SNCF is governed by a Board of Directors and a General Management. The Board of Directors holds the widest powers. During the Second World War, it comprised twenty members: ten representatives of the public authorities, five members appointed by the boards of the former companies, and five staff representatives put forward by the trade union organisations.

Contents

Among the archives useful for the study of the Second World War, we may cite:

• The Board of Directors’ corporate files (final minutes, meeting notes, working documents distributed, final agendas and provisional agendas with their amendments)
• The corporate files of SNCF’s Management Committee up to October 1940, when it was abolished (draft and final agendas, lists of those present and absent, working documents distributed, shorthand records of discussions, draft minutes and final texts)
• The corporate files of SNCF shareholders’ General Meetings and Special Meetings (meeting notices, convening letters, reports from the Board of Directors to the Meeting, reports from the Accounts Committee, attendance sheets, seating plans, meeting notes, draft minutes and final minutes)
• The company’s annual activity reports
• The correspondence of the Secretariat of the Board of Directors for the 1939-1945 period (that exchanged between the Ministry of Public Works and the Chairman of the Board of Directors, and that addressed to members of the Board of Directors and the Management Committee), along with the accompanying thematic index.
• The documentary files compiled by the Secretariat of the Board of Directors to inform members of the Board of Directors and the Management Committee (extracts from the minutes of the Board of Directors or the Management Committee, regulatory texts and correspondence, notably between SNCF and the Ministry of Public Works).

List of record series

To view their contents online, enter these numbers in the search bar of the website of SNCF’s Service Archives Documentation:

• 0041LM: 91 files
• 0043LM: 314 files
• 0044LM: 54 files
• 0045LM: 257 files
• 0505LM: 2751 files
• 0619LM: 11 files