An Opportunity to Collaborate in France
Posted on August 26, 2026
Sociology Assistant Professor of Instruction Marie Léonard spent her summer conducting archival research at the National Archives in Aix-en-Provence, France, delving into the history of a building in Paris that once served as a colonial school. Simultaneously, French and music major Marisol Hoffmann was studying in Dijon, France working on her honors thesis, which examines a story about students of the same former colonial school involved in the French Resistance against the Nazis during World War II. The two were able to meet in Paris to collaborate.
Hoffman's goal this summer was twofold: first, to visit the building of what was the former colonial school, so she could see first hand where those students lived and studied; second, to accompany Léonard on a sort of treasure hunt to locate a plaque honoring students of the former colonial school. It was awarded by the French government for their acts during the Resistance. “I knew the plaque was potentially located at the Invalides in Paris,” explained Léonard, “so we went there and searched all the hallways (there are hundreds and hundreds of plaques), and we found it! It was a great moment, despite the horrendous heatwave we experienced at that time.”
Léonard also located the grave of Henri Maspero at the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris. Maspero was a history professor at the former colonial school, and she had read in the archives that he had been captured by the Gestapo and deported to the Buchenwald camp in Germany, where he died in 1945.
The opportunity to study in Paris was made possible by a College of Arts and Sciences Summer Development Award Léonard received in spring 2026. After a few weeks of research at the archives, she collected enough documentation for a new book. “It is one thing to read accounts in an archival document, it is completely different to get to see it in physical form.”
