In the past, I’ve heard of authors having trouble contacting the Quai Branly. There was some scuttlebutt that French institutions tend not to deal with emails in English, but others have had trouble getting through to the Quai Branly via emails even in French.

The SCALA image archive (http://www.scalarchives.com/web/index.asp) provides some but not all of the images in the Quai Branly, but other images must come directly from the source. I found that, with this institution and others, it is helpful to (1) have a contact at the museum known by you or a colleague, (2) write in the language of origin, and/or (3) request permission on site if you are there for research purposes at any time.