World War I
The Canadian Army Medical Corps wants men!
This recruiting card was typical in promising to get the volunteer to the front quickly, but unusual in offering valuable training for a postwar career.
Dominion Day in Ontario
This souvenir postcard included alternate Canadian lyrics to British standards, in honour of Canada's founding day.
Dr Scrimger, VC
This war savings stamp honoured Captain Francis Scrimger of Montreal, who won the Victoria Cross at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915.
"Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!"
For soldiers in training during the First World War, the gas mask was not so much a vital piece of battlefield equipment as an unusual accessory to be modeled in amusing photographs.
Helping the youngest war victims
One of the deadliest legacies of the First World War was disease - not just the Spanish flu, but typhus, smallpox, and consumption. As this fund-raising pamphlet argued, children in Eastern Europe were especially vulnerable.
Victory Bonds on sale!
Like previous campaign, the 1918 Victory Loan drive relied on thousands of local volunteers, both as organizers and canvassers.
Fund-raising in the Maritimes
Over a single week in 1918, the Canadian Red Cross Society intended to raise $250,000 in Nova Scotia alone - the equivalent of over $3.4 million in 2014 values.
Christmas in Germany
With the war over, soldiers of the 5th Battalion enjoyed Christmas 1918 in Germany, where they were serving with the occupation forces.
Peace rules the Day
This card, featuring John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields," was preserved by a soldier of the Royal Munster Fusiliers serving in Rangoon, Burma.
A shattered city
After the city of Halifax was devastated by an explosion in 1917, all of the sights that had characterized the war in Europe - ruined buildings, wreckage-strewn cityscapes, rows of unidentified bodies - were seen in Canada.
Returned Soldier's Handbook
This booklet told soldiers what to expect as they returned home to Canada, including what travel arrangements and services were available to veterans.
Programme of Peace with Victory Celebration
This Programme, probably from late 1918, describes a parade and service celebrating the Armistice of the First World War.
The Canada War Book
This book was issued to schools in New Brunswick as a text-book to instruct students about Canada's role in the war and their duty as Canadians to save money and materials that are needed for Canada's war effort. Although the armistice had been signed before this book was released, the war was technically not over until the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June of 1919.
War Contract Scandals
This collection of War Contract Scandals, investigated by the Public Accounts Committee, was released by the Liberal party to demonstrate the government's misuse of thousands of dollars, on such wastes as horses unfit for service, overpriced drugs, poor-quality binoculars, submarines rejected as unfit by other governments, and defective Shield-Shovels. Also included are the results of investigations by the special Boot Committee.
The Hun-Beating Proverb Book
"Containing Many Proverbs that Point to the Destruction of Arrogance, Tyranny, Villainy, Vice and the Monstrous Militarism of which Germany has been Guilty."
Illustrated War News, March 31, 1915
The Illustrated War News was a weekly British magazine produced during the First World War. Each issue contains photographs, drawings, articles, and maps portraying the allied war effort, for readers in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Newfoundland.
Illustrated War News, March 24, 1915
The Illustrated War News was a weekly British magazine produced during the First World War. Each issue contains photographs, drawings, articles, and maps portraying the allied war effort, for readers in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Newfoundland.
Illustrated War News, February 23, 1916
The Illustrated War News was a weekly British magazine produced during the First World War. Each issue contains photographs, drawings, articles, and maps portraying the allied war effort, for readers in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Newfoundland.
Illustrated War News, February 16, 1916
The Illustrated War News was a weekly British magazine produced during the First World War. Each issue contains photographs, drawings, articles, and maps portraying the allied war effort, for readers in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Newfoundland.
Illustrated War News, February 9, 1916
The Illustrated War News was a weekly British magazine produced during the First World War. Each issue contains photographs, drawings, articles, and maps portraying the allied war effort, for readers in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Newfoundland.