Established by Napoleon in 1802 and first awarded on 14 July 1804, the Légion of Honor is the highest honorary decoration in France. Throughout the nineteenth century, military and civilians were rewarded for exceptional warfare or irreproachable and deserving civilian conduct.

The promotion of Knight, Officer, Commander or even Grand'Croix of the Legion of Honor being a civil honor to which was attached an annual pension, the nomination benefited from a decree of the Head of State (King, Emperor or President) . These decrees of appointment, like all the official acts, were published in the Bulletin of the Laws and the Official Journal of the years 1852, 1929, 1931, 1953, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964 and 1968.

It includes all the recipients, whether they were rewarded for bravery during the many wars of the nineteenth century, for outstanding service to the power in place, whatever the regime, following a long career, for an invention or a meritorious civil action.

• Bulletin of Laws and Official Journal

Digitized registered directory; of the 252 000 people promoted in the Order of the Legion of Honor between 1929 and 1968