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Origin and history

The municipal library of Châtillon-sur-Seine was created in 1797 on the basis of the archives of the local religious communities abolished in 1790 by the French Revolution. Its foundation, originally composed of 15,500 volumes from the abbeys and convents of the region, was enriched in the 19th century to reach 23,000 works in 2021. It successively occupied various places, including the former Capuchin convent (1790-1797) and the royal audience (1947-2021), before settling in 2022 at the municipal media library, 15 Marmont Street.

The collections of the library are marked by rare manuscripts, notably those related to Marshal Marmont (1774-1852), native of Châtillon-sur-Seine, and documents on local abbeys such as Notre-Dame de Molesme or Saint-Pierre de Flavigny. Among the notable pieces are a cartular of the Flavigny Abbey annotated by Dom Plancher, as well as family papers and archaeological objects, such as a copy of Thierry de Roussillon's epitaph. These resources served as the basis for historical publications, including those of C. Courtois (1935) on Marshal Marmont.

The library has evolved from a consultation place for researchers to a space open to the public in the 1990s, with particular attention to youth. In 1982, a voluntary association, Library for All, was created for the loan of books, before closing in 2020. The curators, often also responsible for the local museum, played a key role in its development, such as Jean-Baptiste Bourée (1819-1852), who brought the collections to 8,792 volumes, or Ignace Chaillier (1852-1867), who received the bequest of Marshal Marmont and founded the Châtillon Museum.

The ancient fonds, partially catalogued and microfilmed by the CNRS, include manuscripts such as the Historica descriptio of Father Hocmelle, annotated by local scholar Nicolas Bourceret. In 2021, the automated cataloguing of the 20,000 works was entrusted to the company AureXus, although no complete digitization projects are planned. The library also maintains private archives, such as the 20,000 pages by Michel Lagrange, left in 2019.

The former royal audience, which housed the library from 1947 to 2021, is a building of the early seventeenth century, originally built for the bailiage and town hall. Ranked a historical monument in 1993, it was transformed into a prison from 1805 to 1926 before welcoming the collections. Its interior decoration, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, and its 18th century wrought iron gate, from the Maison de Charité, make it a remarkable historic place.

Today, the municipal library remains a centre of local knowledge, mixing religious history, archaeology and collective memory. His curators, such as Annick Gueneau (1988-2018) and Sarah Kennel-Thiriot (since 2019), have maintained a tradition of research and exploitation of written heritage, while adapting services to contemporary needs, such as opening up to the young public or preserving digitized funds.

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