Myriem Foncin
Myriem Foncin, born in Paris on 2 May 1893 and died in Toulon on 5 January 1976, was a French geographer and librarian.
Biography
Foncin was a graduate in history and geography during the First World War and as such a pioneer of women's involvement in French academic geography, the first in particular to publish in the Annales de Géographie. She was subsequently honorary chief curator of the Department of Maps and Plans at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. She spent her entire career at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), including 26 years as head of the Department of Maps and Plans. She is the second daughter of the French geographer Pierre Foncin (1841-1916).
Female manager
Foncin joined the Maps and Plans section of the BnF Printed Materials Department in June 1920 on the recommendation of her father's friend and eminent historian of cartography, Lucien Gallois. She quickly made her mark by revitalizing the modern collections in the face of her colleague Charles Du Bus, who was more interested in art history and ancient cartography. From 1926 to 1938, there was a long period of vacancy for the position of head of the Maps and Plans section. After the departure of Albert Isnard, the administrators and successive directors could not bring themselves to appoint Charles Du Bus, an eccentric and even dandy librarian, or Myriem Foncin, a young associate and holder of the technical diploma of librarian, but above all a woman, nor could they create a third executive position. Very quickly, at the end of the 1920s and 1930s, she became the "must" and became an interim management.
Finally, in 1939, having given enough proof, having reached an age considered respectable, she was given the position of section chief. In 1942, she was appointed director of the Department of Maps and Plans, and remained in charge until 16 March 1963. She set up a network of libraries and archives, and was responsible for the management of the department. She set up a network of female librarians in institutions with a geographic or cartographic dimension.
From 1946 to 1954, she worked with the chief architect Michel Roux-Spitz on the project to renovate and expand the space in the Hôtel Tubeuf dedicated to cartographic collections. She collaborated with architects to design layouts adapted to the Department of Maps and Plans, and these innovations were closely followed by French and foreign professionals7. The Department of Maps and Plans reopened in its new location in the Richelieu complex in June 1954, after its collections had been divided between the Institut de Géographie and the Salle Mortreuil of the BnF since 1938.
Woman of learning
She devoted her first works to Provence and started a thesis on the development of the Parisian agglomeration during the last centuries, under the direction of Albert Demangeon, a thesis that she did not complete. A geographer, bibliographer, librarian, and historian of cartography, from the 1930s onwards she directed her writings towards the publication of bibliographies, then towards the publication of rules for cataloguing and conserving cartographic documents (1951)9 , and finally towards short articles on heritage acquisitions. With Marcel Destombes and Monique de La Roncière, she wrote the very useful Catalogue des cartes marines sur vélin conservées au département des Cartes et plans (1963)10.
Her knowledge of biblio-economic matters enabled her to hold important positions within the International Geographical Union; knowledge acquired through the drafting and publication of new rules for cataloguing cartographic collections accepted according to international standards.
Committed woman
At the same time, she was an activist for popular education and reading11 . In 1923 she founded the women's branch of the "Social Teams" founded in 1920 by Robert Garric, where she led study and reading circles. From 1938 onwards, she was active in the Association of French Librarians, where she organized basic training for those in charge of leisure libraries. In 1940 and 1941, she led training courses for those in charge of libraries created for refugees and in youth centers. In 1938, Myriem Foncin formed an informal group of popular educators, publishers and professional librarians, who worked together on criteria for the selection of books for mass libraries12. Involved with scientists and users of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, but also with library professionals, she nevertheless kept time for public reading throughout her career.
Mandates
President of the Association des bibliothécaires français twice, from 1945 to 1947 and from 1958 to 1961. Member emeritus of the Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques, sciences géographiques et environnement of which she was the secretary of the geography section in 1956.
Legacy
Myriem Foncin was the first woman librarian in the Maps and Plans section (1920), the first to direct a collections department at the BnF (1942), the first to preside over a professional association, ABF (1945 and 1958), and the first geographer to receive these distinctions. Among these: she participated in a three-month stay in the United States, invited by the Department of State (1952); she was laureate of the Royal Geographical Society by receiving the Gill Prize (1961)13.