The Lyons library and its wartime collection

In 1915, the far-sighted Lyons mayor Edouard Herriot made plans to collect whatever documents could be obtained from both allied and enemy sources relating to the war then underway, setting up a commission to build and manage the collection. Despite the inherent difficulties of the wartime context, the project was so successful that its objectives had to be downsized in terms of cataloguing and making best use of the material collected. The collection was then forgotten in the years after the war and was only rediscovered early in the 21st century. It is now at the heart of a major project that aims to extend the collection by acquiring new material and making use of its holdings for the many cultural events being held to mark the centenary of the war.
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