Download WWI Archival Collections List

WWI-Related Archival Collections
Harvey Skirving (COLL-058)
- Three (3) albums of WWI clippings collected and kept by Skirving (b. 1902), later an
accountant in St. John’s. It includes memorial programs and miscellaneous photographs, etc.
Tom Cahill (COLL-122)
- This collection was generated over a period of 30 years and consists mainly of typescripts of
Cahill’s original works for stage, radio and television. Among them, in record series 3, is the
typescript for Beaumont Hamel, a 1975 play he created with Dudley Cox.
Newfoundland Travelling Theatre Company (COLL-129)
- The content of this collection was generated during the 1970s (1971-1976) when a new
generation of Newfoundland actors and playwrights were experimenting with novel ideas for
theatre production in the province. The Newfoundland Travelling Theatre Company (NTTC) was
the first company to tour in the smaller provincial communities. Record series 4 contains
information about the play Beaumont Hamel (1975), including scripts, reviews, notes and
correspondence concerning production.
The Geography Collection (COLL-137)
- This collection consists of 1109 black and white photographs together with contact prints and
negatives. These photographs depict many images of Newfoundland and Labrador houses,
churches, public buildings, ships, railways, communities, and special events. Record series 5 in
this collection features photographs pertaining to WWI on the home front such as training at
Pleasantville and the opening of the war memorial in downtown St. John’s.
Janet (Miller) Ayre Murray (COLL-158)
- Consists of material related to her and her family’s involvement in the First World War and the
Royal Newfoundland Regiment. It includes material associated with her service with the
Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) of the British Red Cross from 1917 to 1918. Primarily a
collection of correspondence, it includes letters written by Janet’s brother, Andrew Miller, to
Janet and to her mother, Mary, while he served as a soldier with the Newfoundland Regiment.
There is also correspondence and other material related to Eric and Bernard Ayre, two brothers
who were soldiers during the war (Janet Miller married Eric Ayre in 1915.) There are letters
written by Bernard to his mother from the trenches. There is also a small amount of material,
mostly newspaper clippings, associated with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and the Battle
of the Somme at Beaumont Hamel on July 1, 1916. A number of photographs of soldiers and
family members are also included.
Frances Cluett (COLL-174)
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- Consists mainly of correspondence written by Frances Cluett home to her mother, Matilda
Cluett, in Belleoram, Fortune Bay while she served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment in Europe
during World War I. Their correspondence covers the years 1916-1920. There is a photograph
album of pictures taken by Cluett, many of them documenting her time in Europe, as well as
military records, certifications, and other general wartime artefacts. There is also a German Iron
Cross medal which was given to her by a German soldier. These letters, photographs and other
items provide insight into the life of one Newfoundland woman and her experiences as a VAD in
WWI.
Owen Steele (COLL-179)
- This collection is a first-hand account and contains the experiences and attitudes of a
Newfoundland soldier in World War I, found primarily in the form of a diary. It consists of
entries and excerpts from letters that he wrote home to his family. Owen Steele joined the
Newfoundland Regiment on September 13, 1914, only weeks after the war began. His diary
entries begin on October 3, 1914 while he is in a regimental training camp at Pleasantville, in St.
John’s. It ends with an entry on June 30, 1916, the night before the start of the Battle of the
Somme (Beaumont-Hamel) in which Steele took part and later died.
Mary Southcott (COLL-190)
- Consists of handwritten essays and notes, and photographs by Mary Southcott, founder of the
St. John’s General Hospital School of Nursing. The essays and notes are about the pioneering
days of nursing. The photographs include pictures taken at the General Hospital and the
Waterford Hall convalescent hospital for soldiers during the First World War.
Johnson Family (COLL-201)
- Consists of correspondence written by George Johnson and his three daughters, Sybil, Estelle,
and Dorothy. The letters by Sybil Johnson (record series 2) cover two distinct periods. The first
were written during the years 1902 to 1910 when she was a student in England and in Germany.
The second were written while she was working as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) during
the First World War, 1916 to 1918. Almost all letters were written to her parents. There are also
two diaries kept by Sybil, one while she was in Germany, 1906 to 1908, and one while at the 1st
Western General Military Hospital, Fazakerley, Liverpool, 1916 to 1918.
Lester Barbour (COLL-209)
- Lester Barbour served with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the First World War
from the time he enlisted in May 1917 until his death on March 10, 1918. While overseas in
Scotland, England and France he wrote home regularly to his mother and sisters. These letters
form the bulk of this collection. There are also some letters to and from other family members,
and an assortment of postcards from Lester. A small number of personal effects that were sent
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home after his death and some formal correspondence with the military concerning his pension
and other matters are also included.
