The material for the study came primarily from the F 17 series of the National Archives, where the documents of public education are dispersed through a number of liasses. and in the T series of the archives of the Maine-et-Loire, the Mayenne, and to a lesser extent of the Sarthe. Forays into the departmental archives of the Morbihari, Ille-et-Vilaine, Seine-Atlantique, the Nord and Cher were of great help as well. In the National Archives, the chief type of document was the correspondence of the recteur of Angers with Paris, either in the form of single reports or pacquets that contained the letters and petitions of principals, professors and local notables. This correspondence was scattered through boxes seemingly unrelated to the Academy as well as through the liasses of the municipal schools. The research was by no means limited to this one jurisdiction; much work was done on the correspondence of other academies in the attempt to make a comparative analysis. The departmental archives of the Maine-et-Loire contained the papers of the old rectorate and were indispensable in providing details on the more human side of life in the Academy. Those of the Mayenne and the Sarthe offered less information.