Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

Thiers Foundation was created to support talented young researchers. Recognized as a public utility on 1 May 1893, she received a donation from Miss Dosne, the sister-in-law of Adolphe Thiers, who allocated 120,000 francs for her maintenance. Originally attached to the Institut de France, she developed a library dedicated to the work of her residents in 1903. Until 1986, it hosted the latter in a private hotel at the Bugeaud roundabout (present-day Place du Chancellor-Adenauer), in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

The mansion, built in 1892 by the architect Aldroff, was built on land acquired in 1826 by Alexis Dosne, father-in-law of Adolphe Thiers. This land, located on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, once housed the first airfield in Paris, where balloons took off. The building, designed to host a school designed to train talented young people, was given to the foundation by the sister-in-law of Thiers, according to the wishes of Élise Thiers, the president's widow. In 1986, due to its degraded condition, the building was sold by the Institut de France and transformed into a luxury hotel, Saint James Paris.

The foundation continued its activities by hosting its residents at the Cercle de recherches humanistes de l'Institut de France, with financial support from the CNRS until 2017. Since then, no new boarder has been recruited, although the last beneficiaries in 2016 have been able to complete their thesis until 2019. Today, the foundation offers only annual scholarships and awards every two years a prize for the best work of its former residents.

Among the former residents are notable personalities such as Marc Bloch, Michel Foucault, Pierre Nora, and Maurice Duverger. These researchers, drawn from a variety of disciplines, contributed to the institution's intellectual reputation. The building, partially classified as a historical monument since 1980 (facades, roofs, interior staircase), remains an architectural testimony of the 4th quarter of the 19th century, although its original vocation has disappeared.

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