The Centre Tourangeau d’Histoire et d’Etudes des Sources is a research centre in historical sciences which conducts research using literary, archivistic, archaeological and artistic sources, i.e. material culture, on a timescale spanning from Antiquity to Contemporary History. Research interests focus mainly on urban, cultural and economic history, on various geographical scales: local, national and international (Greece, Italy and modern European countries, especially Germany). While the Centre has developed scientific collaborations with different partners, nationally as well as internationally (Italy, Greece, Germany, United-Kingdom, Poland, Hungary, USA) , it also works on a local scale, with research focusing on Archaeology, Heritage collections and local archives.
 
Three areas of focus have been defined:

•  towns and urban dynamics is the centre’s primary theme of research and the oldest one. It has now evolved on questioning the urban limits, the spatial landmarks and the way people, mainly elites, do fit in these boundaries and landmarks.
•  writing and reinterpreting historical objects aims at developing a reflection on the practice of history and the construction of historical objects (event, artwork or actors of history). Three historical discourses will be studied: on economical representations; on modern “myths” and the reinterpretation of the past; on social and cultural objects (languages, gender and education).
•  corpora and methods crosses the two themes above. It covers the edition of primary sources, the building of corpora, and their study and interpretation methods.