival series included in this reel, see:

  • Jean Favier, ed., Les Archives nationales: Etat général des fonds, 5 vols (Paris: Archives nationales, 1978-1988), vol. 3, pp. 266, 268, 270; vol. 4, pp. 279, 281. [Millar Library: CD1196 1978a]

Volume 3 of this guide describes the relevant sub-series of series AE B III as follows:

  • AN: AE BIII: "Consulats: Mémoires et documents."
    • AN: AE BIII 414-415: "Turquie. 1740-1858."
    • AN: AE BIII 459: "Inde. Chine. 1776-1849."

(Note: The single excerpt from carton 459 included in the microfilm reel concerns French relations with the sultanate of Mysore in southern India, 1786-1799.)

 

Finally, though PSU does not possess a copy, there exists a separate guide to series AD. For AN: AD XV, see:

  • Pierre Géraudel, Inventaire des archives imprimées (partie antérieure à 1945: Série AD), 2 vols (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1954-1958), vol. 1, pp. 107-108. [WorldCat accession # 6954062]

In this guide, the relevant sub-series of series AD are described as follows:

  • AN: AD XV: "Affaires étrangères et diplomatie."
    • AN: AD XV 39:
      • "Diplomatie; relations extérieures en général. An IV-1815."
      • "Ambassadeurs et ministres. 1789-1815."
    • AN: AD XV 40: "Traités de paix, en général. 1789-1815."