Being virtual hasn’t stopped the University Archives from providing access to Saint Mary’s history, including our community’s involvement in the World Wars.

As Remembrance Day draws near, Canadians prepare to remember the fallen, safely, in accordance with public health measures. The Patrick Power Library's Institutional Repository provides access to photos and yearbooks from the Second World War era and essays and academic work relating to the wars and peacekeeping efforts, among other materials.

Materials in the Repository include an oral history interview with C. Anthony Law, the first curator of Saint Mary's Art Gallery, who enlisted in the Canadian Navy in 1939 and went on to become one of Canada’s most prominent war artists. We also have a documentary on Stanisław Swianiewicz, a former Professor of Economics at Saint Mary’s, who served in the Polish army in World War II and is the only known survivor of the Katyn Forest Massacre.

The University Archives is the official memory of the University. It plays an essential role in reminding us of the effects and the high costs of the war on our institution, our nation and our global community. Dedications to 1942, 1943, and 1944 Yearbooks are to those at war and the fallen. This excerpt from the 1942 Yearbook provides insight into grim realities at that time and the hope for a brighter future:

“What will youth find in the dim far future? They now live in a world of hate, turmoil, and devastation. Guns, battles and death constantly re-echo about them…

But it is not into this chaos that they search for light. In their youthful age another training is theirs, charity, love and justice.”

The photo below can be found in the Institutional Repository and depicts the Saint Mary's C.O.T.C contingent outside the main doors of the Windsor Street Campus in 1940.

Lest we forget.