Maupas was the well-known préfet de police involved in the coup d’État in December 1851 and became minister of Police générale at the beginning of the second Empire. But he also had a first prefectural career from 1844 to 1851 as sub-prefect of Uzes, Beaune and Boulogne-sur-Mer and then as prefect of the Allier and the Haute-Garonne. A few years later, he found this function again in the Bouches-du-Rhône from 1860 to 1866. Sixteen boxes of archives of Maupas funds relate to its administration in these districts and departments. The purpose of this article is to show how this rich documentation can be used to study the daily prefectural occupation in its political and administrative dimensions as in the official representational duties.