The Departmental Archives of Ardennes (FR: Archives départementales des Ardennes) is the official archive for Department 08 in France.

France divides the country into numbered administrative regions, called departments. Department 08 is named after the Ardennes Forest. This site is free to search.

 
[su_heading size=”18″]Online Digital Collections[/su_heading]
 
Birth, Marriage, and Death Records

• Church records and Civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths, 1555-1918 or unknown, varies by commune (Revin since 1555, Mézières since 1585)
• Decennial Tables, 1792-1892, varies by commune, 10-year lists/indexes of all births, marriages, and deaths in alphabetical order by surname
• Tables of successions and absences, list of deceased persons and their spouses and heirs, 1700s-1958

 
Residence Records

• Cadastral maps & plans, “Cadastral documents are tax documents composed of plans and matrices. Only plans are available online. The establishment of so-called Napoleonic cadastral plans was ordered in 1807 during the reign of Napoleon I.” – Department 7  Archives

“The cadastral plans kept in the Ardennes Departmental Archives have been digitized under the National Digitization Program of the Ministry of Culture and Communication – Mission of Research and Technology. Are at your disposal:

– 1,082 plans from the year XII to 1830, digitized in 2008;

-4,828 plans from 1830 to 1850, digitized in 2005-2006″.

 
Daily Life Records

• Directories of Notaries – Government & Legal Records, unknown “The directories of notaries are alphabetical or chronological tables. The first source to use to access notarial deeds, the directories give you at least access to the names and surnames of the parties, the nature of the acts (sale, sharing, will, marriage contract …) and the dates of the acts.”
• Newspapers, historic papers online include:

– The Little Ardennes (1880-1909)

– The Ardennes life illustrated “Fun with pencil and pen”

• Postcards, “The Departmental Archives have constituted by successive acquisitions a collection of 11000 old postcards. Sometimes media communication, advertising or propaganda, this mass media reflects the daily life of the Ardennes at the beginning of the last century. The postcard is a valuable source for the study of toponymy, urban planning and landscape evolution.”
• Posters, “Broadcasted in the public space, the posters are addressed to a large number of individuals. Present in everyday life, they are particularly revealing of the spirit of the times and the concerns of his contemporaries. Advertising, propaganda and legal information attest to the variety of messages conveyed by this mass media. The evolution of printing techniques modernizes the aesthetics of these documents, sometimes close to the artwork.”

 
Military

• Military registers, 1867-1921, Looking for the military registration for an ancestor? Add 20 years to the year of birth and you will have the appropriate class year.

The Departmental Archives of Ardennes is part of the Grand Est Region of France.
 
[su_heading size=”18″]Departments in the Grand Est Region[/su_heading]

• Department 08 – The Departmental Archives of Ardennes
• Department 10 – The Departmental Archives of Aube
• Department 67 – Department Bas-Rhin
• Department 51 – Department Marne
• Department 52 – Department Haute-Marne
• Department 68 – Department Haut-Rhin
• Department 54 – Department Meurthe-et-Moselle
• Department 55 – Department Meuse
• Department 57 – Department Moselle
• Department 88 – The Departmental Archives of the Vosges

[su_heading size=”18″]Towns in Ardennes[/su_heading]
 
[su_heading size=”18″]Hours of Operation and Cost[/su_heading]
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Tuesday: 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Cost: Free