Although it has been some years ago, I have experience acquiring documents from the Cabinet des titres. Basically, you better be very sure of your citation when you write to the library. Ask them for an estimate of how much it will cost to copy the dossier/file. Keep in mind that because a dossier refers to a surname of interest it might contain many different unrelated families with the same surname. We use to get the copies on microfilm as that was the cheapest way to go, but I would hope they can do it digital now. Going to the BNF to research in the Cabinet des titres is a worthwhile experience, but you are limited to retreiving only a handful of documents per day (I think the limit is five). Hiring a genealogist to go through the materials can be cost prohibitive. It is best to get it all and then carefully read through the entire file.

Be prepared for dissapointment. You may have a noble ancestor, but they may not have been important enough to make their way into the Cabinet des titres. Also, you might get a file with 100 pages and only find half a page mentioning your particular family. On the other hand, you might hit pay dirt and get a file loaded with juicy information.

I would not bother to get any thing relating to French-Canadian noble families that Fr. Godbout already covered. There is nothing left for you to find if he already went through the Cabinet des titres.

Lastly, I strongly recommend that you acquire and read Jean-Philippe Gérard's Répertiore des ressources généalogiques et héraldiques du Département des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (2003). You can get it from Mémoire & Documents. This is the best guide I have found to the treasures of the BNF. I only wish I had it when I started out.

If this is not enough information, then please email me and I will send you my telephone number so we can chat.

Good luck with your research.

JP