Societe Generale's Historical Archives offer researchers a surprisingly diverse collection of archives. This diversity stems foremost from the origins of the archives, which provide researchers and historians with access to several different types of information:

• The archives of a classic bank such as Societe Generale, the prototype of retail banking networks in France,
• The archives of a more specialised bank, like Crédit Foncier d'Algérie et de Tunisie, which became Société Centrale de Banque, an establishment previously located in North Africa, which has pursued business in France since 1962,
• The archives of regional banks, like Crédit du Nord and Sogénal,
• The archives of a former big banking establishm The archives of a former investment bank, Banque de l'Union Parisienneent, Banque Mirabaud,

Yet the richness of the archives can also be seen in terms of the variety of themes covered by its different collections:

• Corporate documents relative to the creation of these enterprises, the structure of their capital, and the composition and functions of their Boards of Directors and General Shareholders' Meetings.
• Documents on the general operations of these establishments, prepared by the corporate office and/or the executive secretariat, including minutes of various in-house committee meetings, collections of notes, memos and internal instructions from the beginning of the Bank, various operational and organisational files, the entire series of general accounting statements, including income and expense books, balance sheets, and inventory. Through these documents, we can appreciate the results of each bank as well as the performance of their branch networks.
• Documents from personnel management: for most companies, an unedited collection of personnel files dating back to the bank's origins (Societe Generale alone has 300,000 individual files), human resource management files, and information on wage policies, social actions, and labour relations since 1920.
• Files from the former financial departments of Societe Generale and Banque de l'Union Parisienne: one of the unique advantages of a banking archival service, the collection offers a wealth of information on loan issues, equity stakes and other financial operations carried out by these banks on behalf of the State and corporations, particularly since the 1880s.

These archives are important because they cover all sectors of the economy. Moreover, their scope is not limited to France, but covers a large part of the planet, including North and South America, Asia, Central Europe, and Africa. The archives also include a number of very interesting sector studies. One particularity of the Societe Generale collection is a series of documents from the Union Athletique de la Societe Generale (UASG), which consists of files and photos on the association's sporting activities between 1905 and 1939. The collection also highlights a few sporting legends, such as Jules Ladoumègue and Jean Bouin.