University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

The collection comprises 169 items dating from 1711 to 1714, with one item from 1702. Most of the correspondence consists of letters addressed to or drafts written by the abbé François Gaultier, a French diplomatic agent stationed in London who moved in the circles of the Tory opposition. Of 88 letters by Torcy in the collection, 79 are addressed to Gaultier. Most of these are entirely or partially in cipher. Original keys for coding and decoding are in the collection.

The collection comprises 492 items dating from 1775 to 1824: among these are letters, municipal documents, police records, trial transcripts, and some of Lingaud’s personal papers. The pre-Revolutionary documents mainly include bureaucratic correspondence between Limoges and the court in Versailles and Paris. After 1792 there emerges a vast number of name lists and secret surveillance records as well as arrest warrants for aristocrats and their sympathizers. Most notable in this part of the collection are letters and documents from the Revolutionary Committee and the Surveillance Committee.