What is the survival probability over n years of a document? The vicissitudes of registration, preservation, cataloging and publication affect this probability, examined here in the case of the Cahiers de doléances des parisiens of 1789. The survival rate of manuscripts, the publication rates in different series have been calculated. They are then examined according to the administrative history of the documents, the regional characteristics of France under the Ancien Régime and in relation to the urbanization of the country. What is the probability that a document will survive for n years? The transmission of documents depends upon their recording, preservation, cataloguing, and publication, and it is therefore useful to start from an empirical research on the Cahiers de doléances of the French rural communities in 1789. The rate of survival of manuscripts and the rates of publication of the document in official series or otherwise have been computed. They are studied in relation to administrative history, structural characteristics of Old Regime regions and the degree of urbanization in France.