Record Atlas
5 eras · 1200–2026 · 6 places

Paris and Île-de-France

Paris, Versailles, Saint-Denis, Meaux, Melun, Fontainebleau. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Where researchers lose records here

1871–1968 — The fire at the Hôtel de Ville on 24 May 1871 destroyed the essential part of the Paris civil registers; the reconstituted acts (état civil reconstitué), covering the period up to 1859, are held by the Archives de Paris. From 1929 to 1968 Seine held Paris and 80 suburban communes, surrounded by Seine-et-Oise.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1200–1790 Kingdom of France — Paris and the royal province of Île-de-France Archives de Paris

Paris and its surrounding province were administered directly by the king.
1790–1815 Department of Paris, renamed Seine in 1795 — Republic and Empire Archives de Paris

The department of Paris was created in 1790 and renamed Seine in 1795. On 11 October 1795 Paris was divided into twelve arrondissements, numbered from west to east.
1815–1871 France — department of Seine Archives de Paris

The law enlarging Paris over the surrounding communes was promulgated on 3 November 1859, and city taxes were extended to the new districts in July 1860.
1871–1968 France — Seine, enclosed by Seine-et-Oise Archives de Paris · Archives départementales des Hauts-de-Seine · Archives départementales de la Seine-Saint-Denis · Archives départementales du Val-de-Marne

THE TRAP. The fire at the Hôtel de Ville on 24 May 1871 destroyed the essential part of the Paris civil registers; the reconstituted acts (état civil reconstitué), covering the period up to 1859, are held by the Archives de Paris. From 1929 to 1968 Seine held Paris and 80 suburban communes, surrounded by Seine-et-Oise.
1968–2026 France — Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne and the grande couronne Archives de Paris · Archives départementales des Hauts-de-Seine · Archives départementales de la Seine-Saint-Denis · Archives départementales du Val-de-Marne · Archives départementales de Seine-et-Marne · Archives départementales des Yvelines · Archives départementales de l'Essonne · Archives départementales du Val-d'Oise

On 1 January 1968 Seine was split into Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, and Seine-et-Oise was abolished in favour of Essonne, Yvelines and Val-d'Oise.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1200–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

6 places on this ground

118 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 58 more.

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