Created by Albert Kahn, the Archives of the Planet lie at the heart of a complex era, connecting two centuries and containing multiple references. Beyond the homogeneity of the media (over one hundred hours of film and nearly 72 000 autochromes), this visual documentation presents an intriguing heterogeneity, combining various disciplines, influences, relations to the Other, or forms of narrative. At the same time, the context of distribution oscillated between the training of elites, propaganda actions, and archival aspirations. This article seeks to analyse the current practices of the collection in light of its history, between its function as a basic documentary reserve, its memorial appropriations, and as a historiographical project.