Don't tell him that the archives are “an old thing that deals with old stuff.” “There is nothing that horrifies me more. In the archives, we are not outside of time. It’s a job that changes every day. We are as competent on medieval parchments as on the Internet,” defends Maïté Etchechoury, 62, director of the Departmental Archives of Dordogne since 1998.
Sound library
At the end of November, the state civil servant will give way to Henri Pinoteau, her successor, deputy director of the Departmental Archives of Loiret, whose arrival is not scheduled until March 2025. To celebrate his imminent retirement, she invited, on Tuesday November 26, those who, many, accompanied her from near or far during her long years at the helm of the departmental institution or those who, even more numerous, benefited from her insights and the services of her team. Archivist paleographer, graduate of the National School of Chartes, Maïté Etchechoury began her career at the Naval Archives, then at the reception and research center of the National Archives. It was to join her husband that she arrived in Dordogne. It was twenty-six years ago.
She immediately joined the Departmental Archives, whose mission is the collection of documents (administrative payments, donations, deposits), their sorting, their classification, their conservation, but also their communication. And, uniquely, they have had a sound library since 1986. “I continued the work of my predecessor by also leading a cultural policy around exhibitions and magazines like “Mémoires de la Dordogne”, adds the director. .
What achievements is she most proud of? Having, with his team, accompanied the opening of the first archives website, in 2006, and having experienced this year the first release of electronic archives (natively digital documents) on the Dordogne archiving platform. “In 2000, we sometimes had 40 people in the reading room, and many others waiting in the corridor. Today, if we have 15, we are happy,” smiles the archivist. The site attracts 400,000 visitors per year, for more than 4 million views.
“I’m not going to cut ties,” she promises. Maïté Etchechoury plans to return to her research projects on the Ancien Régime, her favorite historical period. And why not devote time to articles, conferences and personal hobbies like music.
