Period photos, press clippings, advertising posters, oral testimonies… The Pas-de-Calais archives are launching a collection of documents and objects relating to popular balls, from 1920 to the present day, with a view to a traveling exhibition in March 2026. To your memories!
The essentials of the day: our exclusive selection
Every day, our editorial team reserves the best regional news for you. A selection just for you, to stay in touch with your regions.
France Télévisions uses your email address to send you the newsletter “Today’s essentials: our exclusive selection”. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Our privacy policy
It's a time that those under 20 cannot experience, or very little. That of popular balls, waltzes to the sound of accordions and other bells and whistles. A tradition which had its golden age in the 20th century, but which is tending to disappear to make way for new ways of celebrating.
This is why the Pas-de-Calais departmental archives decided to bring together the memory of this French passion. A collection of objects and documents has been launched for residents who hold all kinds of traces of this era, from 1920 to the present day. A project carried out in partnership with students of the master's degree in expography and museography at the University of Artois in Arras.
Popular balls have long enlivened the region's festivities. “For example, in the mining area there were a lot of Polish balls, between the two wars and after the Second World War,” explains Marina Hermant, cultural action manager at the departmental archives.
© PHILIPPON JOEL / MAXPPP
Here are some examples of sources that may be of interest to departmental archives: photographs, posters, programs, scores, letters and correspondence, stories (oral, written), films, advertisements, presentation brochures, press clippings, objects (token, musical instruments, decorations), testimonies from musicians, dancers, organizers… “We're coming from nowhere, announces the project manager. There were a lot of people involved, but we have little memory of it.”
The documents or souvenirs collected, through original donations or digitization, will be the subject of a traveling exhibition in March 2026. The opportunity to delve into the history of the festival from 1920 to the present day, with “a look at new ways of partying and being together”, explain the departmental archives.
Who to contact to share your memories? The Departmental Archives of Pas-de-Calais by telephone at 0321711090 or by email at [email protected].
