The Documentation Centre

The Documentation Centre. Photo: Jean-Marie Mangeot.

The Documentation Centre. Photo: Jean-Marie Mangeot.

The Verdun Memorial Museum’s Documentation Centre was opened in 1974 thanks to the generosity of two retired army officers. Since then it has been considerably expanded, through donations, purchases and literature monitoring. Its aim is to perpetuate the truth about the Battle of Verdun (and the truth about the Great War) based on eyewitness accounts from ex-servicemen. It also contains information on the latest advances in the corresponding historic research.

The Verdun Memorial Museum’s Documentation Centre has now a large reading room on the top floor.

The documents are designed to appeal to a wide cross-section of the public i.e. historians seeking more in-depth information on certain aspects of the battle, people researching the history of their ancestors during the First World War, teachers designing teaching aids or First World War enthusiasts.

You can now consult the documentary archive via the e-sidoc portal of the Canopé network of the Poitiers educational district at the following address: www.documentation.memorial-verdun.fr.

The Documentation Centre is open to all. The reading room has two fully-equipped work areas enabling the use of personal laptops. None of the documents can be taken out on loan but photocopying is permitted.

Admission is mainly by appointment (phone, letter or email). Replies are sent out within one to two weeks when at all possible.