Saigon Street Name Changes

From: Alec Soucy <Alec.Soucy@smu.ca>

Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 12:34 AM

To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: [Vsg] Saigon street name changes 1955

Hi everyone,

I have been going through Saigon newspapers at the National Library in Hanoi and came across this list of street name changes. It may be of some use to someone, so I took a photo.

Cheers,

Alec

Alexander Soucy, PhD

Professor and Chair

Department for the Study of Religion

(Pronouns: he/him)

Saint Mary’s University

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Kjipuktuk Unceded Mi’kmaq Territory

Profile: https://www.smu.ca/researchers/arts/alexandersoucy/

From: Alec Soucy <Alec.Soucy@smu.ca>

Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 12:38 AM

To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: [Vsg] 2nd file Saigon Street names

Dear Friends,

Here is the second list of street names changes in Saigon from 1955.

Best,

Alec

Alexander Soucy, PhD

Professor and Chair

Department for the Study of Religion

(Pronouns: he/him)

Saint Mary’s University

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Kjipuktuk Unceded Mi’kmaq Territory

Profile: https://www.smu.ca/researchers/arts/alexandersoucy/

From: Alec Soucy <Alec.Soucy@smu.ca>

Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2022 1:12 AM

To: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>; mikebiking@yahoo.com

Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Saigon street name changes 1955

Hi everyone,

There should have been two files that I posted. The first is from 11 October 1955 and the second is from 13 October 1955. The first ends with “con nữa” and the second says “tiếp theo và hết”. Both are from the paper Sài Gòn Mới. I double checked the edition on the 12th and didn’t see that they had anything.

I might have mis-labeled one of the files in my original post. Sorry for the lack of clarity. I have posted both of them again here, so they are in one place.

Best wishes,

Alec

From: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>

Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 7:40 PM

To: Hiep Duc <Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au>; nguyendien519@gmail.com

Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Saigon street name changes 1955

Thank you Hiep.

After Dien corrected me, I realized I had mixed up Truong Minh Giang and Phan Thanh Gian Streets.

Vo van Kiet spent a lot of effort trying to rehabilitate Phan Thanh Gian, approaching historians to write more positively about Phan Thanh Gian.

Hue Tam Ho Tai

harvard University emerita

From: Hiep Duc <Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au>

Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 7:28 PM

To: Dien Nguyen <nguyendien519@gmail.com>; Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>

Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Saigon street name changes 1955

Legrand de la Liraye was the street name in French colonial period, later changed to Phan Thanh Giảng after 1954. Nowaday it is Điện Biên Phủ.

La Liraye was a catholic priest who composed a Vietnamese-French dictionary and lived in Saigon from the time of French conquest in 1861. During this period, a respected mandarin, Phan Thanh Giảng was sent to Saigon to sign the 1862 peace treaty and later to Paris by Emperor Tu Duc to negotiate the return of the 3 eastern provinces of Cochinchina (Biên Hòa, Gia Định and Định Tường) with Napoleon III. However, the negotiation on the peace treaty 1862 modification ended up in failure. He was appointed the governor of the 3 remaining western provinces (Vĩnh Long, An Giang, Hà Tiên). But soon later the French attacked Vinh Long citadel in 1867, Phan Thanh Giảng surrendered the citadel to admiral de la Grandière and committed suicide as he knew his force could not sustain the power of the French force (from his experience in Paris witnessing the French nation and technology).

He was blamed by the communist of surrendering to the French without a fight. The street name bearing his name was changed after 1975 to Điện Biên Phủ.

Vo Văn Kiệt, the former PM, from Vinh Long was related to Phan Thang Giảng. Attitude toward Phan Thanh Giảng was recently changed in today Vietnam.

Hiệp

From: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>

Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 5:29 PM

To: Alec.Soucy@smu.ca; mikebiking@yahoo.com

Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Saigon street name changes 1955

Thanks, Alec et al,

I only received the second part. The file is dated 11-11-1955

I believe only Americans put the month before the day, so the date on the first file,from the Vietnamese archives, would be 11 October 1955.

Hue Tam Ho Tai

Harvard University emerita

From: Tan Pham <nxb315kio@gmail.com>

Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 5:12 PM

To: Alec Soucy <Alec.Soucy@smu.ca>

Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Saigon street name changes 1955

There are many old maps of Saigon on line which have the old street names. It takes a bit of time to compare them with the current maps to identify the streets.

Tan Pham

From: Hiep Duc <Hiep.Duc@environment.nsw.gov.au>

Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 4:24 PM

To: Alec Soucy <Alec.Soucy@smu.ca>; Mike High <mikebiking@yahoo.com>

Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Saigon street name changes 1955

You can get all the street names in Saigon and their changed names from earliest time in early 1800 to 1996 in this reference in the Appendix (which combines many other references)

Huỳnh Ngọc Tráng, Trương Ngọc Tường, , Phạm Thiều Hương,, Nguyễn Đại Phúc, Đỗ Văn Anh, Saigon – Gia Định xưa, Nxb Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, 1996.

Hiệp

From: Alec Soucy <Alec.Soucy@smu.ca>

Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 4:14 PM

To: Mike High <mikebiking@yahoo.com>

Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Saigon street name changes 1955

Hi Mike,

I believe it is 10th Nov. I can check later. I also think there is one more page a couple of days later that I will send later today. I am off to the National Library again momentarily.

Best,

Alec

From: Dien Nguyen <nguyendien519@gmail.com>

Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 12:22 PM

To: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>

Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Saigon street name changes 1955

Dear chị Huệ -Tâm,

My family lived in Trương Minh Giảng in 1955-56. The old French name was Eyriau des Vergnes.

Best regards,

Nguyễn Điền

Canberra

From: Mike High <mikebiking@yahoo.com>

Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 11:50 AM

To: Alec Soucy <Alec.Soucy@smu.ca>

Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Saigon street name changes 1955

Alec,

Thanks, this is great. The file name on the images give the date “11.10.1955”—is this October 10th or November 11th ?

:: Mike High

Great Falls, Virginia

USA

From: Hue-Tam Tai <huetamtai@gmail.com>

Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 5:48 AM

To: Tan Pham <nxb315kio@gmail.com>; Alec Soucy <Alec.Soucy@smu.ca>

Cc: vsg@u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Saigon street name changes 1955

Hi, Alec,

Very helpful

Was there another list? I remember my.mother referring to Le Thanh tong street as rue d'Espagne. No one i knew called duong Tu Do anything but Catinat. And Truong Minh Giang was Legrand de la Lyraie.

When was the newspaper published? 1955? The date is important. I am intrigued by the ad for an exhibition on the "traitor Bao Dai "

Many thanks, again.

Hue Tam Ho TI

Harvard University emerita