French prefects and prefects since 1800

The career records of closed officials of the Ministry of the Interior are archived and kept by the National Archives. Since the 1980s, prefect files have been the subject of numerous scientific studies and publications, starting with the biographical dictionaries of the prefects in two volumes (1800-1870 and 1870-1982) published by the National Archives under the direction of René Bargeton. A third volume devoted to prefects since 1982 was published in 2022, an inventory that will be enriched as the prefects’ career files are paid out.

These dematerialised inventories and published online have since 2018 been the subject of a vast work of alignment and mutual enrichment with Wikidata, thus making it possible to develop this dataset relating to French prefects and prefects since 1800.

This dataset of more than 3,800 individuals includes the following information:

• Name;
• First name;
• Sex;
• Link to the biographical record on the National Archives’ documentary portal;
• Wikidata entity link;
• Position in department (if applicable);
• Position in department with years of exercise (if applicable): as far as possible, the dates of installation and not of appointment were selected;
• Year of birth (excluding data subject to GDPR);
• Year of death.

This list includes all persons who have been prefects of a department from 1800 to 2020, individuals who have been appointed prefects (non-executive, missionary, delegated prefect) until the 1990s. Note that it is possible, especially during the Second World War, that there is simultaneously a regional prefect and a delegate prefect.

This list is expected to be updated annually, as career files are paid to the National Archives (usually 6 years after their closure by the Ministry of the Interior).

For more information:

• ticket “Préfets 3.0: from printed biographical dictionary to structured online data” (Hardbook Assumptions of the National Archives).
• Wikidata credentials: Prefects 1800-1870; Prefects 1870-1982; Prefects since 1982.

Update 22/05/2023: addition of data for 26 prefects and prefects (archive payment 2023022)

Update 06/09/2023: addition of 5 missing individuals and death dates in 2022 and 2023

_Update 06/11/2023: addition of 5 individuals
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