Its students, who are recruited by competitive examination and hold the status of trainee civil servant, receive the qualification of archivist-paleographer after completing a thesis.

[5] The institution was eventually created by the philologist and anthropologist Joseph Marie de Gérando, baron of the Empire and general secretary to Champagny, the Minister of the Interior.

At the end of 1820, Gérando convinced Count Siméon, a philosopher and professor of law who had been state councilor under the Empire and who was at that time Minister of the Interior, of the usefulness of an institution modeled on the grandes écoles, dedicated to the study of "a branch of French literature",[8] the charters.

Firstly this was because the atmosphere of nostalgia for the Middle Ages created a desire to train specialists who would, by carrying out a direct study of archives and manuscripts confiscated during the Revolution, be able to renew French historiography.

Secondly, the need was also felt to maintain this branch of study, which stemmed from Maurist tradition, since the field was endangered by a lack of knowledgeable collaborators in the "science of charters and manuscripts".

And thirdly, during the reign of Louis XVIII, a period which saw the return of the Ultras and during which the constitutional monarchy was called into question, the political context influenced the creation of an institution whose name inevitably made explicit reference to the defense of the Charter.

[9] Under the order of 1821, twelve students were nominated by the Minister of the Interior, based on propositions by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres,[10] and they were paid[11] during the two years of their studies.

[12] The professors and students of the school were placed under the authority of the curator of medieval manuscripts of the Royal Library, rue de Richelieu, and of the general guard of the Archives of the Kingdom.

The Académie did put forward a new list of candidates,[14] and the course length was set at two years[15] by the Order of 16 July 1823, but lessons had to be suspended on 19 December 1823 due to a lack of students.

A career-path for the graduates was thus established in the archives, first implemented by the Order of 31 December 1846, then reinforced by a legislative framework providing them with a means to enforce this law.

This move brought the school geographically closer to the other research and teaching institutions based at the Sorbonne, such as the Faculté de lettres and the École pratique des hautes études.

In fact, throughout the 19th century there was a discontinuity between the high-prestige training offered by the École des Chartes and the lower-prestige, modestly remunerated jobs open to graduates.

At the time of the Dreyfus Affair,[30] for example, the milieu of the École des Chartes mirrored the divisions in French society: "Nowhere were civic quarrels more completely invested in the job of historian.

The École des Chartes may have been perceived as a bastion of the French Action during the interwar period, although several relatively prominent alumni, such as Georges Bataille or Roger Martin du Gard, seem to have been more left-leaning.

The current development of the school is based on solid training in new technologies and their application to the conservation of cultural heritage, and closer, more structured links with French universities and similar institutions in other European countries.

As well as improving the recruitment process and upgrading the training of future archivist-paleographers, the school has introduced specialized Master's programs focusing on digital technologies adapted to the humanities.

It has recently introduced a continuing training service that takes into account the validation des acquis de l'expérience (VAE) (a certification accrediting work experience).

To this end, it has modernized its administration, implemented ambitious communications programs and established a new campus opposite the National Library on rue de Richelieu.

The Paris URFIST (an inter-academic research and training body) and the Committee of Historical and Scientific Work are affiliated with the l'École des Chartes.

Students recruited by competitive examination can assume the status of trainee civil servants, being paid (currently approximately €1250/month net) in exchange for committing to a ten-year engagement.

Foreign students who are recruited by examination or on the basis of qualifications (according to the international selection procedure) are not remunerated while they follow the course, although they can apply for a scholarship.

In 2006 the École des Chartes introduced a Master's program in Digital Technologies Applied to History and has since then trained approximately 20 students per year.

The second, run in partnership with the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel, is in Audiovisual Design: Plurimedial Representations of History, Society and Science.

It aims to "train designers and makers of audiovisual documentaries (for cinema, television, radio and internet) as well as creators and heads of multimedia sites operating in the written press and publishing".

The École des Chartes provides part of the preparation for the competitive examination for heritage curators (archive specialization) for students of the INP's classe préparatoire intégrée.

[42] Partnerships with other institutions form one of the central policies of the current administration, which collaborates closely with the École pratique des hautes études, the Institut de recherche et d'histoire des textes and the Centre d'études superieures de civilisation médiévale of the University of Poitiers to create the École d'Érudition en réseau.

The school also has partnerships with institutions outside France, such as the Russian State Archives, a number of Moscow libraries, the University of Alicante, and some Italian research centers.

This gives scientific works digital functions and brings together repertoires and databases as well as texts, in a format that is more suited than printed versions to detailed examination.

Two more collections, the Études et rencontres (minutes of conventions and brief monographs) and Matériaux pour l'histoire (illustrated large-format albums), have been created more recently.

Some biographers, perhaps overgeneralizing, also use the term chartiste to refer to certain French historians, such as La Villemarqué, Achille Jubinal, Pierre Lalo and Louis Madelin, or foreign historians, such as Alfred Métraux, K. J. Conant or Aleksander Gieysztor, who audited some of the lessons at the École des Chartes, or to Auguste Poulet-Malassis, José-Maria de Heredia and François Mauriac, who were registered as students but who never completed their studies.