Arkhênum is celebrating its 25th anniversary!


In 2024 Arkhênum marks 25 years dedicated to preserving and promoting documentary heritage. It is a source of genuine satisfaction and an honour to be able to celebrate this long life and the recognition of the manual and technical expertise of our devoted staff. Thank you to the organisations we have worked with for their trust over all these years… and the years to come!
Arkhênum invites you to learn (more) about its history in 2024


To celebrate this anniversary, we have delved into our archives to take a (new) look at the key chapters in our history or the tales from history. We have “exhumed” a series of newspaper articles, photographs and video reports that we’re going to share with you.
1999: Arkhênum gets off the ground in Bordeaux
The first chapter in this epic story was written in 1999, the year that Arkhênum was founded by Patrick Beauchet-Filleau before soon being joined by Christian Chabrier.
Patrick was so sure about the potential of the ground-breaking technology used to digitise old documents for heritage organisations that he quit Xerox and created Arkhênum in 1999. Armed with a Digibook 5006 scanner, the young entrepreneur took the plunge, going out to meet municipal and university archive and library services. He was quickly joined by two and then three other people.


The next events in the history of Arkhênum


It goes without saying that in the 25 years we have been in business, our digitisation methods have evolved in line with technology, customer expectations and the challenges encountered in the field: in situ scanning, manual indexing, 360° scanning, etc.
In 2011, as a logical continuation of our digitisation work, Arkhênum began putting digitised collections online to cater to the needs and expectations of various organisations and the French Ministry of Culture.
In 2016 Arkhênum introduced an archivist and historian division to assist not just private but also public institutions.
As it’s clear to see, there’s no shortage of topics to discuss! We will tell you about projects that have bowled us over (the Avranches manuscripts) or seized us with emotion (training Malian operators in how to digitise Timbuktu manuscripts) – as well as projects that have challenged us (digitising the League of Nations Archives in Geneva).
Preserve your heritage with Arkhênum. Contact us now!
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Every page turned is an archived story


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