Photo archives of Marquis René de Segonzac.

C. 4770 photos, diff. sizes and techniques, loose, in albums or in boxes, ms. captions and dates, some dispersed sm. notes and letters.

9 boxes and 12 albums.

Large and intriguing photo archives of Marquis René de Segonzac (1867-1962), French army officer and explorer studying at the "École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr" before being commissioned and serving in the Ivory Coast. There he was accused and declared innocent of the murder of a fellow officer in the infamous Quiquerez-Segonzac affair. During World War I he served as a captain in the French military aviation corps and received the Legion of Honour and the "Croix de Guerre". In his later life Segonzac became a renowned explorer and adventurer in Morocco and Tunesia. Segonzac travelled around Morocco at the turn of the century. He undertook an excursion to the Southwest of the country (notably the valley of the Oued Souss) and reported numerous observations of altitude, longitude and meteorology; but his most interesting discovery was that of the Roman ruins of Gaba North of Taroudant. In November 1904, he left Marseille to carry out a new expedition to Morocco (Winter 1904-1905), in which the cartographer René de Flotte de Roquevaire, the geologist Paul Lemoine, the mineralogist Louis Gentil and the scholar Abdelaziz Zenagui participated. The presented archives, kept in albums, boxes or loose, contain negatives on glass (1691 pcs), positives on glass (226 pcs), flexible film negatives (194 pcs) and original photos (2657) totalling 4768 pieces covering de Segonzac's expeditions, explorations and discoveries mainly in Morocco. Some names of mentioned places, rivers, mountains, regions, etc.: Ouergha River, Zerhoun mountain, Taza, Selouane, Djebala, Tanger, Oran, Agadir, Atlas mountains, Damnate, Agadir, Taroudant, Essaouira, El Jadida, etc. Photos of tent camps, mountain views, indigenous people, pack animals, military and geographical expeditions, etc. Many of the mountain photos marked with ink following the ridges of the mountains, detailing the mountain tops, valleys, and geographic profiles. Also handwritten captions and references to other albums in the set. Several albums marked 1901, 1904 and "missions 1912". Extensive report of the visit of Mitterand and other dignitaries (Hubert Lyautey, Joseph Lallier du Coudray, and many more) to Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, Marrakech, etc. in 1922. Highly interesting and bulging archives with a goldmine of information about Segonzac's active career.