HISTORY 137 



in convenient proximity to the Sorbonne; the ficole 

 Coloniale; the ficole d'Anthropologie; the ficole du 

 Louvre; the Institut Catholique de Paris; the ficole 

 Pratique des Hautes fitudes; the ficole des Chartes; 

 and the ficole Libre des Sciences Politiques. For the 

 majority of students the three last-named are the most 

 important. 



The historical sections of the ficole des Hautes fitudes, 

 now housed in the buildings of the Sorbonne, offer 

 advanced instruction in the form of a wide variety of 

 seminary and special courses. The work is open to all, 

 without distinction of age, degree, or nationality, who 

 are willing to take active part in the exercises and can 

 satisfy the instructor of their competence. Beyond this 

 there are no conditions as to admission and no restric- 

 tions on the number and choice of courses. There is 

 no fixed curriculum; those who have been in attend- 

 ance three years and present a satisfactory thesis receive 

 a diploma but no degree. The high quality of the theses 

 is seen in the imposing "Bibliotheque de 1'ficole des 

 Hautes fitudes," a series of historical and philological 

 monographs which comprises more than two hundred 

 volumes. 



The ficole des Chartes is a special school for the train- 

 ing of archivists and librarians for the public service. 

 It embraces the whole period of French history down 

 to 1789, with special emphasis upon the Middle Ages. 

 It offers instruction in palaeography, diplomatics, 

 archaeology, Romance philology, history of French 

 law and institutions, sources of French history, and 

 organization of libraries and archives. The curriculum 

 covers three years, and the number of regular pupils 

 is limited, but qualified outsiders are admitted to the 

 courses. The school has a long and honorable tradition 

 in the history of French scholarship and has served as a 



