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Trenton Air Station hospital collection

  • RC0792
  • Collection
  • 1942

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.

Trenton Air Station Hospital

Nazi newsreels collection

  • RC0817
  • Collection
  • 1940-1942

The collection contains newsreels produced by the firm Degeto Weltspiegel. The subjects covered include:
Attack on Malta
Desert war
Winter on the eastern front
Meeting with Marshall Foch
Murmansk to Africa
Attack on Sebastopol
U-boat attacks on British-American shipping
Canadian troops captured at Dieppe

World War, 1939-1945, Group Photographs

  • RC0838
  • Collection
  • 1943-1945

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.

World War, 1939-1945, Jewish Underground Resistance

  • RC0839
  • Collection
  • [1939-1945]

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.

World War, 1939-1945 poster collection

  • RC0840
  • Collection
  • 1939-1945

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).

World War, 1939-1945, Propaganda Collection: Air Dropped and Shelled Leaflets and Periodicals.

  • RC0841
  • Collection
  • 1939-1945

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.

World War, 1939-1945, Underground Resistance collection – Belgium

  • RC0842
  • Collection
  • 1939-1945

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.

World War, 1939-1945, Underground Resistance collection – France

  • RC0843
  • Collection
  • 1939-1945

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.

World War, 1939-1945, Underground Resistance collection - Italy

  • RC0844
  • Collection
  • 1939-1945

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.

World War, 1939-1945, Underground Resistance collection – Netherlands

  • RC0845
  • Collection
  • 1939-1945

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.

Niagara region photograph collection

  • RC0859
  • Collection
  • 1938-1945

Several of the photographs document young men who served in World War II. They include an unidentified soldier in front of a 2nd/10th Dragoons vehicle. This regiment was based in St. Catharines as well as Hamilton and Brantford and did not serve overseas. There are five photographs taken by a soldier who built bailey bridges over the Aller and Weser rivers, who was a member of the 147 football team, and who was photographed in a former P.O.W. camp with a Nazi swastika near Onasbrück, Germany. The versos of all these photographs have descriptions of the events depicted. There are three photographs of Matt Wilkinson whose trade in the army was that of a blacksmith. There is also a postcard photograph of the Ravens Hotel in Schleswig, Germany where he was billeted. Also in the album are a group of news clippings about Flying Officer Alexander Jamieson Muir (1920-1944) who served in the 626 Squadron. There are no identified photographs of him in the album, although there are ones of Jack and Don Muir, presumably his cousins. There are two pages photographs of the Victoria Rifles Company in May 1944. A Montreal regiment, it embarked for Great Britain on 20 November 1944. Its Niagara connection is unclear. Also in the album are family, wedding, vacation photographs of Wasaga Beach as well as photographs of various locales in the Niagara region.

John Wigmore collection

  • RC0887
  • Collection
  • 1942-1944

The collection consists of forty-five letters from John Wigmore to his parents, plus two additional letters from his brother Bill, written between 1942-44.

Wigmore, John G.

Royal Air Force (RAF) Collection

  • RC0891
  • Collection
  • 1943

There are two letters written by Arthur Medland. The first is written to his Uncle, William P. White, the second is written to Douglas S. White, who seems to be William's son based on the content of the letters. Medland's letter to Douglas mentions the Tunisian Campaign. Medland has given the day and month, but not the date. His letter to Douglas is mostly likely written in 1943, given the time of the Tunisian Campaign and the active service of the HMCS Owen Sound, but it could be later. It is presumed that the letter to William is the same year, but again could be later.

The third letter was written by Jim [Shanock?] (1495306), an Aircraftman with the RAF, based at Sharjah in what is now Dubai. He was serving as part of the Persian and Iraq Force when he wrote to a Canadian, [Ian or Tom] Lancaster (JX391082), on board the HMCS Moose Jaw in July 1943. A couple of words have been excised from the letter by the censor.

Medland, Arthur

Interviews with former members of the Communist Party of Canada

  • RC0908
  • Collection
  • 1984-1987

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.

Borchiver, Ruth Ann

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