Interview proceedure followed
Preparation of the interview
First contact with the interviewee : interview framework
Final processing of interviews

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Preparation of the interview
Meeting with the interviewee
The interview campaign starts at the beginning of September and finishes at the end of July of the following year. At the beginning of each campaign a letter signed by the president of the Association is sent to the interviewees selected. It outlines the programme of oral archives, indicates the reasons why the personal account would be of interest and evokes the conditions of consultation at the Archives Nationales. During the year other letters of request may be sent in order to answer as well as possible to the needs of the symposia or to make up for negative replies or unanswered requests. When an interview is carried out by several researchers one of them acts as “leader”, that is to say, is responsible for future contacts with the interviewee and for the final processing of the personal account. It is his job, in the case of a positive reply, to contact the interviewee by telephone to fix the first encounter.
The initial work : sources and instruments for preparing the interview framework
The preparation of the interviews supposes a historiographical alignment which grows richer throughout the year and when seminars and symposia are held. A thorough reading of all of the works of each interviewee is indispensable. This is especially true in the case of memoirs which need to be read with three objectives in mind : to ask for further details concerning certain passages, to complete what has been said, fill in the ‘gaps', which can lead the interviewee into matters he had not thought of ; bring out eventual contradictions. In addition, for certain interviews it is necessary to refer to the archives of the Presidence of the Republic (A.N. collection 5AG2). This is especially the case for Georges Pompidou's chargés de mission and technical advisers, some of whose memoranda are held in the Archives Nationales . Quoting a memorandum that he wrote thirty years before frequently surprises the interviewee and encourages precision. In the same way, the press and political magazines and organs in which he might have expressed himself are also used. Reference to the classical tools of the trade is systematic : biographical dictionaries, administrative who's who, L'année politique, Georges Pompidou's writings, the biographies dedicated to him. Finally, it is now possible to exploit the numerous additions already made by the oral archive themselves.

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First contact with the interviewee : interview framework
The first appointment is the occasion for a discussion which enable the researchers to present the Association to the interviewee and to explain the modus operandi for the forthcoming interviews. It is also an opportuniny to get to know the interviewee and understand his approach.
The researchers present him the framework of the interview which is a detailed plan of the themes they will deal with. The interviewee, having read this, ammends or corrects it if and where necessary. Thus, both parties agree on the procedure for the future encounters. This first interview which is carried out without any recording equipment generally lasts an hour.
The actual interview
The questionnaire
The researchers establish their questionnaire, which is never seen by the interviewee, from the corrected interview framework. As the general context is already known, this is to preserve the spontaneity of the personal account. The conditions of the interview
The total time of an interview varies from 1 hour to 15 hours, with an average time of 4h15 per interview. A session rarely exceeds 1h30, above which time the personal account is less trenchant. The place of the interview varies : in his office, in the case where the interviewee still has one, at his home if not, and on rare occasions in the Association's offices.
The recording
There are two copies. The main copy is made on specialised equipment. It is this one which will be used for the later processing of the interview and which will be held in the Archives Nationales . Another copy is made live on cassette for the interviewee and is at his disposal at the end of each interview.
The convention on consultation at the Archives Nationales
At the end of the interviews the interviewee signs a convention on consultation at the Archives Nationales . Few impose authorisation after a period of time. In such cases, consultation of the personal account is subject to authorisation. The interviewees keep a copy of the convention.

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Final processing of interviews
The entire final processing is carried out by the researcher who is “leader” of the interview.
The file
The “leader” compiles a file which is kept by the Association. The file contains the initial exchange of letters, the framework, the questionnaire, the chronothematic account, the convention and any other useful information about the interviewee and the interview.
The copies
Two cassette-copies are made from the principal copy. One is for consultation by the researchers at the Archives nationales , the other for internal use by the Association.
The chronothematic reading
The chronothematic statement indexes, the themes, dates and names of people mentioned by the interviewee. This has a double interest :
-held at the Archives nationales, it is at the disposition of researchers, making it easier for them to locate the interviews. It is particularly useful in the case of interviewees who had multiple functions (which is frequently the case) only one of which concerns the interviewer.
-kept at the Association, it is useful for preparing other interviews.
Deposit at the audiovisual department of the Archives nationales
A convention has been established between the Association and the Archives nationales . A researcher is responsible for organising the deposit of interviews the list of which is available in the inventories room CARAN under the classification AV. The interviews may be consulted from the deposit at the Archives nationales (and not at the Association) in the same way as any other audiovisual archive deposit.