November 9, 2015
Archives of Manitoba Hosts Remembrance Event
– – –Remembering the First World War Through Soldier's Letters: Minister Lemieux
The Archives of Manitoba will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War and Remembrance Day with a public reading of letters written by Manitoban soldiers who served in the First World War, Tourism, Culture, Heritage, Sport and Consumer Protection Minister Ron Lemieux announced today.
“As we approach Remembrance Day, it’s important to find ways to remember the soldiers from past wars,” said Minister Lemieux. “The archives event is a wonderful example of remembrance that gives Manitobans the opportunity to honour these soldiers and reflect on the words they wrote during the war.”
During the war, letters were the main form of communication between soldiers and their family and friends back home. Soldiers wrote letters from the trenches, from hospital beds and from training barracks. They wrote to family, friends and sweethearts. Many collections of letters from the First World War have been donated to the Archives of Manitoba. These letters are a powerful record of individual soldiers’ thoughts and feelings, the minister said.
The initiative includes a weekly blog on the Archives of Manitoba website highlighting wartime records and a display of soldiers’ letters in the building foyer. The display is open to the public and tomorrow at 7 p.m. at 200 Vaughan Ave. in the Archives of Manitoba Research Room, selected letters will be read aloud.
“I cannot think of anything to write about that does not in one way or another swing round to the great sorrowful war. There is not a gleam of hope in sight but perhaps we have walked so long in darkness that we have ceased to look for the dawn.” – Frank Leathers, Nov. 29, 1917.
Follow the Archives of Manitoba on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBGovArchives.
- 30 -