Transnational Access : EPHE

ReIReS / Transnational Access : EPHE

Free Access to Physical and Virtual Sources

EPHE (École Pratique des Hautes Études) is offering free access to physical and virtual sources under the guidance of experts in the framework of ReIReS.

About

EPHE houses a number of libraries and resource centers representing approximately 70,000 printed works, including 14,029 works of heritage value accompanied by photographic collections (145,686 photographs, glass plates, videos, slides, films, VHS, etc.), maps and charts, lithic items, pictures, paintings, cuneiform tablets, papyri and scientific archives (approx. 632 LM).

Service d’Archives de l’EPHE – EPHE Archive Services

EPHE Archive Services function under the aegis of The Department of Documentation, Libraries and Archives. Since 2013, it has been in charge of collecting, preserving, cataloguing and communicating the various collections developed by the school since its creation in 1868 (administrative, teaching, research) and certain archives donated or bequeathed to the school. But a majority of the archives are held at the Sainte Barbe site, including the Archives from the Religious Sciences Section (5th section) and from the Historical and Philological Sciences Section (4th Section).

Certain collections, directly linked to specialized research themes, are held in the different libraries supervised by the Service (Egyptology, Mongolian and Siberian studies, Tibetan studies) (see below).

Special Archive and Shiite Archive

The EPHE Archive Department holds several archives from persons and learned societies, submitted by those employed by the School or donated, bequeathed or deposited at the School. Their composition and their extent vary greatly. Research tools are available online as and when they are developed in the Online Catalogue of Higher Education Archives and Manuscripts

Of pecular interest regarding Religious Sciences and Religious History are the archives from EPHE ancient scholars : Fonds Pierre Bourdieu (sociology) ; Fonds Henry et Stella Corbin (Iranian Islamic Philosophy) (http://www.calames.abes.fr/pub/#details?id=FileId-2016); Fonds Pierre Geoltrain (Primitive Christianism), Fonds Antoine et Claire Guillaumont (Oriental Christianism, Hebrew and Aramean) (http://www.calames.abes.fr/pub/#details?id=FileId-1648), Fonds Claude Lepage (Religious Archeology of Byzantine World), Fonds Jean Orcibal (Modern Christianism, History of Spirituality), Fonds Société Ernest Renan (Religious Sciences and Religious History), Fonds Charlotte Vaudeville (Hinduist Litterature)

Completing the Fonds Henry et Stella Corbin ,the EPHE’s Shiite Archive, unique in France and the second most important fonds of Shiite sources in Europe, is a fundamental source for studying Iranian Islamic philosophy and Shiite tradition (see below, § “EPHE Religious Studies Library”).

Contact and Localization

Site Sainte Barbe
4 rue Valette
75005 Paris

archives@ephe.psl.eu  

Bibliothèque des sciences religieuses – EPHE Religious Studies Library

The EPHE Religious Studies Library, created in 1970, exists thanks to EPHE’s research chair holders. Holdings comprise over 30,000 documents in the fields of ancient religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and concern History, Theology, Philosophy, Religious Anthropology. The collection focuses on the origins and interpretation of written texts of the three major monotheistic religions, their environment, and the intellectual, religious and philosophical developments that stem from them.

The collections of monographs and periodicals are completed by diplomas and dissertations from the section since it has been founded in 1886.

The Shiite Archive housed in the EPHE Religious Sciences Library (1,214 volumes) comprises two rich and rare collections that form a system:

  • the “Fonds Henry Corbin” (bequeathed to the EPHE in 1979 with 1,057 volumes), which comprises the Shiite sources collected by the renowned Orientalist [1903-1978]. It is a series of Arabic and Persian works derived from the two major branches of Shia Islam (Imamiyyah and Isma’ilism), mainly in the fields of theology, philosophy, the Qur’anic exegesis and mysticism. It comprises many ancient lithographic editions (second half of the 19thcentury), no longer obtainable, even in Iran.
  • the “Fonds Shaykhî”(157 volumes), created between 1974 and 1979, also on Henry Corbin’s initiative, features the works of the masters of the Shaykhiyya order of Iran (Imamite theology and mysticism). They are facsimile editions of autograph manuscripts, produced by the Kerman printing works in Iran.

Contact and Localization

Site Sainte Barbe
4 rue Valette
75005 Paris

bsr@ephe.psl.eu

Bibliothèque Michel Fleury – EPHE Michel Fleury Library

The BMF – Michel Fleury Library, part of EPHE’s History and Philology Section, was founded in 1868, making it as old as the school itself. Holdings were built over time through acquisitions and donations as well duplicates of the Sorbonne Library collection (for many years part of the Fleury library’s holdings were kept in Sorbonne reserves). The BMF Library offers lectors access to a collection of over 70,000 documents (monographs, periodicals, microform records, offprints, theses).

