“1933” folder: handwritten list of technical studies by Paul Magès

In this document

This is a kraft paper folder used as a file cover, bearing the inscription “1933” circled in pencil at the top right p. 1.

The handwritten list

On the back or front of the folder is a list of study subjects, noted in ink, with dates and the mention “OK” for several of them:

One can also read a mention “Address of the rest home” and “Drawing of railcars for PV”, the exact meaning of which remains uncertain p. 1. The first lines of the document, in particular a heading starting with “STUDY”, are too illegible to be transcribed with certainty.

Material elements

The folder shows signs of wear, creases and tears, particularly at the top right and on the side edges, as well as a vertical inscription in pencil on the left edge, which remains illegible p. 1.

Context

The acronym “PV” refers most likely, in the Citroën vocabulary of the time, to the Traction Avant (often referred to as “P car” in internal documents). The subjects listed — gear changing, injection, carburettor, synchroniser — correspond to classic automotive mechanical development issues of the 1930s, a period when Citroën was intensely developing its Traction Avant, launched in 1934.

This folder dates from the very beginning of Paul Magès's career at Citroën, where he joined in August 1925 at 17 and a half as an autodidact, before becoming a technical writer and then deputy head of the Super-Control (autobiographical notes: draft of a letter from Paul Magès to Mr. Sarre and maintenance plan for the 11). These works from 1933-1936 precede by a decade his first plans for hydropneumatic suspension, dated 17 February 1944 (Hydropneumatic suspension plans with differential interaction (17 February 1944)).

These contextual elements, apart from the biographical facts attested by other documents in the collection, do not appear in the document itself and are partly based on general knowledge about the history of Citroën.

Archivist's perspective

This folder seems to have functioned as a personal tracking tool for Paul Magès, a sort of memo listing studies in progress or to be carried out, with an “OK” tick system probably indicating their completion p. 1.

The presence of a later date (1936) on a folder dated “1933” suggests that this medium was reused over several years, which is consistent with the practice of an engineer keeping his work files over time rather than systematically renewing them.

The mention “Automatic [oil] level” p. 1 echoes other documents in the collection devoted to this same subject, in particular the handwritten proposal for a constant oil level system dated 3 December 1936 — a correspondence of date that reinforces the hypothesis of a link between these two documents.

This folder, modest in appearance, thus offers a rare glimpse into the organisation of Magès's work at his beginnings at Citroën, before the great hydropneumatic achievements that would make him famous.