Robert Prévost (1918–2007) was a Canadian journalist, historian, and author from
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
.
Biography
Robert Prévost had three careers, as a journalist, civil servant, and historian. His preferred activities over more than sixty years were historical research and, especially through writing, popularizing historical facts, notably to stimulate pride among Quebecers regarding their origins.
A journalist and columnist in Montreal for ''
Le Petit Journal'' and ''
La Presse
is a French-language online newspaper published daily in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1884, it is now owned by an independent nonprofit trust.
' was formerly a broadsheet daily, considered a newspaper of record in Canada. Its Sunday edi ...
'' for 17 years, then a civil servant for 32 years, particularly in France,
Robert Prévost dedicated his life to promoting Quebec. As director of the Provincial Advertising Office, later renamed the Quebec Tourist Office, and subsequently Assistant Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Tourism, Hunting, and Fishing, he significantly contributed to the growth of Quebec tourism abroad. Notably, as the former Commissioner General for Quebec Tourism in Paris,
he received the insignia of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to deepening cultural and human relations between Quebec and France.
Starting in 1990, he participated in founding the Association of Prévost-Provost Families of America, which worked towards erecting a commemorative stele honoring the pioneering couple of New France, Martin Prévost and his Indigenous wife, Marie Manitouabe8itch, an Algonquin educated by the Ursulines of Quebec. This stele, a cantilevered structure made of reinforced concrete and colored aggregates bearing a bronze plaque, was designed and executed by his son Alain, a sculptor. It was inaugurated in June 1994 on the land once inhabited by this couple, now known as Martin-Prévost Park, near Courville church (in the Chutes-Montmorency neighborhood).
The name Manitouabe8itch contains the numeral "8" instead of the letter "w" because at the time a Jesuit priest undertook to write an Algonquin-French dictionary, the letter "w" did not yet exist in the French language. The phoneme closest to it at the time was represented by the pronunciation of the number "8."
Following acts of vandalism, the stele was moved a few years later to a better-lit location near Larue Street.
In his second-to-last book, Mon tour de jardin ("My Tour of the Garden"), written in 2000–2001, he did not mention that the creator and craftsman of the stele was his own son.
A long-time resident of the Montreal region, Robert Prévost chose to spend his retirement, beginning at the age of 80 in 1998,
in the vicinity of his paternal ancestor, Martin Prévost, in Beauport, where he died at the age of 89 in 2007.
He was the younger brother of Arthur Prévost (1910–2004), a journalist (1936–1969) and audacious improviser known for his appearances on the television show ''Les insolences d'une caméra''.
Robert Prévost Collection
Robert Prévost divided his archival legacy among several organizations tasked with preserving them and making them publicly accessible.
Canadian-French Genealogical Society, Montreal
The Robert-Prévost Collection (P18), preserved since its creation in May 1997 by the Société généalogique canadienne-française, contains a collection of photographic documents (among 0.06 meters of original documents) and especially slides (9739 slides of 35 mm) from the donor's travels, classified numerically and identified by themes listed in a summary inventory.
They were taken in France, Quebec, and the United States between 1980 and 2000. A list of the slideshow conferences given by the author is included in the second part of the inventory.
Montreal Archives Centre, Montreal
The archival collection of journalist and civil servant Robert Prévost is preserved at the Montreal Archives Centre in the
Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
The (; ; abbr. BAnQ) is a Quebec government agency which manages the province's legal deposit system, national archives, and national library. Located at the Grande Bibliothèque in Montreal, the BAnQ was created by the merging of the Biblioth ...
This collection covers the period from 1748 to 1992 and includes 1.71 meters of textual and photographic documents as well as 109 sound recordings (16-inch discs). These archives reflect Robert Prévost's enduring interest in research and the popularization of French-American history. Additionally included is the series Sciences et aventures ("Science and Adventures," a magazine aimed at popularizing recent scientific and technological progress), several episodes of which were broadcast by radio station CKAC of Montreal.
The Films 1958–1969 series of the collection notably illustrates half a century of representation of the county of Deux-Montagnes by Arthur Sauvé and his son Paul Sauvé; among others, photographs in the series Photographs 1940–1990 include
Acadian-Quebec politician and genealogist
Bona Arsenault
Bona Arsenault, (October 4, 1903 – July 4, 1993) was a Canadian historian, genealogist and a federal and provincial politician.
Born in Bonaventure, Quebec, the son of Joseph-Georges Arsenault and Marcelline Gauthier, he studied at Unive ...
