Archives
The museum’s archive fonds, consisting of historical and contemporary documents, both scientific and administrative.
Browse field selections: these categories suggested by the museum represent an important part of the collections, without being exhaustive.
Private Fonds
Private fonds bring together archives produced or received by individuals or legal entities governed by private law, and have been, in most cases, donated to the museum along with collection items. These archives contain documents (collection notebooks, inventory lists, notes, drawings, photographs, etc.) that accompany and document the items.
Contemporary Public fonds
The contemporary public fonds bring together all documents produced and received in connection with the activities of the Musée des Confluences (December 2014 to present).
Historical Public Fonds
Historical public fonds contain all documents produced and received in the course of the activities of institutions prior to the creation of the Musée des Confluences in December 2014: the Guimet Museum in Lyon (1879–1968), the Colonial Museum in Lyon (1927–1968), the Natural History Museum in Lyon (municipal museum, 1772–1991), and the Natural History Museum in Lyon (departmental museum, 1991–2014).
Isolated Photographs
Starting in 2023, research into the provenance and documentation of old photographs was initiated in order to reconstruct the fonds. We were unable to establish the source of a set of old photographs. These photographs were grouped into coherent sets (by photographer or, if unidentified, by theme or geographical location) and classified in the P series.