Subseries

This subseries chronicles the daily reality of Canadian soldiers and civilians involved in the First World War, from 1914 to 1918. It reflects the personal perspectives of several individuals, including Lieutenant Raoul de Villeray Terroux, Sergeant Louis Philippe Bastien and Captain Victor Gordon Tupper, who were all deployed in France or Great Britain. The records document the daily routine of Canadian soldiers -- their hopes, homesickness, feelings on the eve of battle, opinion of the war -- along with weather conditions, the state of the troops, and censorship. The subseries also spotlights several milestones of the war, including a few major battles and the organization of a hospital.

It includes letters and postcards sent from Canadian officers in France to their loved ones in Canada, including an open letter from Major Talbot Mercer Papineau (1883-1917) to his cousin Henri Bourassa (1868-1952), the founder and editor-in-chief of Le Devoir newspaper. There is also a handwritten letter from King George V to Canadian soldier J. Slattery. In addition, the subseries contains a list of survivors of the Montreal Rifle Regiment, the text of a speech delivered by Major Talbot Papineau to the Canadian Corps School at Pernes (today known as Pernes-les-Fontaines) in February 1917, and reports on the Battle of Vimy Ridge, the sinking of the troop ship Aragon, and the establishment of the No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) in Boulogne. Finally, there are two scrapbooks with photographs of soldiers and civilians, British postcards, programs from religious services and many newspaper clippings, most of them from the Montreal Daily Star and The Gazette newspapers. Together, these cuttings present a daily (or almost daily) overview of the war news published in Montreal from August 1914 to May 1915.