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Collection consists of recordings made by Ruth Ann Borchiver in which she interviewed former members of the Canadian Communist movement, living in Toronto, for her doctoral thesis in applied psychology at the University of Toronto. The first interviews were conducted in 1984 and 1985 and the second interviews were mostly conducted in 1986 and 1987.
Borchiver asked participants about the events that led to their adoption of Communism; their reaction to perceived inconsistencies in Communist politics; their response to Khrushchev’s 1956 “Secret Speech” and other revelations about Stalinist rule; and their responses to significant events in Soviet history, including the Moscow trials of the 1930s, the Soviet non-aggression pact with Germany (commonly known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact), and Soviet interference in Yugoslavia.

Borchiver’s analysis centred on three themes: the conditions which led to the participants’ “conversion” to Communism, the conditions which led to the disconfirmation of their beliefs, and the conditions of proselytizing behaviour following their disconfirmation. The result is a description of ideological change from a millenarian outlook for achieving change through revolution to a tempered belief in incremental social change. Her methodology is socio-historical biography, using semi-structured interviews.

The first interview questions followed, but were not limited to, the following topics: early experiences of socialist ideation, feelings of achievement in the movement, reactions to revelations of the mid-1950s including Nikita Khrushchev’s Secret Speech (1956), and their current beliefs regarding socialist ideas. The second interview focused on the following topics: Trotskyism, the Moscow Trials, Social Democracy, the German-Soviet Pact, and Soviet interference in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.

The study was conducted on twelve people who were active in the Canadian communist movement prior to 1960, commonly referred to as the “Old Left.” Respondents included three women and nine men, who ranged in age from 65 to 83 years old and joined the Communist Party of Canada between 1923 and 1935. One participant was expelled from the Party in 1949, nine defected in 1957, and two left in 1960. Six participants were in the full-time employ of the Party for most of their careers, and six were leading Party activists. Six were European immigrants and six were born in Canada of immigrant parents. The thirteenth interviewee, who is not included in the final dissertation, was interviewed in hospital but not recorded.

Collection consists of newspapers and periodicals (114 titles, ca. 400 issues); broadsides (33 items); leaflets (341 items); and books and pamphlets (84 items) and other documents (27 items) produced by or relating to the underground resistance in France during the Second World War. Also included are related materials: ephemera from the pre-War and “Phony War” periods (15 items); Free French and other foreign publications (43 items); items related to the liberation of Paris (8 items) and to the period immediately after the liberation (45 items); autograph letters and manuscripts (20 items); and books inscribed by their authors (60 items). Most of the documents are in French, while some are in German or Yiddish.

This collection consists of various pieces of ephemera and other items related to the Second World War.

This is a small collection of posed group photographs of military and civilian units, the majority of which are mounted on board and list the individuals in each photograph.

This collection contains posters issued by Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The posters have been numbered sequentially with prefixes of A, C, B, and U. Facsimiles and duplicates are noted in the finding aid. Subject matter varies: recruitment, Victory Bonds, activities on the Home Front to aid and protect the troops, gas attacks and bombs, ARP. Although this is mainly a collection of posters, there is one photograph (C24) and one calendar (C21).

The collection consists of typescripts, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, reports, sheet music, printed materials (Canada, Britain, Australia and the United States) and uncatalogued pamphlets (some in German) pertaining mainly to Britain's participation in World War II. The collection is supplemented by books which have been catalogued for Archives and Research Collections, including a full set of the British Official History of the War, unit and regimental histories, biographies and autobiographies, and volumes on the various battles and operations of the British forces. There is also a poster collection which contains one photograph (#C24).

The collection consists of two accruals. The first accrual comprises the fonds of Colonel Steer-Webster as well as the partial fonds of Michael Harrison, author of Mulberry: The Return to Triumph (1965). Michael Harrison has written over fifty books of fiction, biography, travel and history. It consists of typescripts, correspondence, charts, sketches, photographs, maps, models. The second accrual contains correspondence addressed to H. V. Phillips in the Ministry of Supply as well as photographs, plans and printed materials.

