Do you have other suggestions for works that could be included on this list? We’d love to hear them! Let us know by tagging @CndHistAssoc on Twitter and using the hashtag #CHATeachingResourcesChat
As many teachers and students once again are working online for the next several weeks at the very least, we have gathered a number of online resources and tools that can be used to engage student learning. This is part 1 of a 2-part series exploring online tools and resources related to War and Remembrance, Peace and Conflict.
Archival Collections
Library and Archives Canada – Military Heritage
Library and Archives Canada holds an extensive collection of records of the Canadian men and women who have served in the military and in the early years of the North West Mounted Police. There are records relating to Loyalists, the War of 1812, the Rebellions, the South African War, the First World War and the Second World War, many of which are featured in databases, research guides and virtual exhibitions. The records include muster rolls, military service files, unit war diaries, medal registers, photographic collections, documentary art and posters, as well as published sources.
There are more than twenty-eight online resources related to Canada’s military heritage and extensive databases that students can access. The website has been updated. By entering the key word ‘military’, the databases will be filtered for further research.
For First Work War Records, see here: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/search.aspx
Library and Archives Canada Blog
Rebecca Murray. “My great-grandfather’s Vimy Memorial visit: fact or fiction?” Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), July 14, 2022 https://thediscoverblog.com/2022/07/14/my-great-grandfathers-vimy-memorial-visit-fact-or-fiction/
Rebecca Murray. “Women in the war: the Canadian Women’s Army Corps in the Department of National Defence’s archives” Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), June 16, 2022 https://thediscoverblog.com/2022/06/16/women-in-the-war-the-canadian-womens-army-corps-in-the-department-of-national-defences-archives/
Emily Potter. “Charlie Chaplin goes to war – Part 1: Starting your genealogy research from a First World War record” Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), November 11, 2021, https://thediscoverblog.com/2021/11/11/charlie-chaplin-goes-to-war-part-i-starting-your-genealogy-research-from-a-first-world-war-record/
Emily Potter. “Part 2: Charlie Chaplin goes to war – Part 2: Going beyond a First World War record for your genealogy research.” Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), November 11, 2021 https://thediscoverblog.com/2021/11/11/charlie-chaplin-goes-to-war-part-ii-going-beyond-a-first-world-war-record-for-your-genealogy-research/
Andrew Horrall. “Serving despite segregation: No. 2 Construction Battalion” Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), November 4, 2021 https://thediscoverblog.com/2021/11/04/serving-despite-segregation-the-no-2-construction-battalion/
Andrew Horrall. “Explore the records of No. 2 Construction Battalion.” Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), November 4, 2021, https://thediscoverblog.com/2021/11/04/explore-the-no-2-construction-battalion-2/
Caitlin Webster. “Breaking ground: 150 years of federal infrastructure in British Columbia – Peace River Region: RCAF Fort St. John.” Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), November 8 to December 20, 2021 https://thediscoverblog.com/tag/bc-infrastructure-series/(eight-part series)
Nicole Watier. “Your Ancestor Was a Canadian Volunteer in the Spanish Civil War?” Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), January 16, 2020. https://thediscoverblog.com/2020/01/16/your-ancestor-was-a-canadian-volunteer-in-the-spanish-civil-war/.
Campbell, Heather. “Inuit Soldiers of the First World War: Lance Corporal John Shiwak.” Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), November 11, 2019. https://thediscoverblog.com/2019/11/11/inuit-soldiers-of-the-first-world-war-lance-corporal-john-shiwak/.
Kawenaa Montour, Elizabeth. “Tom Cogwagee Longboat’s Life and Legacy.” Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), December 23, 2019. https://thediscoverblog.com/2019/12/23/tom-cogwagee-longboats-life-and-legacy/.
Horky, David. “Recognition and Remembrance: A Métis Soldier in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1917–1918.” Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), November 9, 2019. https://thediscoverblog.com/2019/11/09/recognition-and-remembrance-a-metis-soldier-in-the-canadian-expeditionary-force-1917-1918/.
Beginning in 2013 and finished in August 2018, more than 620 000 records from the First World War were digitized and files range from 20 to 75 pages each, with many thousands of staples and clips removed. Databases relate to soldiers, chaplains and nurses. https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/personnel-records.aspx
See the work of historian Nic Clarke to better understand the context of the database of those recruits who were rejected on medical grounds: https://activehistory.ca/2016/10/unwanted-warriors-an-excerpt/
Nic Clarke, Unwanted Warriors: The Rejected Volunteers of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.
For assignments and classes that cover the Dominion / Colony of Newfoundland and the experiences of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and Forestry Corps, the Newfoundland Regiment and the Great War database https://www.therooms.ca/thegreatwar/the-beginning/entering-the-great-war could be of interest! More information about Newfoundland’s role in the First World War, as well as detailed descriptions of the types of documents included in the files, can be found on the introductory page of the website of the in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Macfarlane, David. The Danger Tree: Memory, War, and the Search for a Family’s Past. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2000.
