How did the idea for this book project come about? J-P. W. As early as 2019, during a conference organized to mark the centenary of Grands Moulins de Paris (GMP), the idea emerged to work on the history of the VIVESCIA Group. Put on hold du- ring the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was revived in 2022 with the aim of preserving historical heritage and safeguarding the company’s memory. This was fol- lowed by a hunt for archives that took me from Nancy in the east to Bordeaux in the west, Marseille in the south, Reims, Brienne- le-Château, Paris, and beyond — revealing an extraordinary trove of archives: hundreds upon hundreds of boxes of documents, often without an inventory! It is the legacy of the various cooperatives that preceded VIVESCIA over the past 130 years. Why is it important to work on a company’s history? J-P. W. The work of a historian is not simply about listing facts. The historian’s true contribution lies in the ability to shed light on past events by placing them in context, to pe- riodize phenomena, to understand how they are intertwined over time, and to reveal their role in the course of history. And, most importantly for me, as someone who studies inno- vation and change, it is about explaining how and why things came into being, and in what specific contexts. Gradually, the pieces of the puzzle come together to form a distinctive narrative. Understanding the turning points and trials an or- ganization has gone through to reach where it is today can help us better grasp its present and anticipate its future. What do oral testimonies add to the available factual material? J-P. W. They offer a different ap- proach. When a historian interviews a witness, they are not seeking facts or dates; rather, they are looking to capture representations, perceptions, and how individuals experienced events. Everyone re- counts them through their own lens, shaped by the position they held at the time. The some thirty interviews conducted with leaders and employees who have contri- buted to building the Group over the past 15 to 20 years provided an extremely valuable complementa- ry perspective, precisely because the viewpoints are so diverse. These testimonies from key actors are snapshots in the company’s life, giving depth to the various contexts and substance to the written archives, which themselves form the backbone of the narrative. Understanding the turning points and trials an organization has gone through to reach where it is today can help us better grasp its present and anticipate its future.. JEAN-PIeRRE WILLIOT Historian and Professor of Contemporary Economic History at Sorbonne Université SHEDDING LIGHT ON tHe PAST, An interview with Jean-Pierre Williot, author of Mémoire de Grains – VIVESCIA, une histoire céréalière — a project born from the discovery of exceptional archives, remarkable both for their diversity and their rarity, and from a series of interviews with key stakeholders and witnesses. bULDING THE FUTURE 11