Chroniques and Collectives

On both side of the family, my grandparents had a large number of children. When their children started to have children and there were some news that were worth dissaminating to the rest of the family, both my grandfathers started a circular letter around 1952.

On my mother's side the circular letter is called "la Collective" and on my father's side, it is called "la Chronique".

Everybody would write to my grandfathers and they would give their own news and those of their children that they had received in a circular letter that was sent to everybody who did not live in their house.

When my paternal grandfather started to decline in the sixties, my father took over. When my maternal grandfather died, my father also took over. So, his brothers, sisters, stepbrothers and stepsisters wrote to him and he published the circular letters weekly.

Originally, my father used a duplicating machine from the brand name Gestetner. Then, in the 80s he bought small self-contained word processors (from the brand names Philips and Cannon) and photocopiers.

When he started to decline in the 90s, my mother took over, still using the word-processors and the photocopiers.

We had a hard time persuading my mother to get a computer. She agreed on the condition that she would get a laptop. At this time, that made no economic sense, because a laptop was costing more than twice the price of a desktop. On hindsight, she was right. She got a used laptop and started to learn to use Microsoft Word. She was still printing, photocopying and sending the circular letters by snail mail.

Around 2000, I persuade her to get the Internet. So, she was able to send the letters through e-mail.

She is still writing the two original circular letters, twice a month. Recently, she has started another circular letter, the "Bulletin Paul", to disseminate the news of the descendants of my parents.

At 90 years of age, she still continue to publish two family newsfeeds that have been in publication for almost sixty years. She has more than 100 subscribers, from three generations, most of them receiving the circular letters by e-mail.

The publication of the original Chronique and Collective will cease when she dies or are no longer able to publish. It is possible that one of my brother or sister will be able to take over the Bulletin Paul, but nothing is for sure.