The Master’s Degree in Archives (Digital Technologies Applied to History) offered by École nationale des chartes - PSL is built around the scientific challenges of using digital technologies to process sources (objects, text, images) in service of history and heritage.
This Master’s program is intended for students who wish to learn the methods for analyzing historical and literary sources, as well as the digital technologies they will need for their research.
This master's program is part of PSL Translitterae graduate program.
Year one of the Master’s program
The first year of the Master’s degree provides a common core of general education on sources, including core courses and three specialized tracks (Archives; Art History; Books and Media).
The two semesters draw on courses from the paleography archivist program, which provides the experience and pedagogical coordination to ensure a cohesive program.
Approval by the faculty committee is required for students to continue into the second year of the Master’s degree.
Year two of the Master’s program
In the second year, students begin learning information and communication technologies as a bridge with History Master’s programs, for students in those programs who do not wish to sit the competitive exams to become teachers but wish to broaden their education.
Coursework, which includes lectures, visits, and meetings alongside many hours of tutorials, covers:
digital documents and techniques for digitization
reporting and describing collections
some foundations of programming
electronic publication techniques
techniques for structuring documents and data
challenges and strategies related to digital documents
a broad overview of existing e-resources
perpetuation of digital information
designing and creating a document application for the web
conducting projects to digitize primary source
S4 is devoted to developing a project, namely:
For the research track, a written thesis in history, art history, or literature, that involves digital processing; could potentially be replaced by developing software applied to research
For the professional track, a digital project (XML template, digital corpus using XML, database, electronic source publishing, dynamic web application, virtual exhibit, specifications, software study or prototype, etc.) related to heritage objects or collections and conducted on behalf of an institution for the conservation of heritage, a research team in the humanities and social sciences, or a private company as part of a long internship in France or abroad
Technical workshops may be held to expand upon the practical work given in Semester 3, depending on the students’ internships and thesis topics.
The Master’s Degree in Archives has two objectives:
offer methodological training to those wishing to pursue doctoral studies, with a heavy emphasis on using digital technologies to develop their research
give young historians an opportunity to find a job in the public or private sector, within entities or for projects that use digital technologies to process or make use of primary documents
View the career outcomes for previous graduating classes from the Master’s degree