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.

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

The French Royal Collections

Collection Nov 26, 2024

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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Collection Feb 13, 2021

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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Collection Feb 11, 2021

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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