Arlette Farge

[3] After attending the Lycée Hélène Boucher in Paris, she studied to become a juge des enfants, a magistrate specialised in juvenile law, then changed her focus to take an advanced diploma (DEA) in legal and institutional history.

With no post available, she left France in 1969 to do her thesis at Cornell University where she bore witness to the activism of African-American students during the Civil Rights Movement and American feminists.

On her return to France, she started to prepare her doctorate in modern history on Le vol d'aliment à Paris au XVIIIe siècle (The Theft of Food in Paris in the 18th century), defended in 1974 under the supervision of Robert Mandrou, a pupil of Lucien Febvre, and the pioneer of the history of mentalities.

The Allure of the Archives is a regarded historiographical classic and has been published in 51 editions worldwide since 1981 in seven languages.

It provides a vivid and intimate insight into the lives of the poor in pre-revolutionary France, particularly women, as well as into the world of archival research.