There have been three accruals. The first accrual consists mainly of World War I and II materials, although there are materials from the American Civil War and Vietnam. It includes Christmas cards, postcards, letters, pamphlets, photographs, and periodicals. Although mainly Canadian and British, other nationalities are represented. The second accrual consists of a few World War I and II items, 3 pennants, a swagger stick, a print and other items, including NORAD materials and photographs. The third accrual consists of photographs, advertising in support of the military, cards and other printed materials, and realia, all from the twentieth century. The fourth accrual is menu in the style of a fan for the Queen's Own Rifles 1912 dinner.

The collection consists of letters written by Magee to Charles and Marion Shaw, 1944-1946. The Shaws were the owners of the North American Leather Company in Omemee, Ontario. There are also letters (typed carbons) from Magee to Dr. Ody and Colonel Harris which may have been enclosed in letters to the Shaws; one letter (a typed carbon) from Shaw to Magee; a draft of an unsigned letter to Sherwood Lett about Magee; and a mimeographed report “Visit to Berlin”, unsigned but by Magee.

The collection (18-2001) consists of correspondence mainly from Aldwinckle to Somers, poetry, pen and ink sketches and drawings, and one water-colour.

Collection consists of books (1942-1945; 38 items in French, 3 items in Dutch); newspapers (4 titles; 1942, 1944); and other material (2 items) produced by or relating to the underground resistance in the Netherlands during the Second World War. Most of the documents are in French, while some are in Dutch.

Collection consists of original documents collected by David Diamant over a period of approximately 30 years dealing primarily with the Jewish segment of the French underground resistance; many of the documents originate with communist groups, and some deal with Polish groups. Most of the documents are in French, while some are in Yiddish.

Collection consists of items originating from prisoners held in German concentration camps, internment and transit camps, Gestapo prisons, and POW camps, during and just prior to World War II. Most of the collection consists of letters written or received by prisoners, but also includes receipts for parcels, money orders and personal effects; paper currency; and realia, including Star of David badges that Jews were forced to wear.

Collection consists of newspapers (85 titles, ca. 400 issues); broadsides (97 items); leaflets (130 items); and publications (30 items) produced by or relating to the underground resistance in Belgium during the Second World War. Most of the documents are in French, while some are in Flemish or German.

Collection consists of over 1,000 air dropped and shelled leaflets and periodicals created and disseminated during the Second World War. The majority of items in this collection were printed by the Allies then air or container dropped, or fired by artillery shell over German occupied territory. Many leaflets and periodicals have original publication codes and were printed in over 10 languages. Only shelled leaflets, Germans to Allies (115 items), are in English.

The collection consists of Windridge’s war medals and various military and civilian pins and badges, various service records and discharge papers and a couple of photographs. Included is a matchbox, with a holder made by Windridge with a small Scottie dog figurine, which must have been a good luck charm for him. There is also correspondence mostly from Windridge and his wife to his daughter during the period of the Second World War.

To date, the collection consists of one item only, the newspaper La Voce De La Patria: Giornale Clandestino dei soldati italiani intelligent, February, 1945. This newspaper was also used as safe conduct for soldiers joining the partisans or the Allies.

The collection consists of communications from the War Office and other agencies during and after World War II. Box 1 contains a selection of British War despatches detailing troop movements and battle outcomes. These range from roughly mid-1941 to late-1942. Box 2 contains miscellaneous materials, including British casualty lists, special army orders, army council instructions, translated versions of the Fuehrer Conferences on Naval Affairs (from 1939-42, and 1944), documents from the Civil Aeronautics Administration exploring the state of the post-war British aviation industry, and a collection of radar bulletins from 1945. Several print periodicals are also included, such as the Egyptian Mail and the Supplement to the London Gazette. Finally, box 2 also contains numerous miscellaneous materials, ranging from items published by the British Ministry of Information during wartime to Air Ministry publications from during and after the war. Wherever possible, copies have been made of some of the more illegible material in an attempt to preserve readability.

The album was compiled by someone stationed at Trenton, presumably a nurse, because the b&w photographs are predominantly of nurses on and off duty. There are two group photographs both taken on 9 July 1942 of hospital staff – one contains men in military uniform only, the other of men in military uniform and women in nursing uniforms. Only two album pages contain captions: one is of nursing orderlies, the other of “one hot night in June 1942 on the back porch”. All of the photographs were taken at Trenton except for a photograph of two nurses at Emerald Lake Chalet in the Canadian Rockies. There is one photograph of all personnel on the parade ground – possibly for a BCATP graduation ceremony.