Joseph Girard (French pronunciation: [ʒozɛf ʒiʁaʁ]; 11 February 1881 – 26 May 1962) was a French historian, librarian and museum curator.

He was born and died in Avignon, where an avenue is named after him.

He gained a licence to practice law before studying at the École Nationale des Chartes, where in 1903 he gained a diploma as a palaeographer-archivist.

[2] Anticlericalist and republican by nature,[3] he married Marie-Thérèse Fabre de Loye (a fervent Catholic and most eligible young woman in Drôme) in Bouchet.

They had two daughters and three sons, Henri, René, Marthe, Marie and Antoine.