Richard Squires (COLL-250)
- Sir Richard Squires served as Prime Minister of Newfoundland from 1919 to 1923 and 1928 to
1932. Prior to that, he was a member in the government of Prime Minister Edward Morris from
1913 to 1918. Pertinent to WWI, this collection features correspondence from Squires during the
war years which provides insight into the political situation on the home front during that time
period. Also included is a photo album depicting Sir Richard Squires’ tour of Europe in 1920 as
Newfoundland Prime Minister, which includes images of the Beaumont Hamel battlefield.
Henry Mews (COLL-267)
- This collection relates to H. G. R. Mews’s service in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during
World War I. It include letters written home to his mother and other family members, one letter
he received, photographs of Mews in uniform, and postcards collected mainly in Scotland,
France and Germany.
Thomas Nangle (COLL-308)
- Consists of the papers of Lt. Col. Thomas F. Nangle, Padre to the Newfoundland Regiment in
France during World War I. Included are press cuttings, Battalion, Brigade and Divisional
documents, reports, and battle orders, as well as photograph albums documenting the activities of
the Newfoundland Regiment and the building of the war memorials.
Royal Newfoundland Regiment (COLL-314)
- This collection consists of copies of photographs taken of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment
from 1917 to 1918, while the Regiment served in France during World War One. The
photographs depict various aspects of the soldiers’ daily lives including inspection by senior
officers and the awarding of medals to several officers.
Ruby Ayre (COLL-322)1
- A nurse with a detachment of British Red Cross Society, 1915-1918, this collection consists of
a Scrapbook with mounted photographs kept during her wartime nursing service in the Ascot
Auxiliary Military Hospital, a detachment of the British Red Cross Society. It includes
photographs, clippings and mementos of Newfoundlanders in Europe and fellow nurses such as
Janet Ayre.
William Benson (COLL-324)
- Consists of letters home to his sister, Irene Benson, from several of the locations where he was
stationed during the last year of World War I; official government correspondence informing
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Listed in the finding aid as MF-210 but as COLL-322 on the DAI.
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Irene of her brother's death; personal correspondence from people who had met Benson in
Europe; photocopies of official war diary for October 1918, the month in which Benson was
wounded and died; two photographs; and various other pieces of memorabilia associated with his
war service or his childhood.
Sydney Frost (COLL-346)
- The photographs in this album were collected by Charles Sydney Frost during his service with
the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in the First World War. Most of the photographs were taken
between 1914 and 1918. They are snapshots of Regiment officers while in the United Kingdom
and France. The majority of these men were from ‘B’ Company and it is likely that the photos of
these men were taken while C.S. Frost presided over that company as Captain. Also contained in
the album are reproductions of the 12 Newfoundland stamps that were issued to honor the
Regiment’s service in World War I.
The Collegian Service Record (COLL-366)
- This small collection consists of the records of Collegians (from the Methodist College) who
served in the First World War. Each page has the name of person, address and next of kin, as
well as the dates of events including Date of Enlistment, Date Embarked, Promotions, etc. There
are over 200 students listed here including Cluny Macpherson, Owen Steele, Lester Barbour, and
Robert Tait.
Dudley Cox (COLL-439)
- The collection consists of material relating to Dudley Cox’s career in theatre in Newfoundland,
1960s-mid-1970s. The material consists of programs, scripts, media coverage, correspondence,
photographs and notes relating to the Newfoundland Travelling Theatre Company, St. John's
Players and other theatre related activities from 1967-1976. Record series 2 specifically contains
research material, scripts with notes, notebooks and drafts, programs, and other promotional
material for the 1975 play Beaumont-Hamel.
Rossley Kiddie Company (COLL-472)
- This troupe performed a mix of music, theatre and dance during the First World War,
entertaining St. John’s residents during wartime. The collection offers an interesting glimpse of
the entertainment scene of the province’s capital city a century ago and describes the escapism
that the Rossley family provided on the home front during WWI. It includes photographs and
promotional materials such as newspaper clippings and a poster.
Kevin Keegan (COLL-474)
- Keegan enlisted as a soldier with the RNR in December 1914 and left to go overseas in April
1915. He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions at Monchy-le-Preux in April 1917 and
was severely wounded on October 9, 1917 at Broembeek, Belgium during the Battle of
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Poelcappelle. He returned to Newfoundland in April 1918 before settling in the United States,
first in New York then in Ohio. This collection consists primarily of wartime correspondence in
the form of letters from Keegan to his parents back in St. John’s as well as various
correspondence from political and military personnel to both Kevin Keegan and his father, Dr.
