Paul Broca Fund

Paul Broca (1824-1880), a physician, surgeon, neurologist and anatomist passionate about archaeology and ethnography, is the founding father of anthropology (known as "physics") in Europe, a discipline shared between biology and humanities. In 1857, he created the first laboratory for research and teaching in biological anthropology in the world. Then, it joined the EPHE when it was created in 1868, within its IIIrd section (Natural Sciences and Physiology) of which Paul Broca was an active member.

An important documentary collection, remarkable for its richness and diversity, was established by Broca and his successors, collaborators and students. Currently, the corpus of the archives of the Paul Broca Laboratory of Biological Anthropology brings together more than 2000 original documents, including handwritten and printed texts, tables, graphs, drawings, notebooks, correspondence, handwritten notes and photographs, dating from the period 1859-1988. Because of the personality of the founder, Paul Broca, these precious documents are of multiple interest situated at a disciplinary crossroads between many specialties such as neurology, anatomy, anthropology, prehistoric archaeology and ethnography, among others. They retrace part of the history of these disciplines and bear witness to the birth of biological anthropology in France, the life of the EPHE and the IIIrd section since their creation.