Dépôt de la Guerre

Established by François Michel Le Tellier de Louvois, it was put in charge of gathering, conserving, engraving and publishing historical archives, military memoirs, maps and plans and all topographic activity.

In the 18th century lieutenant-general Vault played a notable part in the Dépôt's work.

However, the staff provided for it were insufficient for its initial ambitions - a large part of its personnel shifted to the Bureau des longitudes and the Service hydrologique de la Marine.

[3] Under the First French Empire it was headed by Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke from December 1799 to September 1800, Antoine François Andréossy from August 1802 to May 1803, Nicolas Antoine Sanson from June 1803 to June 1805.

In 1887, it was split into two separate organisations: The Dépôt's archives can be consulted at the SHD site at the Château de Vincennes.

Map of the Camp de la Valbonne , in Ain , made in 1873 by the Dépôt de la Guerre.
Map of 1866, scale 1/40,000, Haute-Savoie department, near Chamonix, in very high resolution