.
Works
* ''La France des Québécois'', Éditions internationales Alain Stanké, ''Recherches en France'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1980, 310 p., 428 illustrations
** ''La France des Québécois – Pages perdues et retrouvées'', Éditions internationales Alain Stanké, ''Recherches en France'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1998, 263 p., 215 illustrations
* ''Il y a toujours une première fois'', Éditions internationales Alain Stanké, ''Éphémérides'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1984, 390 p., 557 illustrations
* ''Les Douglas de Montréal'', extrait de la revue Le Bugey,
Belley
Belley (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Bèlê'') is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Ain Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region, France. It is the capital of the historical regi ...
(Ain, France), 1984, 30 p., 3 illustrations
* ''Québécoises d'hier et d'aujourd'hui'', Éditions internationales Alain Stanké, ''Biographies'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1985, 239 p., 9 illustrations
** ''Figures de proue – Évocation de 700 femmes dépareillées'', Éditions internationales Alain Stanké, ''Monographie'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 2000, 477 p., 85 illustrations
* ''Bacchus sur nos bords'', extrait de ''L'histoire de l'alcool au Québec'', Éditions internationales Alain Stanké, pour La Société des alcools du Québec,
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1986, 58 p., 51 illustrations
* ''Petit dictionnaire des citations québécoises'', Éditions libre expression, ''Mots historiques et phrases plaisantes'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1988, 262 p., 44 illustrations
* ''Le Paris des Québécois'', Éditions libre expression, collection ''Guide historico-touristique'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1989, 187 p., 94 illustrations
* ''1690 : une année dans la vie de la famille LeMoyne'', Société historique, Pointe-au-Pic, 1990, 8 p., 7 illustrations
* ''La France de l'Ouest des Québécois'', Éditions libre expression, collection ''Guide historico-touristique'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1990, 220 p., 161 illustrations
* ''Les Montréal de France'', Éditions libre expression, collection ''Guide historico-touristique'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1991, 160 p., 126 illustrations
* ''Témoin de nos commencements, Martin Prévost, 1611–1691'', Éditions Archonte, ''Biographie'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1991, 184 p., 101 illustrations
* ''Montréal, la folle entreprise – chronique d'une ville'', Éditions internationales Alain Stanké, ''Monographie'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1991, 527 p., 153 illustrations
** ''Montreal – A History'' (translation by: Elizabeth Mueller and Robert Chodos). McClelland & Stewart,
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, 1993, 416 p, 153 illustrations
* ''Cent ans de transport en commun motorisé'', Publications Proteau, ''Essai'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
, 1993, 315 p., 110 illustrations
* ''Portraits de familles pionnières'', Éditions libre expression, ''Généalogie'',
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
,
** Tome 1, 1993, 300 p., 108 illustrations
** Tome 2, 1994, 345 p., 111 illustrations
** Tome 3, 1995, 368 p., 107 illustrations
** Tome 4, 1996, 334 p., 106 illustrations
** Tome 5, 1997, 295 p., 96 illustrations
* ''La France des Acadiens'', Les éditions d'Acadie,
Moncton
Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. Th ...
, ''Guide historico-touristique'', 1994, 265 p., 132 illustrations
* ''Trois siècles de tourisme au Québec'', Les éditions du Septentrion,
Qiébec, 2000, 366 p., ill.
* ''Mon tour de jardin'', Les éditions du Septentrion, ''Autobiographie'',
Qiébec, 2002, 238 p., ill., index
* ''Mémorial de Canadiens français aux USA'', Les éditions du Septentrion,
Qiébec, 2003, 300 p., ill.
Honors
* 1980: Grand Prix Littéraire du Tourisme, de l'Association française des journalistes et écrivains du tourisme
* 1992:
Prix Percy-W.-Foy, de la Société historique de Montréal
* 1992: Chevalier des Arts et des lettres, de la
République française
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, an ...
, pour sa contribution majeure en tant qu'historien à l'approfondissement des relations entre le Québec et la France sur le plan culturel mais aussi humain
* 1996: Prix
Archange-Godbout, décerné par la Société généalogique canadienne-française
* 2000: Sa photo grand format est apposée sur le ''Mur des célébrités'', au Centre municipal
Laval, à
Beauport
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prevost, Robert
1918 births
2007 deaths
Writers from Quebec
Historians from Quebec
Historians of Quebec
Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres