Genealogy in Paris (75): Archives, Records, and Useful Resources

Genealogy Cheat Sheet - Trace your Parisian ancestors in the archives, civil records, with maps and genealogy and history sites

©️Wikimedia - Claude Villetaneuse

Updated: March 14, 2024

The Paris department was created in 1790 and consisted of the city of Paris and surrounding municipalities. In 1795, the department of Paris became the department of Seine. Before being officially abolished in 1968 and (re)becoming the department of Paris, which now contains only one commune, Paris. The surrounding communes joined the departments of the Hauts-de-Seine, of the Seine-Saint-Denis and of the Val-de-Marne.

Before conducting genealogical research in the department of Paris, it is useful to know that some archives have been destroyed over the course of history, notably during the Paris Commune in 1871.

Moreover, as the city of Paris has always been densely populated, genealogical research can be more complex there.

Also, Paris has undergone numerous street name changes over the centuries, particularly during the French Revolution and under the Second Empire. Consulting old maps and specialized works may be useful.

📜 Archives in Paris

Departmental and Municipal Archives of Paris: Find Your Ancestors

The Archives of Paris serve both as departmental and municipal archives. Another particularity: on the night of May 24 to 25, 1871, the Communards burned the City Hall and the Palace of Justice, destroying 8 million acts of Parisian civil status.

There are several reconstructions of the civil status:

• The first official reconstruction (1872-1897): based on the presentation of authentic extracts, on official declarations or on ex officio admission.
• The second and third unofficial reconstructions: un-digitized reconstructions to this day.

Visit the Archives of Paris:

📍 18 Boulevard Sérurier, 75019 Paris

Contact the Archives of Paris:

📞 01 87 02 65 65

📧 dac.archives@paris.fr

Browse the digitized archives for useful information:

• Reconstructed Civil Records (16th-1859)
• Civil Records from 1860
• Admission of Assisted Children
• Military Recruitment of Seine
• Cemeteries and Funeral Services
• Population Census
• Elections
• Educational Records
• Succession
• Mortgages
• Parcels Plans
• Plans extracted from road authorization files (building permits)
• Photographic Collections
• Registers and Rolls of the Civil Court
• Adoptions by the Nation and Deaths of Military Personnel
• Registers and Rolls of the Criminal Court
• Orders for the Restitution of Looted Property (1945-1976)

Online Records

• The "Acts in bulk", the marriages, the migrants' marriages, the migrants' marriages from Paris and the notaries on FranceGenWeb
• WikiGenWeb - Paris Portal: many links to online databases and records
• Nominal database of the 11,662 accused and convicted of the June 1848 Insurrection, Paris
• BMS Saint Eustache
  
  

Unusual Records

• Feast of the Federation and the day of 12 Germinal Year 13 on J. Marchal's website.
• Unusual Testimony in Paris Registers

🧳 Migrations to Paris

The department of Paris, or formerly that of Seine, is renowned for being, to this day, a land of immigration. The numerous migratory flows at the heart of the department played a decisive role in its economic and social development. The majority of immigrants in the department come from the provinces, the Paris Basin, the Center, the North, and the West, but the share of foreigners has never stopped growing.

In the Middle Ages and Modern Era: Paris has always attracted migrants from all over France. Many artisans, merchants, and workers settled in Paris to find work. There was also a small community of foreign immigrants, Italians and Flemish.

In the 19th Century: Paris experienced rapid demographic growth due to industrialization and urbanization. Rural French migrants arrived in large numbers to find work in factories and workshops. Belgians, Italians, Germans, Swiss, and Poles also settled in the department. Foreign immigrants represented between 3 and 6% of the Parisian population. In 1891, Swiss women were the most numerous foreigners in the department of Seine.

Early 20th Century: At the end of the 19th century, Jewish populations from Central and Eastern Europe, persecuted by the Russian Empire, arrived in Paris and settled mainly in the 3rd and 4th arrondissements (the "Pletzl"). At the same time, immigrants from the provinces came mainly from Île-de-France, the Massif Central-Limousin, the North, and Brittany. These significant departures to Paris were partly explained by the attractiveness of the capital and the slower progress of agriculture in these regions. At the beginning of the 20th century, 200,000 foreigners were recorded in Paris, representing 7% of its population.

Between the Two Wars: the department welcomed many refugees fleeing persecutions and conflicts in Europe, notably Jews from Eastern Europe and Spanish Republicans. They settled in the Marais and in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The surrounding communes also benefited from these arrivals.

After World War II: Paris experienced a new wave of immigration from North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia) and Portugal.

To Learn More About Migrations in the Department of Paris (Former Department of Seine):

• Two Analyses of Immigration in Paris in the 18th Century
• The Imbalance of Migrations Paris - Provinces is Easing
• Île-de-France, History and Memory of Immigration Since 1789
• The Case of Bretons in Paris
• Luxembourgish Domestic Servants in Paris from the Mid-19th Century to the Early 20th Century

🎞️ Paris in Images

Videos of Paris

• The Flood of 1910 in Paris
• The Boulevards of Paris, 1920
• Le Marais, Paris 1934-1935
• The Metro in 1950
• Paris Under Occupation
• Muslim Protests in Paris (Falls)
• Domestic Workers in Paris
• Behind the Scenes at the National Archives in Paris
  
  

All INA Videos on Paris

Old Images and Postcards

• On Gallica: Paris in Images
• On Europeana Collections: Paris in Images
• On Clochers de France: the belfries of Paris in images
• On Memorial GenWeb: postcards of the War Memorials
• On Les rues de Paris: Old Paris in Old Photos and Postcards
• On CPArama: gallery of old postcards of Paris
• On CPA Bastille91: Old postcards of Paris
• On Guy Joly's website: Paris in Old Postcards
  
  

Old Maps of the Department

• From Cassini's villages to today's communes: the department of Paris
• On Old Maps Online: old maps of the department
• On Gallica: old maps of Paris

📖 History of the Department of Paris

• History of the Department of Paris
• The Origin of Printing in Paris - 1694
• History of the City and Entire Diocese of Paris - 1758
• Historical Dictionary of the City of Paris and Its Surroundings - 1779
• Campaign of Paris, 1814
• Journal of Paris - 1817
• Almanac of the 25,000 Addresses of the Main Inhabitants of Paris in 1817
• The New Guide for the Foreigner in Paris - 1818
• Physical, Civil, and Moral History of Paris - 1824
• Picturesque and Historical Tableau of Paris - 1827
• History of the First Electors of Paris in 1789 - 1828
• Review of Paris - 1833
• Medical Gazette of Paris - 1833
• History of Paris - 1834
• Memoir on the Project of a Railway from Paris to Orléans - 1837
• Regulations on Arts and Crafts in Paris, Written in the 13th Century - 1837
• Physical, Civil, and Moral History of Paris - 1839
• Administrative and Historical Dictionary of the Streets of Paris and Its Monuments - 1844
• The Devil in Paris, Manners and Customs, Characters and Portraits of the Inhabitants of Paris - 1846
• Report on the Progress and Effects of Cholera Morbus in Paris and the Department of Seine
• Almanac of Commerce in Paris (Year VIII-Year XIII, 1806-1808, 1810, 1812, 1817, 1820, 1822-1823, 1825, 1829)
• Indicator of Marriages in Paris from 1862 to 1869
• The Insult in Paris in the 18th Century: An Aspect of Daily Violence - 1989
• The Promised City: Mobility and Welcome in Paris (Late 17th - Early 19th Century) - 2002
• Spirituality and Poverty in Paris in the 17th Century - 2001
• The Twelve Dark Hours: Night in Paris in the 19th Century - 2002
• Painting and Its Public in Paris in the 18th Century - 2002
• The Aristocratic Hotel: The Luxury Market in Paris in the 18th Century - 2002
• The Two Parises: Representations of Paris in the Second Half of the 19th Century - 2004
• The Conquest of the Ground Floor: The Building in Paris in the 18th Century - 2006
• The Orphans of Paris: Children and Assistance from the 16th-18th Centuries - 2010
• The Walker in Paris in the 18th Century - 2010
• The Peasants of Paris from the Mid-15th to Early 17th Century - 2012
• Paris in the Age of Enlightenment: The Commissioners of the Louvre District in the Second Half of the 18th Century - 2014
• The Invention of a Territory of Old Age in Paris in the 19th Century - 2015
• The Secrets of Fake Sorcerers: Police, Magic, and Fraud in Paris in the 18th Century - 2015
• Impossible Everyday? Photographs of Paris in the 19th Century - 2016
• The Financial Place of Paris in the 20th Century: Thwarted Ambitions - 2016
  
  

On Gallica: the books, the press and the manuscripts to learn everything about the department of Paris

🖥️ Genealogy Sites on Paris

Genealogy Circles and Associations in Paris or the Surroundings

• La France généalogique
• Cercle d’Etudes Généalogiques et Héraldiques de l’Ile-de-France
• Association Parisienne de Généalogie Normande

Accounts to Follow on Social Media

On Facebook:

• Archives of Paris
• Genealogy Paris and Former Seine
• Genealogy in Paris
• Genealogy Paris Île-de-France

Good research!

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