Annales" entrance into the university system was not without its stumbling blocks, however, and the challenge of institutionalization itself shaped output. A growing presence in universities and research laboratories characterized the period from 1900 to 1970, and that coincided with increasing staff numbers in France generally. ¹ If a distinction between Berr's circle and the Annales founders were sought, then, it would be found in the fact that scholars receptive to synthesis before 1929 undertook their activities in support of that agenda outside the schools and universities that employed them, whereas existing institutions accommodated Annalistes, in part explaining how they influenced educational policy and public opinion.² In fact, between 1929 and 1970 Annales historians competed with and replaced intellectual patrons, who "wielded power in the form of influence on appointments, in the supervision of theses, and in getting articles placed in prestigious journals", and ascended to positions of prominence within the university system throughout France. ³ Below this level of generalization there nevertheless exists a tale of assaults and accommodations.