Charron-Renaud Family Collection
Title: Charron-Renaud Family Collection
Dates: 1850-1977
Scope and Content:
The Charron-Renaud Family Collection spans more than one hundred years of two families’ history. Three people in particular are represented (please see the Background Information section for more details):
The oldest records date to 1850-1855, and document legal proceedings of the Phaneuf (Faneuf) family, the maternal ancestors of Dr. Ovide Charron. Further records related to Dr. Carron include correspondence and business records. The business records are interesting as they include scripts from his medical practice as well as receipts for advertisements he placed in Le Messager. Dr. Louis Renaud is represented through legal records, correspondence, and most notably, photographs. In 1906, Dr. Renaud traveled with a group to western Canada - a trip during which he took photographs of their various activities and locations. These include using local guides, dogs, moving by canoe, and camping. The third major person represented in this collection is Marie Baradat, who was the first wife of Renaud, and the second wife of Charron. The collection includes extensive correspondence, legal records, and postcards and photographs. Dr. Charron’s daughter Constance Charron, and the collection’s donor Lillian Lamoureux, are also both seen in this collection, albeit on a smaller scale than the other three. Lastly, the collection contains notes, ephemera, newspaper clippings, photographs, and recipes whose origin is not clear. The photographs are quite interesting, and likely include unidentified images of family members and France, but with no locations or names provided, little is known.
Arrangement: Due to the size of the collection, there is only one series.
Restrictions: The collection is available to researchers and other interested parties. Permission for use or reproduction can be obtained from the director of the French Institute, and is subject to the Institute’s user policies.
Preferred Citation: Charron-Renaud Family Collection, French Institute, Assumption University
Processing Information: Processed by Kate Bradley and Emily Lewis, winter 2024.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition: The collection was created by the Charron and Renaud families. At some point after Marie Baradat’s death, the collection was acquired by Lillian Lamoureux. Lillian Lamoureux donated the collection to Armand Chartier, c. 1990. Chartier in turn donated the collection to the French Institute during one of his transfers: the first donation was in 2006, with the bulk split between donations in 2019, and 2022-2024.
Full Finding Aid:
Appointments recommended.
The French Institute follows the academic calendar of Assumption University. Exceptions to our regular hours may be found here.
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Kate Bradley
Librarian/Archivist of the French Institute
508-767-7495
For reasons of preservation, French Institute collection materials do not circulate; however, non-rare materials are allowed to circulate through the d’Alzon Library or inter-library loan with the director’s permission.
It should be noted that the Institute’s collection includes a number of Franco-American newspapers from the New England region. Most consist of bound copies and nearly all have been microfilmed. To preserve the bound volumes, the Institute encourages scholars to consult the microfilm copies whenever they are available, for example, at the American Antiquarian Society or the Boston Public Library.
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