French Archives Online

For the past few years France has been digitizing its archives (both civil registers and parish registers) and making them available online from a variety of Departmental links. In most cases, notarial records, land records, and military records are included as part of the project.

Most Departments provide the record images free of charge whereas some ask for payment. Almost every department has completed putting these records online. Some require registering for a password but are still free of charge. Many require clicking a box to accept their conditions of how the research will be used.

Links to most if not all online French records can be found on the France Geneawiki website. There you will find a clickable map for each

The online records contain listings of all the towns and villages that each Department has digitized, making the selection of records by date and location easier to find. The online images are sequential by date, just as we see similar records on rolls of microfilm. Tools on the pages allow zooming in and out, rotating and saving, or printing the original document.

Tips (Astuces) are given at the top of the page or you can return to the main list of digitized documents by clicking on "Retour à l'Inventaire" where you can choose other records to search through.

Here is some of the French vocabulary that will help you navigate these sites. When navigating these sites, you can translate the instructions or explanatory material by using Google Translate. The translation will be awkward, but you should be able to get the gist of it.


 * Archives départementales en ligne: Department archives online
 * Cadastre napoléonien: Land records
 * Etat civil: civil registration of births, marriages,  and deaths.  Frequently, church records are included.
 * Notaires et enregistrement: Notary records, which include, among other things,marriage contracts, wills , purchasing, sales, etc.
 * Recensements: census records, usually for 1911 and/or 1836.
 * Registres matricules: registers of soldiers.
 * Registres paroissiaux e état civil: Parish registers and civil registration.
 * Tables décennales: 10-year-indexes