This paper discusses Gen. Józef Bem’s activity related to the promotion and improvement of the Polish mnemonic method ( méthode mnémonique polonaise) in France. The manner of teaching chronology – and, over time, also other subjects – announced by Antoni Jaźwiński at the turn of the 1830s, was developed from 1836 by Gen. Bem and his collaborators. The evolution of the system, changes of the name of the method, as well as efforts to popularise it in education, have largely been reconstructed on the basis of materials held by the Kórnik Library. The analyses covered an interesting, mainly hand-written collection Korespondencja gen. J. Bema w sprawie metody tegoż uczenia historii [ Gen. J. Bem’s Correspondence Concerning His Method of Teaching History] and other relevant sources. The research made it possible to verify the findings of Gen. Józef Bem’s biographers concerning his activity in the period 1836–1846. Source analysis also facilitates reflection on the actual significance and impact of Bem’s didactic solutions, which as of 1841 were called méthode mnémonique franco-polonaise.

The Author presents main tendencies in the development of the "Annales" school from the perspective of its modem development and actual critical view presented by its members. The review of tendencies follows an analysis of recent curricula of the studies in history at the Ecole des Haute Etudes en Sciences Socia/es (EHESS). The Author compares these curricula with the system of history teaching in other universities in France, as well as in Poland.