THE ROYAL COLLECTIONS FROM NORTH AMERICA

About CRoyAN

The Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac preserves a unique collection of objects from the present-day territories of Canada and the United States, collected between 1650 and 1850. These items, first integrated into the royal and then the national collections, attest to the cultural and diplomatic exchanges between Native Nations and Europeans.

The multi-disciplinary and collaborative CRoyAN Project – The Royal Collections from North America – was initiated to gain a deeper knowledge of these collections. It combines historical research, scientific analysis and collaboration with Native American communities to better understand and preserve this heritage.

The CRoyAN Project : Royal Collections from North America - Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac

The French Royal Collections

The Royal Collections (2)

The French Revolution destroyed this system linking cabinets de curiosités and arts and science collections to the Crown, the aristocracy, and the clergy. The collections were seized, nationalized and, for those considered to be items of value as national heritage, sent to new conservation institutions.

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The Royal Collections (1)

The first French contacts with Native populations in North America date back to the sixteenth century, when whalers, mariners and merchants made periodic forays into these territories by sea or overland, from Newfoundland in today’s Canada, to the Mississippi Delta in today’s Gulf of Mexico. Some rare accounts and descriptions of the barter and trade between these indirect agents of the French Crown and a variety of Native inhabitants have come down to us.

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The Royal Collections (3)

The Royal North American Collections of the musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac comprise more than 230 objects from today's Canada and the United States, collected between 1650 and 1850, and incorporated into royal, and later national, French collections.

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Discover

Resources and archives for the "An Inquisitive Prince"

In collaboration with the Versailles Municipal Library and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, this…

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Resources and archives for the Wampum exhibition in Ganondagan (2023)

This exhibition draws attention to the remarkable objects in the collections, and the collaboration…

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Resources and archives for the “Wampum” exhibition in Paris (2022)

Go behind the scenes of the 2022 display organized at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac,…

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Resources and archives for the “Wampum” exhibition in Montreal (2023-2024)

This collaborative exhibition with the Musée du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac explores the political…

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Exhibition "Wampum: Beads of Diplomacy" in the McCord Stewart Museum, Montréal

L’exposition « Wampum, Perles de Diplomatie » au Musée McCord Stewart révèle la richesse des…

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The Seneca language today

Jamie Jacobs, a specialist in the Seneca language and culture, will present the history of its…

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Events

EXHIBITION

1725. Native American allies at the court of Louis XV

Castle of Versailles
November 25, 2025 - May 4, 2026

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