What happened on the day you were born? It can be oddly satisfying to find out—perhaps because it gives you a sense of how much the world has changed, or else because it offers clues about who you are, revealing how your life unfolds within a wider, collective history. At the very least, it’s a fun way to pass an afternoon.

The archives of La Galcante, a small store in Paris packed with old newspapers and magazines, are dedicated to this unique purpose: selling the yellowed pages of old periodicals as keepsake birthday gifts. Founded in 1975 by collector Christian Bailly, the shop stocks some eight million newspapers dating back to the French Revolution, and takes its name from a playful contraction of galerie (gallery) and brocante (bric-a-brac shop). Inside, stacks of magazines cover two long tables, where you might find a copy of Newsweek from December 1992 next to 1972 issues of Tintin. On the back wall, daily newspapers are carefully classified into boxes by month and year; another shelf sorts them by themes such as “Sartre,” “Walt Disney” and “Justice.” 

The store’s current owner, Jacques Kuzma, first arrived as a student looking for a summer job and never left. One recent morning, while flicking through the papers in a box labeled September 1966, he picked up a call from someone in need of a prop for a film. “Ninety percent of my sales are birthday presents,” he says. “But this year Le Figaro is celebrating its 200th anniversary, so I’ve sold quite a few to collectors and exhibition curators.” 

The National Library of France houses the country’s vast press archives, which date back to 1631, but La Galcante makes that history far more accessible. “I’ve been surprised by how many young people come in,” Kuzma says. “A lot of them are perhaps engaging with print for the first time. They stop, leaf through some magazines, ask questions. It’s unexpected—and reassuring.”