Good and bad news from the Archives nationales, Paris

In my post for 18 March I mentioned that the records for the United Nations International Refugee Organisation (IRO) have been transferred to the French national archives, the Archives nationales in Paris (see The UNHCR Archives and Records Section responds). The Archives nationales in Paris has confirmed that there are records, however, the news is a mixed blessing as neither the records or the finding aids are available online.

This is the text of the reply from the Archives nationales, Paris - Service de la Recherche a écrit :

Dear Mr. N ... ,
In response to your e-mail of April 12th, I inform you that the Archives nationales-site de Paris [does] keep in AJ 43 (O.I.R.) records concerning camps for refugees in Italy (Bari and Bagnoli).
-AJ/43/140 : in particular, a study by J. Barth, historian, about Bagnoli's camp, and refugees in Trieste and Veneto region ;
-AJ/43/1036 : in particular, people arrested by [the] Italian police displaced to the transit camp in Bari, January 1948 ;
-AJ/43/1040 : competitive sport in Bagnoli's camp, September 1950.

Unfortunately, neither the finding aid for AJ 43, nor the records are available on line.

Yours sincerely.
Thierry Pin

In French the IRO is known as the Organisation Internationale pour les Rėfugiės (OIR).

So, in fact, to make any headway on this path I will have to go to Paris in person! I can't say I am much surprised. And I am uncertain from Mr. Pin's reply that they have the records I need. The question is not going, that's easy, but the issue is to make the visit worthwhile from the point of view of research - if I forget something later it's not as if I can just drop in casually again the week after I come home. In conclusion, Constant Reader, I am quickly finding out that there is only so much one can do through the Internet from the other side of the world.