Lest We Forget   Preserving History     Preserving HistoryAcross Canada and online, dozens of organizations are working hard to collect, preserve and display documents and artifacts from WWI. Many are local museums like the Hamilton Miltary Museum. and Library and Archives Canada (http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca) have a national scope. So, what if you discover or are given a letter, document or artifact from World War I and you think it should be part of a collection? What should you do? Well, according to Timothy Dubé, a Military Archivist with Library and Archives Canada, the first thing you should consider is how valuable and unique your possession is. Many people think that a soldier's Bible from the Great War must be very valuable, and it probably is for your family. But, says Dubé, "We've got more soldiers' Bibles than there were soldiers." In other words, for a national collection like LAC, a single Bible isn't that valuable. Same with letters. All the letters sent home from WWI were heavily censored and often just contain details about the weather, acknowledgement that a package was received and questions about the family at home. Since they don't really reveal anything about troop movements, strategy or the day-to-day activities on the front lines they're not very useful to a national collection. Dubé says he would only be interested in a collection of letters that give details of life on the front, as those are rare. On the other hand, letters that aren't of interest to LAC might be of interest to your local military museum. So, it would be a good idea to start there. Here's a list of military museums in Canada: (http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=links#4). In any case, handle any artifacts you find carefully. Don't let them get damp (if they are damp allow them to dry out naturally). Keep the dry documents in plastic and avoid handling them with your bare hands. The oils from your hands can damage old paper. You might even want to take digital photos of the pages, if it doesn't damage the artifact too much to turn pages. With all that in mind, if you do have an artifact you think is of national importance, here's some contact information for you: The Dominion Archives Memory Project http://www.thememoryproject.com/index.asp The Dominion Institute 183 Bathurst Street, Suite 401 Toronto, Ontario Canada M5T 2R7 416.368.9627 staff@dominion.ca Library and Archives Canada http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html Telephone: 613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777 (toll free in Canada and the US) 395 Wellington Street Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A 0N4 The Canadian War Museum http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/cwme.asp Military History Research Centre Canadian War Museum 1 Vimy Place Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A 0M8 General inquiries: (819) 776-8652 vimy.biblio@warmuseum.ca Archives related inquiries : vimy.archives@warmuseum.ca