Documentation and Archives
An open-access documentation collection that has been constantly expanding for 80 years
From the very beginning, ICOM has made it its mission to provide all museum professionals with the services of an international reference centre for museological documentation, bringing together resources of various kinds and origins on all topics of interest to the museum community, thanks to contributions from its members. Long housed on UNESCO’s premises and reserved for visitors passing through Paris, the Centre has evolved in step with the digital revolution.
Since 2021, it has taken the form of a digital platform accessible to all, featuring a growing proportion of documents that can be consulted directly online: the Online Library
ICOM’s archives now accessible online to all members
A living testament to the rich history and activities of ICOM and its network of committees, alliances and partners, ICOM’s archives have long remained a little-known treasure.
The creation in 2021 of two complementary databases – one dedicated to unpublished documents, the Archives database, and the other to multimedia materials, the Images database (currently comprising mainly posters and photographs), combined with a phased digitisation programme, now enables all ICOM members wherever they are in the world, to have direct access to this shared heritage via their members’ area on the ICOM website.
Key steps in the history of ICOM’s documentation and archives
1948: Yvonne Oddon, librarian at the Musée de l’Homme, founded the UNESCO-ICOM Centre for Museum Documentation
1981: ICOM’s first computerised bibliographic database was launched. Shared with ICOMOS until 1999, it was hosted by UNESCO. In 1989, the 27,400 index cards that made up the previous manual bibliographic catalogue were converted into electronic records and incorporated into the database.
1990: ICOM placed its entire collection of museum exhibition catalogues on deposit with the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (ENSBA).
1995: ICOM placed a large part of its documentary collection—comprising books, reports, museology journals, museum catalogues and documentary files—on deposit with the Direction des Musées de France.
→ In the Online Library, the records for the relevant documents bear the notation ‘Location: CDVD (Dépôt ICOM)’
2010: The redesign of the ICOM website provided an opportunity to create, under the ‘Resources’ section, a Publications Database which allowed users to consult bibliographic records for a selection of books, journals, articles and various documents published by ICOM and its network. The two databases are not interconnected.
2015: The historical archives held by the General Secretariat were, for the first time, sorted, classified (covering the period 1946–2007) and catalogued.
2020: An initial batch of archives was entrusted to a service provider specialising in the digitisation of cultural heritage. This included, in particular, the collection of posters, the proceedings of General Conferences and activity reports.
2021: A new documentary platform is created to provide online access to all of ICOM’s documentary resources: publications by ICOM and its network, the library’s collections and external digital resources via the Online Library on the one hand, and the archive holdings on the other.
2021: a second batch of archives is sent for digitisation, comprising, in particular, the entire photographic collection (prints, slides and negatives)
2022: the documentary collection of the Service des Musées de France, of which the ICOM collection deposited in 1995 forms a significant part, is transferred to the Dominique-Vivant Denon Centre for Studies and Documentation (CDVD) at the Louvre Museum.
2023: a third batch of archives undergoes high-quality digitisation. It includes, in particular, the work of the committees dedicated to conservation between 1948 and 1967 and the newsletters of various international committees
2025: ENSBA terminates the 1990 deposit agreement and returns its entire collection of museum exhibition catalogues to ICOM. The collection is transferred to a secure location in the Paris region and is not available for consultation.
On-site consultation
ICOM members, researchers and students are welcome to consult ICOM’s original archives, by appointment only.
The ICOM collection held at the Centre Dominique-Vivant Denon
The library of the Centre Dominique-Vivant Denon, located on the 2nd floor of the Porte des Arts at the Louvre Museum, is usually open to the public by appointment on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 1 pm to 5 pm.
It is currently closed until further notice.
Contact: crehl@louvre.fr
The documents available for consultation at the CDVD are listed in the Online Library as well as in the Collective Catalogue of the National Museums’ Libraries