Collection search - Gillespie, Margaret - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

Gillespie, Margaret - Interview

Item number (ISN):

379034

Series title:

[The Great War and Canadian Society]

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1974-06-17

Item number (ISN):

379034

Type of material:

Sound recordings

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

THE GREAT WAR AND CANADIAN SOCIETY PROJECT

Accession:

1975-0098

Media:

Sound

Part:

1 of 1

Production date:

1974-06-17

Production company:

Opportunities for Youth

Production credit:

interviewer, Lori Rotenberg

Description:

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Interview of Mrs. Margaret Gillespie of Toronto, age 66, who was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1908. Subjects discussed include: her parents; growing up in Edmonton and Thornbury, Ontario, her father's birthplace; her father's enlistment in 1915; her father's ardent belief in the British Empire and his belief that he was fighting for his King and country; not mixing with immigrants in Edmonton; her father's military training at the Exhibition Grounds in Edmonton; training in Kent, England; his being killed in September 1916; visiting her father in his barracks in Edmonton; a military christening in the sergeants' mess for her brother; her mother getting an allowance; letters from her father; receiving a widow's pension and a pension for the children until they were ages 15 and 16; her father's description in his letters of life in the trenches and a meadowlark singing during a lull in the fighting; her father's view that he was fighting so that in the future children would not have to live through war; stricter training in England than in Canada; school teachers talking to their pupils about the war; fundraisers by patriotic societies, such as teas, to raise money to buy extra comforts for the soldiers; her mother baking for the patriotic societies; Red Cross work knitting and making dressings; knitting by church societies; women allowed to knit during church services in World War One; her father taking her to see the first regiment to leave Edmonton in November 1914; Armistice Day spent with her aunt and uncle on a farm near Davidson, Saskatchewan; burning effigies of the Kaiser; hostility toward Germans living in Canada; people refusing to shop at the German butcher shop in her neighbourhood; her mother's support for conscription because her husband went voluntarily, so young men should be forced to go; hearing about the burning of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa in 1916; hearing about the Halifax Explosion of 1917; rejoicing in Port Arthur in 1919 when a regiment returned; her mother being too poor to buy war bonds; the difficulty some of her father's friends had in finding work after the war and the disillusionment they felt; giving veterans land at a lower price, under the Veterans' Land Act; leaving Edmonton in 1918 and going to Port Arthur and then to Thornbury, Ontario; attending high school in Thornbury; her father's belief that the First World War was the war to end all wars; her father's training at Sarcee Camp near Calgary; seeing a Charlie Chaplin film in Port Arthur; reading the newspapers; and her father's military rank.

Language:

English

Notes:

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1. The interviews took place in 1974 and resulted in the publication of a book entitled "The Great War and Canadian Society" edited by Daphne Read - copyright 1978 - New Hogtown Press, Toronto.~2. Release forms, data sheets, and summary analysis/transcripts are available in binders labelled Opportunities for Youth - War and Canadian Society in VSA's audio-visual section.~3. Part of a series of recorded interviews with elderly citizens who lived in Canada during the period of World War I. The interview material consists of their opinions and observations about the war, the war years, and the effect on Canadian society during and after WWI.
~4. The interviewee signed an agreement giving consent for a recording of this interview to be placed in the Public Archives of Canada for the purposes of historical research and also signed a publication agreement allowing any transcribed portions of the interview to be used in the book under the condition that no full names, addresses or phone numbers would be published.
~5. Subject description is based on information found in the fact sheet, deposit agreement, publication agreement and summary analysis.

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

436369

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

C01385

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

FROM LOANED MATERIAL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

439014

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A1 2007-05-0051

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Duration:

78:44

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

736956

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

1975-0098/070

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CASSETTE

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

ORIG

Vault ISN:

1003814

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A4 2007-05-0051

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Made from:

C01377
C01385

Status:

MASTER
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Consultation copy number:

A1 2007-05-0051

Restrictions on consultation:

No Restrictions / Pas de restrictions

Reproduction access:

With written permission of Copyright Owner / Avec la permission écrite du détenteur des droits d'auteur

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Date modified:: 2024-04-09