Vincent Bouat-Ferlier

A historian and heritage curator, I develop my work at the intersection of historical research, museum mediation, and memorial writing. As Director of the Fondation de Chambrun, a public-interest foundation, my research focuses on the history of General Lafayette and his role in shaping the American national narrative through commemorative objects, exhibitions, and monuments. Previously serving as Scientific Director of the Musée national de la Marine in Paris and as head of the museographic project during its renovation, I was able to study methods of staging collections, particularly those concerning Franco-American relations.

My work also extends to promoting our collections with institutions interested in the figure of the General and his struggles for the emergence and development of democratic ideas. My approach takes shape through scientific collaborations with heritage and academic institutions in France and abroad, around exhibition projects, publications, and the organization of scholarly events for a variety of audiences.

I am currently preparing a museum project to be located near Lafayette’s château in Seine-et-Marne, which will revisit the major milestones of his life and commitments, from the American Revolution to that of 1830. My ambition is to invent forms of historical writing that, while rigorous, open themselves to a diversity of viewpoints and to the transatlantic circulation of ideas and representations. In this way, history becomes a critical tool for understanding the present and a lever for fostering a more open memory.

Vincent Bouat-Ferlier is the General Heritage Curator and a graduate of the École nationale des chartes and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, as well as the Director of the Josée and René de Chambrun Foundation, a public-interest foundation dedicated to promoting the life, ideas, and legacy of Lafayette, who devoted his existence to the defense of the democratic ideal.

He previously served as Scientific Director and Head of the Museographic Project at the Musée national de la Marine, as well as Scientific Curator of its inaugural exhibition Sea and Cinema. A former participant of the Cycle des hautes études de la Culture, he has also held positions at the Ministry of Culture and at the French National Archives.