This study is based on an examination of the registers compiled by the Marseille police force, or at least what remains of them. There are only a few extant registers from the 19th century, and these cover the periods from 1847 to 1848 and 1869 to 1874. On account of their size and complementarity, two lists have been selected from the latter period. One list comprises 1,804 individuals who were in lodgings between November 1869 and September 1870 in the Hôtel-Dieu arrondissement and the other comprises 1,357 inns, hotels and boarding houses in Marseille in 1874.