Now let us come to the year 1929, the year of the creation of the Annales. In the inaugural address of the two founders, Bloch and Febvre, we find virtually exactly the terms of Simiand. They evoked the disciplinary com partmentalization which still separated historians from these who devoted themselves to"the study of contemporary societies and economies." They assigned to the journal the task of unifying by empirical means, by"example and fact," the field of the social sciences. The very structure of the journal made clear the project. Contemporary information occupied an exceptionally large place. Research projects in progress occupied an important place. So did the critical reading of worl s of sociology, of geography, of economics, of psychology, a unique role if you compare the contents of the Annales with other historical journals of the time.