{"id":2985,"date":"2018-04-05T17:05:01","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T15:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icom.site\/?page_id=318"},"modified":"2026-09-07T10:14:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T08:14:23","slug":"icom-documentation-center","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/icom.museum\/en\/research\/icom-documentation-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Documentation and Archives"},"content":{"rendered":"

An open-access documentation collection that has been constantly expanding for 80 years<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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\u2019s premises and reserved for visitors passing through Paris, the Centre has evolved in step with the digital revolution.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

ICOM\u2019s archives now accessible online to all members<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A living testament to the rich history and activities of ICOM and its network of committees, alliances and partners, ICOM\u2019s archives have long remained a little-known treasure.<\/p>\n

The creation in 2021 of two complementary databases \u2013 one dedicated to unpublished documents, the Archives<\/em> database, and the other to multimedia materials, the Images<\/em> 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\u2019 area on the ICOM website.<\/p>\n

Key steps in the history of ICOM\u2019s documentation and archives<\/h3>\n

1948<\/strong>: Yvonne Oddon, librarian at the Mus\u00e9e de l\u2019Homme, founded the UNESCO-ICOM Centre for Museum Documentation<\/p>\n

1981<\/strong>: ICOM\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

1990: <\/strong>ICOM placed its entire collection of museum exhibition catalogues on deposit with the \u00c9cole nationale sup\u00e9rieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (ENSBA).<\/p>\n

1995<\/strong>: ICOM placed a large part of its documentary collection\u2014comprising books, reports, museology journals, museum catalogues and documentary files\u2014on deposit with the Direction des Mus\u00e9es de France.<\/p>\n

\u2192 In the Online Library, the records for the relevant documents bear the notation \u2018Location: CDVD (D\u00e9p\u00f4t ICOM)\u2019<\/p>\n

2010<\/strong>: The redesign of the ICOM website provided an opportunity to create, under the \u2018Resources\u2019 section, a Publications Database<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

2015<\/strong>: The historical archives held by the General Secretariat were, for the first time, sorted, classified (covering the period 1946\u20132007) and catalogued.<\/p>\n

2020:<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

2021: A new documentary platform is created to provide online access to all of ICOM\u2019s documentary resources: publications by ICOM and its network, the library\u2019s collections and external digital resources via the <\/strong>Online Library<\/strong><\/a> on the one hand, and the archive holdings on the other.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2021<\/strong>: a second batch of archives is sent for digitisation, comprising, in particular, the entire photographic collection (prints, slides and negatives)<\/p>\n

2022<\/strong>: the documentary collection of the Service des Mus\u00e9es 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<\/a> (CDVD) at the Louvre Museum.<\/p>\n

2023:<\/strong> 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<\/p>\n

2025<\/strong>: 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.<\/p>\n

On-site consultation<\/strong><\/p>\n

ICOM members, researchers and students are welcome to consult ICOM\u2019s original archives, by appointment only.<\/p>\n

Send an email<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The ICOM collection held at the Centre Dominique-Vivant Denon<\/strong><\/p>\n

The library of the Centre Dominique-Vivant Denon<\/a>, located on the 2nd floor of the Porte des Arts at the Louvre Museum, is usually open to the public <\/strong>by appointment on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 1 pm to 5 pm. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It is currently closed until further notice.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Contact: <\/strong>crehl@louvre.fr<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2019 Libraries<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2982,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"class_list":["post-2985","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDocumentation and Archives - International Council of Museums<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Created in 1948, the ICOM Documentation Centre is managed by the Secretariat and collections held at ICOM headquarters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/icom.museum\/en\/research\/icom-documentation-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Documentation and Archives - 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