Supported projects

Paul Benoit (1936–2024) was a professor of the history of technology at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University until 2005. An historian, he embodied the rise of an interdisciplinary approach from the 1970s to the 2000s in his intellectual journey, influencing several generations of researchers. Studying medieval people as producers of objects intended for circulation and distribution for individual or collective use led him to practise archaeology assiduously and engage in close dialogue with the natural, exact and experimental sciences, including geology, environmental science, metallurgy and mathematics. This original approach has transformed our understanding of medieval techniques. The archives produced during his teaching and research career demonstrate the variety of subjects he covered and reveal the history of interdisciplinarity and the numerous collaborations with other researchers that it inspired through research seminars, conferences and collaborative projects. Consisting of his handwritten notes and thematic documentation, these exceptional archives include draft articles, manuscript and symposium preparations, maps and plans, excavation reports, slides, photographs, VHS tapes and digital media. Alongside processing documentation stored on various media, the internship involves classifying and promoting a hybrid heritage collection in terms of the disciplines and themes covered, as well as the artefacts present.