L.E. Keegan.
William Knight (COLL-476)
- Consists of letters written to William Blacker Knight by members of his family during June and
July of 1916, when he was a member of the Newfoundland Regiment at the Battle of the Somme.
These letters were returned to the family, undelivered, as Knight had been killed at Beaumont
Hamel on July 1. The envelopes for these letters carry various stamps and notations; each has the
word ‘Dead,’ stamped in red ink on the outside front. There are four letters written by Knight to
his father in late 1914 and early 1915, while he was still undergoing training in Scotland, and a
letter from the Deputy Paymaster of the Newfoundland Regiment, dated 1917, accompanying the
return of some of Knight’s belongings.
James Steele (COLL#-TBD)
- Full contents, scope, and collection # TBD (in progress accessioning, etc.) but contains A
Beaumont-Hamel trench map and photographs of the Regiment at Gallipoli as James Steele,
brother of Owen, served there. Steele was wounded at Beaumont-Hamel in 1916 and again in
1918 at Ypres but survived the war and returned home.
WWI-Related Manuscript Files
Dudley Cox (MF-056)
- This small fonds consists of 3 WWI-era photographs, c. 1914-1918 that were used as research
material for the play Beaumont-Hamel by Dudley Cox and Tom Cahill of the Newfoundland
Traveling Theatre Company. It contains one photograph of Prime Minister Sir William Lloyd of
Newfoundland examining a Whippet tank in France during World War I and two of the Royal
Newfoundland Regiment during training at Pleasantville in St. John’s.
Royal Newfoundland Regiment (MF-264)
- This small fonds consists of a program for trooping the colour of the Royal Newfoundland
Regiment at Corner Brook, May 9, 1960. It includes an explanation of trooping the colour;
officers and colour party; drill movements and music; brief history of the Regiment and list of
battle honours. Also included is a program for the 50th Anniversary WWI remembrance event,
1964.
Ethel Dickenson (MF-329)
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- This small fonds consists of a copy of a black and white portrait photograph of Ethel Dickenson
taken at Holloway Studio Limited, St. John's c. 1914. Sometime during 1915 or 1916 Dickenson
went to England to visit her aunt, Gertrude Ayre. It is not known if she had planned to stay in
England for a prolonged period but once there she soon became involved in volunteer work,
spending much time visiting recuperating soldiers at the various hospitals and nursing homes
near London. She later became a full-time volunteer at the Ascot Hospital, possibly as a member
of the Volunteer Aid Detachment (VAD), the corps of para-nurses who were a vital part of the
war effort. She also volunteered at Wandsworth No. 3 General Hospital in London.
Maud Tucker (MF-352)
- This small fonds includes three letters written to Maud Tucker of St. Phillip’s, Newfoundland, a
friend of Frank ‘Mayo’ Lind. Lind, a soldier with the Newfoundland Regiment in WWI from
Little Bay, became well-known as an unofficial war correspondent with the publication of his
wartime letters in St. John’s newspaper The Daily News. Included is a letter written to Lind by
Tucker on May 27, 1916, returned, unopened, with ‘MISSING Casualty Verified’ stamped on
the envelope. Lind was killed at Beaumont-Hamel, the opening allied offensive in the Battle of
the Somme, July 1, 1916. It also contains a postcard of an iceberg that Tucker addressed to Lind,
but possibly did not send, a copy of a postcard addressed to Tucker from 1909 and a small
scrapbook containing mainly clippings from local papers concerning Newfoundland and World
War I.
Hugh Tudor (MF-366)
- Consists of a copy of the memoirs of Major General Sir Hugh Tudor, officer commanding the
9th Scottish Division of the British Army during World War I. The Newfoundland Regiment
served as a battalion in the Division from September 1918 – March 1919. The memoirs appear to
be a transcription of his field diaries.
Eldon Froud(e) (MF-367)
- Consists of two photographs and a scroll relating to Private Eldon Froude, a Newfoundland
soldier from Old Perlican who was killed in World War I.
Additional WWI Resources of Possible Interest
Dr. Cluny Macpherson Notebooks2
- Dr. Cluny Macpherson, inventor of the gas mask during WWI, began in 1936 to compile what
would become two notebooks. These notebooks contain anecdotes about events that occurred in
his life, which he thought might be of interest to readers. There are also letters or copies of letters
and photographs included.
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Digitized and available online as part of the Dr. Cluny Macpherson fonds (COLL-002), housed at the Health
Sciences Library (HSL) Founders’ Archive.
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