Main holdings concern Greek and Roman Antiquity (epigraphy), Egyptology, Medieval Europe, Indian studies (history and philology), auxiliary historical disciplines and linguistics, and an archive of diplomas and dissertations from the Section of History and Philology.

Contact and Localization

Site Sainte Barbe
4 rue Valette
75005 Paris

bmf@ephe.psl.eu

Centre d’études mongoles et sibériennes (CEMS) – EPHE Center for Siberian and Mongolian Library

The CEMS Library was created in 1970 by researchers in the field and mainly consisted of works that they had brought back from their field missions and of exchanges of the Études mongoles review with other periodicals. The themes covered include: ethnology, oral literature, languages, religions, history, politics, and economy. There are currently over 6,000 volumes in the fonds, mainly in Mongolian and Russian.

The CEMS is a research center that welcomes students and foreign researchers who work in the field. The CEMS also organizes study days and a monthly research workshop.

The Études mongoles review, created in 1970 and now entitled Études Mongoles & Sibériennes, Centrasiatiques & Tibétaines EMSCAT, is published by the CEMS and to date comprises 46 issues.

Furthermore, as a result of the development of research in both Mongolia and Siberia, the CEMS launched its Nord-Asie collection in 2008.

Contact and Localization

Maison des Sciences de l’Homme
54 boulevard Raspail
75006  Paris

cems@ephe.psl.eu

Photothèque Gabriel Millet, Collection chrétienne et byzantine – EPHE Christian and Byzantine Collection: Gabriel Millet Photo library

The Christian and Byzantine collection, created using the legacy bequeathed to the EPHE by Gabriel Millet (1867-1953), and from whom it takes its name, is a heritage archive of documentary resources from the beginning of the 20th century. It comprises some 40,000 glass plates and over 100,000 paper printouts as well as measured drawings, watercolors and ivory castings. It also includes drafts of works, letters and a collection of publications bequeathed by Gabriel Millet. The collections mainly concern Christian Byzantine, Slavic world and Near East iconography ; Christian arts of the East (Italy, the Balkans, Caucasus, Russia, Cappadocia Anatolia, Cyprus, Syria, Nubia, Ethiopia).

Contact and localization

Site Sainte Barbe
4 rue Valette
75005 Paris

phototheque.millet@ephe.psl.eu

Centre Wladimir Golenischeff – EPHE Wladimir Golenischeff Egyptology Research Center and Library

The library is specialized in Egyptology. Its holdings include general works, dictionaries, lexicons, all major French and international journals (current and old publications), all major French and international monograph collections (on religion, archeology, the publication of ancient text, etc.), old books of historic significance, and a broad range of offprints and maps. The library also holds a large collection of closed archives (Golenischeff, Lacau, Montet, Yoyotte) and open archives (EPHE/MAE French Archaeological Mission of Tanis) including photographic plates and prints, plans, drawings, and notes.

The Wladimir Golenischeff Egyptology Research Center and Library is also home to the EPHE’s Ancient Egypt: archeology, language and religion Research team (EA 4519) and to the French Archaeological Mission of Tanis.

Contact and localization

Maison des Sciences de l’Homme
54 boulevard Raspail
75006 Paris

centre.golenischeff@ephe.psl.eu

Centre de documentation de l’Air tibétaine (CDAT) – EPHE Tibetan Studies Resource Center

The CDAT comprises a photo library with 12,000 slides and over 3,000 photos which document the Tibetan area. It has over 3,900 monographs in Western languages, a thousand titles in Tibetan, including several extensive collections, and Holdings from Rolf Stein’s personal library, acquired in 1991.

The collection spans the Tibetan region including Bhutan in a range of disciplines: Tibetan religions (Buddhism and Bon) history, philosophy, civilization and arts from the Tibetan area, more specifically Tibet and Bhutan. The research room houses several hundred standard reference books and catalogues and regularly hosts EPHE research seminars and welcomes researchers who work on the Tibetan area.

Contact and localization

Maison de l’Asie
22 avenue du Président-Wilson
75116 Paris

centre.doctibet@ephe.psl.eu

+33 (0)1 53 70 18 66

Services

The researcher will have access to the EPHE libraries and archives. One or several members of the EPHE services will assist him/her in accessing to material and digital resources of his/her choosing (https://www.ephe.fr/en/librairies/libraries-and-resource-centers).

EPHE will provide support to the researcher in his/her contacts with other Parisian academic institutions and libraries concerned by his/her research project, including the Bibliothèque Universitaire des Langues et Civilisations (BULAC), the Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de la Sorbonne (BIS) and the Institutions members  of PSL University (https://www.ephe.fr/bibliotheques/ressources-documentaires).

The researcher will be in contact with the Research teams or Research Institutes of EPHE working in his/her field of research, including:

The EPHE Office for international religions will assist the researcher in organizing his/her research stay in Paris.

Contacts

Denis Pelletier
E-Mail

Samuel Haroutunian
E-Mail