Cover of the archive folder "60-74" (box no. 2)

In this document

The digitised page simply shows the cover of a red/orange cardboard folder, closed by an elastic band stretched diagonally across the flap.

A rectangular white label is stuck to the bottom left of the folder, bearing the handwritten inscription "60-74" p. 1.

No other information — neither name, nor precise date, nor subject of the content — appears on this cover. The mention "60-74" constitutes the only reference left to identify what was stored inside.

Context

This type of elasticated cardboard folder was commonly used in the technical departments of companies like Citroën in the 20th century to group together work files — notes, meeting minutes, correspondence — belonging to the same set or period.

The mention "60-74" evokes, by its form, a chronological or filing reference covering the decades of Paul Magès' activity at Citroën: having joined the design office in the late 1930s and engaged in the development of the hydropneumatic suspension from 1944 (plans of 17 February 1944), he remained there until his retirement in September 1974 (photographs of retirement; letter from Mr. Meignan). The last two digits "60-74" thus likely correspond to a range of years (1960-1974) marking the final boundary of his career at Citroën. According to the related archives associated with this folder, its content seems to have covered a period ranging from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, a key period in the development of the hydropneumatic suspension and the improvements to the DS.

Archivist's perspective

This piece is not a working document of Paul Magès strictly speaking, but the material envelope that long protected and organised a set of his technical notes. Its value is primarily archival: it attests to the existence of a file compiled, probably by Magès himself or his secretariat, and provides a filing key — "60-74" — the precise meaning of which remains to be elucidated.

It seems that this folder contained, among other things, the Summary of folder 60-74 as well as several notes and reports dated from 1959 to 1963, such as the note of 11 September 1959 on hydraulic or pneumatic suspension. Preserving the cover, beyond its apparent banality, allows for the restoration of the original unity of the file and the context of filing intended by its author.