STEIN, HENRI

STEIN, HENRI (1862–1940), French bibliographer and historian. Stein, who was born in Pierry, Marne, became archivist at the Archives Nationales in 1885. Here his access to the rich documentary sources enabled him to produce an enormous number of works in many different areas. After his retirement in 1923 from the chief curatorship of the ancient section, he taught the history, use, and conservation of documents at the Ecole des Chartres until 1933. Stein was not a specialist in one area or period, but was, rather, a universal scholar: bibliographer, archivist, archaeologist, general historian, local historian, art historian, and topographer. His work in French history was particularly important. He founded and directed the periodical La Bibliographie Moderne, and created the Société Française de Bibliographie. Among his many books are Les Archives de l'Histoire de France (with C.V. Langlois, 3 vols., 1891), Manuel de Bibliographie Générale (1897), Répertoire Numérique des Archives du Châtelet de Paris (1898), Bibliographie Générale des Cartulaires Français ou Relatif s à l'Histoire de France (1907), Les Architectes des Cathédrales Gothiques (1911), Charles de France (1919), and Répertoire Bibliographique de l'Histoire de France, 1920 – 1931 (with P. Caron, 1931). (Irwin L. Merker)