Sample searches your students can undertake to meet assignment / curriculum objectives:
- Student family names
- Places or communities where students are from or now live
- Looking for the age of those who enlisted
- Occupational searches
- Circumstances of soldier deaths
Nursing Sisters Co-lab Project
Murray, Rebecca. “Women in the War: A Co-Lab Challenge.” Government. Library and Archives Canada Blog (blog), October 21, 2021. https://thediscoverblog.com/.
Co-lab is a project that can be regularly checked to see if there is work that may be of interest to your students and to match activities with your curriculum objectives. See the sample project below.
https://co-lab.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Challenges/Details/1011
The Call to Duty: Canada’s Nursing Sisters
The First World War saw a major mobilization of soldiers, equipment, supplies and medical staff. Between 1914 and 1918, 2,003 women enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) and went overseas. The war was perceived as exclusively male, but the presence of nursing sisters near the front and close to the line of fire has shattered this misperception and highlighted the importance of female caregivers during the war. These women looked after almost 540,000 soldiers and worked near the battlefields under difficult conditions.
Check out the letters, diaries and photographs of Canadian nursing sisters who served during the Great War. Follow these nurses as they witness the destruction of war, participate in social events, and help patients, as you transcribe, translate, tag and/or describe their writings and photographs.
International Archives
Teaching may include opportunities to have students extend their reach beyond Canada. Some students may have the language skills to navigate the diversity of online sources available to explore new sources.
https://www.archivesportaleurope.net/home
1914-1918-online is a collaborative international research project designed to develop a virtual reference work on WW1.
@19141918online http://www.1914-1918-online.net/
Internet Archive
The largest web archive in the world, established in 1996
UK Archives
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/total-war.htm
The Ogilby Muster (TOM)
“TOM is an online platform which gives users access to First World War archives held in Regimental Museums across the UK. … With over 75 participating collections, and more set to join in 2022, TOM will eventually hold over 2 million items including some never-before-seen material. Covering the period 1900 to 1929, the platform contains documents, photographs, letters, diaries and more, all related to the British Army and the men and women who served. Launching during Remembrance month, TOM has preserved the experiences and memories of those who served in the First World War for future generations.”
https://www.armymuseums.org.uk/the-ogilby-muster/
Archives of France
https://francearchives.fr/section/26288085/
Virtual Exhibits
Rennes, 1940-1944 : les soldats allemands derrière l’objectif
https://francearchives.fr/en/externref/19453a63cfe94b1da556f5c2a84054d1
L’Allier durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale
https://francearchives.fr/en/externref/59a5b4c8df5f441696920c4aa57aec2d
L’Allier dans la Première Guerre mondiale (1914-1919)
https://francearchives.fr/en/externref/ad32b43530b24f53b0a25f99bb49e2cb
11 novembre, mémoires calaisiennes de la Grande Guerre
https://francearchives.fr/en/externref/1fa282174f97456abd835aabaeed5946
Oflag 1940-1945. Des officiers en prison
https://francearchives.fr/en/externref/e1df6822b47343afa6b755aed7a8dae1
Film and Media
British Pathe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/britishpathe/featured
All footage can be viewed on the British Pathé website. www.britishpathe.com
https://www.britishpathe.tv/military-war
A video was adapted about 14 years ago by Great Big Sea – for their song – Recruiting Sargeant
Digital Tools
Depending on your learning objectives, building a timeline can be an interactive way to engage students with multi-media sources and it can be an engaging project for individual activities and group projects. It can provide students with tools to articulate why the dates they have selected to highlight are important and it can provide them with the opportunity to learn digital skills using either JS Knightlab or ClioVis. It can also be an engaging activity to encourage students to begin research for their major research project.
JS Timeline Knight Lab https://timeline.knightlab.com/ has excellent templates and uses a spreadsheet to capture information. Students must carefully consider the amount of detail they use for each selected event/date/person. They must cite their sources and consider how we use online material that may be available. Students can use the many archival repositories available to them to demonstrate their work and analysis. There is no cost to this program.
For this assignment, students are required to have a short description of their timeline and are required to describe how it relates to their work in the course. Students are not required to write more than 250 words. They must provide a hyperlink to their work and this helps them to learn how to hyperlink their work in documents. For a timeline worth 15 % of their grade, students may be required to have no more than 20 items in their spreadsheet with about a 50-word description for each entry. With their bibliography and citations, this work will then be the equivalent of about 1500 words. You may wish to suggest a larger number of items so that students can debate which events or people they wish to have as a top ten or a top twenty. If several groups are undertaking the same work, it can also be an opportunity to see how we make choices about relevance and significance.
ClioVis https://cliovis.com/#whatiscliovis is an online tool that was developed by historians and supports students learning to critically evaluate secondary sources, citing the work of others, working in groups, identifying key words and learning to be more systematic with their analysis and providing a way to present their work with a built-in presentation ability. This program has ‘freemium’ options. It has a free option and as more memory and users are integrated into projects, fees are associated with its use.
An example of a student group timeline is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zh-gEq-KR6GZHlWNEbXmlW9RcOx0VcZf/view and it demonstrates how students undertake all of the elements outlined above.