The Fonds Dobrée housed in the Municipal Archives of Nantes is of immense value. The letters sent by Pierre-Frédéric Dobrée to his parents, those to the representatives on mission, and the notes he received from his daughter during his imprisonment illuminate the experience of the Terror as it was lived by this merchant of English origin, a committed patriot in the Revolutionary struggle in 1789, and later member of the local municipality, who would be arrested in August 1793. In 1793 and 1794, the family correspondence was pervaded by a sense of worry, and by a desire to reassure relatives ; yet more official documents reveal a man convinced of his innocence and intent on proclaiming his merits. This documentation is all the more important because knowledge of the Nantais is obscured by the shadow cast by the black legend of Carrier who belongs to the « system of the Terror » invented by the Thermidorians. A letter written in 1795 offers information about this « invention ». (M. Biard – M. Linton).