These archives detail the daily life of great French stringed-instrument makers from 1816 to 1944.

Successors to renowned luthier Nicolas Lupot, stringed-instrument makers Gand, Bernardel, Caressa and Français played a key role in French musical instrument making history - with quality productions and interventions on prestigious instruments (Amati, Stradivari, Guarneri, etc.).

Their archives - donated to the Museum of Music in 1981 - testify to their activities through accounts registers, letters and notes on instruments that went through their workshops. They hold precious information:

• 1. Instrument descriptions (violins, viols etc.)
• 2. Activities (constructions, repairs, maintenance etc.)
• 3. Networks (clients, suppliers etc.)

This archive collection - comprising extremely fragile documents - was digitized for safe-keeping and accessibility purposes. The project was supported by the Plan de Numérisation du Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (Digitization Plan by the Ministry of Culture and Communication).

The Gand, Bernardel, Caressa and Français collection hold luthier archives spanning accross a century and a half, from 1816 to 1944.

The archive collection hails from the lute-making workshop founded in 1806 by Nicolas Lupot in Paris. It was maintained in activity until the 20th century by his successors: Charles-Adolphe and Eugène Gand, Ernest and Gustave Bernardel, Albert Caressa, Henri and Emile Français and, lastly, Jacques Français who donated these archives to the current Museum of Music in 1981. Additional documents to this collection were donated to the Musée de la Musique in 2018 by Gael Français.

Documents in this collection - mainly instrument repairs and sales registers - hold little information on Nicolas Lupot but detail his successors’ work. They shed light on this major workshop’s activity during the 19th century and early 20th century. They recount the Musée instrumental du Conservatoire (today’s Museum of Music) collection background, repair techniques and sales of instruments made by Amati, Stradivari etc.

Digitization and uploading were carried out jointly by the Cité de la Musique-Philharmonie de Paris Museum and Multimedia Library. The Plan de Numérisation du Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (Digitization Plan by the Ministry of Culture and Communication) financially supported the digitization of these archives.

The archives collection was divided into three parts : accounts, instrument registers and correspondence.

Account archives represent most of the collection and provide extremely detailed activity information. They contain three document types:

• 1. Directories and general ledgers working in pairs and covering years 1816 to 1923 - nearly without interruption.
• 2. Journals of which only four reached us (1852-1854, 1920-1926, 1920-1944, 1931-1938).

Instrument registers comprise four documents: a sales register, an inventory register, an owner directory and a directory detailing remarkable instruments to have visited the workshop between 1903 and 1914. These offer a remarkable take on instruments in circulation back then.

Letters date exclusively from the 19th century. They testify to relationships between the workshop and its clients. Two private documents have also been included: a school report and a letter about an apartment rental.

The additional collection donated in 2018 by Gael Français includes a set of documents relating to the founder of the workshop, Nicolat Lupot

Many Museum of Music instruments are mentioned in the Gand, Bernardel, Caressa and Français collection archives.

Workshops Gand, Bernardel, Caressa and Français worked for the Conservatoire and the Instrumental Museum - from which Museum of Music collections hail. Archives describe their interventions and expert assessments on behalf of these institutions.

The Orpharion: rare 16th century instrument, rediscovered and restored in the 19th century.

The Orpharion (n° inv. E.978) dates from the late 16th or early 17th century. Bought around 1874 by antiques amateur and guitarist Charles Davillier, then subsequently transformed into a guitar. Donated to the museum in 1883, it was restored by the Gand and Bernardel workshop to recover an appearance deemed accurate back then: sculpted lion’s head, slanted bridge... These transformations are mentioned in registers at the Museum, and in invoices addressed to the Conservatoire (today kept in the National Archives).

A Stradivari Violin: Provigny Examination

In the museum since 1909, Antonio Stradivari’s 1716 violin (n° inv. E.1730) is called “The Provigny”, named after its donor. In the early 20th century, the instrument was meticulously examined by Emile Français (seemingly). Notes written by him help us trace the instrument’s background and restorations. For example we learn the violin already had a "pièce d'âme" (repair done inside the instrument’s body) when it joined the collection.