Over a period of 22 years, a succession of volunteer editors recorded stories of the heritage and culture of the French and the Midwest in two newsletters for La Societe Canadienne-Francaise du Minnesota, namely Chez Nous and Nouvelles Villes Jumelles.
This post is part of the permanent record now being established through the French-American Heritage Foundation (FAHF), an organization founded in 2013 to continue the tradition of La Societe C-F and other similar groups. These newsletters are available in book form and can be purchased on this website. See “Our Publications” page.
Copies of these 145 newsletters can be obtained by going to this link on Dick Bernard’s website.
https://thoughtstowardsabetterworld.org/1000-stories-in-chez-nous/
An index to these 145 newsletters is set forth in the following pdf document. Index for Chez Nous 1979-2002
These publications are of La Societe Canadienne Francaise du Minnesota, an organization primarily of Minnesota and Wisconsin residents of French-Canadian ancestry. Most publications in this series were Chez Nous, though for several years Nouvelles Villes Jumelles was an adjunct publication specifically for the twin cities area of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
All entries are alphabetical with one very important exception: LSCF organizations and their activities are grouped together at the end of the document, beginning following the final alphabetical entry. Information on reprinting all or portions of any newsletters can be obtained from Dick Bernard, dick_bernardATmsn.com, or in writing to Dick Bernard at 6905 Romeo Road Woodbury MN 55125-2421.
Complete sets of the newsletters have been provided to the libraries of the Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin Historical Societies, and IF Midwest at the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks.
Complete sets of the newsletters have been provided to the libraries of the Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin Historical Societies, and IF Midwest at the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks.
The nearly 150 issues of the newsletters comprise over 950 pages of text, hand-numbered sequentially. Page numbers in this index are not on the originals, so issue date is included with each entry. (As is true with many such publications, no one ever envisioned that they would endure, and thus they did not possess standardized things like page numbering, design or etc. They were essentially “cut and paste” creations at someones home using information and technology available at the time. They were created with much affection by a succession of editors, all who were volunteer members of La Societe Canadienne-Francaise du Minnesota. The editors were as follows (showing beginning date of position. Unless otherwise indicated the editor listed is for Chez Nous):
- Avril 1980 Catherine Rivard
- Janvier 1981 Richard Kees
- Septembre 1981 Francine Roche
- Janvier 1983 Lucille Ingram
- Fevrier 1984 Ms Jerry Forchette
- Mai 1985 Jon Tremblay
- Septembre 1985 Ed. Dick Bernard, Co-Ed Jerry Forchette
- Mai 86-Jan 90 Pierre Girard (86-89) and Charles Bouley (Nouvelles Villes Jumelles –twin cities edition) Jim Chouanard was also edited NVJ for a period of time
- Jun 90 – 1992 Bill Horn edited NVJ. Ultimately the publication became part of Chez Nous
- Jan 94-last issue Dick Bernard (Catherine Rivard co-editor Jan-Juin 2000)
The index identifies the articles by both page, and volume number, as follows: Chez Nous MA89 means the issue in which the article is contained was the March-April, 1989, issue.
For Nouvelles Villes Jumelles the designation is the same, though preceded by NVJ. Thus, NVJ-MA89.
