19/08/2011 Afternoon
An excellent day. The Central Library is actually not open to the public on Fridays so I was taking a chance by trying to get my documentation/registration done today. I tested out the transport; i.e., walking to a Stade (Stop) some distance away from the Cite' then catching a Number 67 Bus, and finally walking a short distance to the Library. The "Stops" were well marked and agreed basically with my hand-drawn map(s) so the trip was relatively painless. I got to the Library a little ahead of the 1400 opening, introduced myself and asked for Alice Lemaire. I am not sure but she may have been called in specially, but they definitely were not expecting me.
Photo Central Library of the National Natural History Museum, Paris
I introduced myself, made my apologies for being two days late, and presented my ID, paperwork etc. Alice explained that I could not use the archive on a Friday but we could take care of the ID Card that I would need to gain access. I had my documents and photographs so we had completed the process in record time. I was back on the street about 1.5 hours later. We made arrangements for me to come back on next Monday at 1400 to start on the Lesueur research.
I did a retrace of my trip out to the Library, again relatively painless, and was back at the Cite' in time to buy a chocolate pastry. Much relieved, and a bit more relaxed, the first phase of the most important task of the Paris visit had gone well.
Just a note: the Central Library is separate to the Museum proper, which is at at another address nearby. The Library is in an industrial/commercial looking building but it does have a wrought-iron spiked front fence as security (see Photos above). I had visited the Museum as a PhD student (many years ago) so was a bit confused by the different address. This was the same situation in Greenwich at the NMM, where there archive store was in an industrial complex nearby the more "heritage looking" Library proper.
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