The Fondation Napoléon is a foundation, registered as a French non-profit organisation on 12 November 1987. Its mission is to encourage and support study and interest in the history of the First and Second French Empires, and to support the preservation of Napoleonic heritage.
Mission and activities
The Fondation Napoléon supports research on the history of the two French Empires, most notably by awarding annually six research grants for French-language and non-French-language PhD candidates. It also awards annual History Prizes for works of excellence whose subject is closely related to the two French Empires. The Fondation also supports the organisation of academic conferences, Napoleonic bicentenary and sesqui-centenary commemorations, Napoleonic book publication and Napoleonic exhibition catalogues.
Publication of the ''General Correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte''
In 2002, the Fondation launched its grand project to publish the most complete version ever of the General Correspondence of Napoleon I. This project is in partnership with the French Archives nationales, the French Archives du Ministère des Affaires étrangères, and with the support of the Fondation La Poste. The end result will be the publication of fourteen volumes and more than 40,000 letters, all with commentary and checked as much as possible against originals in public and private collections. Volume 8, containing letters for the year 1808 and the war in Spain, was published in November 2011 by Editions Fayard.
The Fondation Napoléon's library, the Bibliothèque Martial-Lapeyre / Fondation Napoléon, open to the general public.
Websites
napoleon.org, provides the general public with accurate details on the history of the First and Second Empires and a Magazine. This site is entirely bi-lingual and updated daily. The Bibliothèque Martial-Lapeyre library catalogue can be accessed from this site. A weekly news bulletin keeps readers up to date.
napoleonica.org, founded in 1999, hosts digitised archival documents related to the history of France's First Empire: Archives of the French Conseil d'État, Correspondence of Vivant Denon, documents related to the Proclamation of the First Empire, etc.
E-review
Napoleonica La Revue is a bi-lingual international peer-review periodical of articles on the two Napoleonic empires. It is hosted by Cairn.info
Art and historical memorabilia collection
The Fondation Napoléon organises exhibitions of its collection of fine art and historical memorabilia, etc., São Paulo, Brazil, Monterrey Mexico, Minden and loans items from the collection to prestigious exhibition worldwide. For details, see the Press packs.
