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The present case study raises a series of historiographical and archival issues brought up by an investigation we devoted to the patrimonialization of the personal papers of Jean Leray (1906-1998). We first intend to reconstruct Jean Leray’s scientific persona as portrayed in biographical notes about him, especially those published after his death. These systematically put forward Leray’s own recollections of his captivity during World War II. We then establish that the way Leray’s papers were sorted is contemporary with these eulogies and that it was carried out under the close supervision of the mathematician and Academician Paul Malliavin. In doing so, we formulate some hypotheses on the principles that led him to deposit only a few fragments of Leray’s papers in three distinct mathematical libraries. Finally, we place Leray’s account of his captivity in the context of the relationships that certain members of the Académie des sciences, namely Gaston Julia and Henri Villat, had with the university while in captivity at Oflag XVII-A during the Occupation of France (1940-1944).