Interventions held on May 21, 2024, during the 148th congress of the Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques (CTHS).
It was founded by Guizot in 1834.
Guizot Between History, Memory, and Politics by Laurent Theis
Guizot entered history as a professor in 1812 and politics as a high-ranking official in 1814. He had behind him his career as a statesman, exercised at the highest levels, and the bulk of his historian’s work, considerable and universally acclaimed, when in 1857 he undertook to write his Memoirs to Serve the History of My Time. These eight volumes complete the linkage of the three elements of his public activity. It is in their light that the continuity of an intellectual trajectory, barely swayed by the vagaries of circumstances, makes sense. How the writer applies the demands of the historian and promotes the ideas of the politician, how the founder of the CTHS and the principal minister of the July Monarchy unite in the illustrious retired memoirist—this is the guiding line that a short, non-scientific intervention could follow, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Guizot’s death on September 12, 1874.
Laurent Theis, Historian, Member of the Scholarly Society: Société de l’histoire du protestantisme français, Honorary President
François Guizot as Correspondent, Historian, and Memoirist: The Academic, Political, and Diplomatic Correspondences of an Actor and Witness of the 19th Century by Marie Dupond
While numerous studies on the historical and political thought of François Guizot (1787-1874) have been written, as of 1987, Guizot did not yet have a biography. Similarly, the Guizot collection has not yet been subjected to an analytical, systematic, and exhaustive inventory. The first obstacle mentioned by biographers is the vastness of the sources. The Guizot collection, and especially the 47,000 folios of correspondence, thus poses an archival and historiographical challenge. Digital tools and methods have the characteristics needed to meet this challenge. I will present the results and stakes of editing his correspondence in a digital environment. The extent and volume are not the only difficulties posed by the Guizot collection. It is necessary to highlight its thematic richness and to examine the care he took in preserving and organizing the letters he received and the copies of those he wrote, often requesting the return of his own letters. The importance of correspondence in the life and work of the historian and memoirist becomes apparent when considering the time he devoted to it, its role in his information and the formation of his thought, while also leading to an examination of the links between his autobiographical work and his correspondence.
Marie Dupond, PhD in epistemology and the history of science and technology, project leader at the École normale supérieure (ENS).
Watch the video of Marie Dupond and Laurent Theis’ speeches (from the 26th minute)