About Democracy at War
Democracy at War: Canadian Newspapers and the
Second World War is a fully searchable digitized
collection of 144,000 contemporary newspaper
clippings that report on the events of the Second
World War as that great conflict unfolded. ( see
The Hamilton Spectator and Its Archive )
To meet the needs of as wide an audience as possible,
the Canadian War Museum has created fifty-five short
historical articles on some of the key subjects covered
in the digitized archive. These articles include the
main facts and, so far as is possible within limited
space, the main conclusions of historical research and
analysis that has taken place since the Second World
War.
At the end of each article is a selection of links to
actual newspaper clippings on the subject in the
archive. These sample clippings enable readers to see
how the "eyewitness" and "at the moment" accounts in
the clippings add colour and depth to the modern
"historical record." At the same time, readers can see
how the accounts in the clippings may lack the
analysis and context the becomes possible over time as
governments release further information and
individuals publish their private reflections and
experiences.
The Web Site Project: Background
The Hamilton Spectator archive that the Department of
National Defence transferred to the Canadian War
Museum in 1999 consists of over 218 20-centimetre
archival boxes. These contain over 12 405 subject
files within each of which the clippings on that subject
are arranged in chronological order.
The archive had been a valuable tool for Government
of Canada historians, and for researchers who could
come to Ottawa, for over fifty years. Its great value lay
in the fact that most newspapers for the Second World
War period do not have a subject index, and the
newspapers themselves are available only on
microfilm. The alternative to use of the archive
therefore is to do extensive preliminary research into
the range of dates on which the subject might have
been covered, and then spend a great deal of time
reading through whole issues of newspapers on
microfilm for those dates, seeking articles on the
subject. The microfilm version of most newspapers is
available only in major research libraries that are
located only in major cities, and microfilm is not a
pleasant medium with which to work.
The Web Site Project: Challenges
The Canadian War Museum, as part of its core
mandate, wished to make the Hamilton Spectator
archive as widely available as possible. But this was
difficult to achieve. The sheer volume of material
requires a large public access library space, and the
archive must be supported by expert staff in order the
preserve the collection and make it usable. The
subject headings, generated as events unfolded and
arranged according to the pressing needs of working
journalists, are in many cases useless to a modern
reader. Terminology has changed, and many very
specific subjects, into which the clippings are
organized, have since 1945 been grouped under larger
headings. All these difficulties aside, the newsprint
itself, and the thin mounting pages to which the
clippings were glued, have begun to deteriorate
physically.
The Web Site Project: Opportunities
Presentation of the archive in a reader-friendly format
on the web was the answer to these challenges, and
would meet all aspects of the Canadian War Museum
mandate, "To Remember, to preserve, to educate."
The web project became possible in 2001 with a grant
from the Canadian Digital Cultural Content Initiative
of the Canadian Memory Fund, a programme of the
Department of Canadian Heritage.
This funding provided for the augmentation of the
resources of the Canadian War Museum and the
Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, of
which the war museum forms a part, to create the team
with the wide range of expertise needed to realize the
project: librarians, archivists, historians, web-designers,
data systems managers, and experts in state-of-the art
digitization.
The Canadian War Museum acknowledges the
participation of the following individuals:
Project Directors:
Dr. Roger Sarty
Mr. Gordon Butler
Project Management :
Mr. Tom Lowe, InBusiness
Mr. Bruce Watkinson
Research, Writing and Editing :
Professor Norman Hillmer, Carleton University
Mr. Owen A. Cooke
Project Coordinator :
Ms. Jane Naisbitt
Image Archives :
Ms. Maggie Arbour-Doucette
Mr. Dennis Fletcher
Digitization :
Arimtec International inc.
Webmaster, Copy Editor and Content Coordinator :
Mr. Jérôme Foldes-Busque
Website Development :
Imatics Inc.
Database and Search Engine Development :
KE Software
Translation
Mr. Christian Bérubé
Lexi-tech International
Additional Copyright Information
Acknowledgements for newspaper articles included in the Democracy at
War : Canadian Newspapers and the Second World War website:
© Canadian Press. Reproduced with the permission of the Canadian
Press.
© Canadian Business. Reproduced with the permission of Canadian
Business.
© The Financial Post. reproduced with the permission of The
National Post.
© The Globe and Mail. reproduced with the permission of The Globe
and Mail.
© The Hamilton Spectator. Reproduced with the permission of The
Hamilton Spectator.
© The New York Times. Reproduced with the permission of The New
York Times.
© The Ottawa Citizen. Reproduced with the permission The Ottawa
Citizen.
© The Toronto Star. Reproduced with the permission of The Toronto
Star.
© The Toronto Telegram. Reproduced with the permission of York
University, Archives Division.
© The Vancouver Sun. Reproduced courtesy of The Vancouver Sun.
© The Winnipeg Tribune. Reproduced with the permission of Manitoba
University, Archives and Special Collections.
© The Christian Science Monitor. Reproduced with the permission of
The Christian Science Monitor.
The Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation respects the provision
of the Canadian Copyright Act. Every reasonable effort has been made to
locate copyright owners. If you identify yourself as the copyright owner
of material on this website and object to its continued availability online,
please contact Jane Naisbitt at
jane.naisbitt@warmuseum.ca .
Direct inquiries and feedback to :
webmaster@warmuseum.ca
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