Preserving Local War History
TRENT U. PROFESSOR SPEARHEADS ONLINE MUSEUM DEVOTED TO PETERBOROUGH DURING WW1
As a Trent University history professor, Daniel Travers understands the importance of preserving local history but the matter has become even more pressing after the death of the last First World War veteran. “The First World War has passed out of living memory,” Travers says. “It is so important to keep alive the memories and stories of those who served.” So last year, Travers started a project with his third-year history students to research Peterborough’s people, organizations and artifacts related to the Great War. The idea has turned into an online museum — found at www.peterboroughww1museum.ca — that currently offers the public 18 ‘exhibits’ including photos and information about local soldiers, nurses and organizations such as General Electric. “Our inspiration was to capture an essential part of Peterborough’s heritage and history,” Travers says. The research for the museum is a class assignment. Last year, 53 students got in groups to research anything local related to the First World War. They researched topics such as Pte. Anthony Skarrizi — the youngest Peterborough soldier to die fighting for the Allies at age 16 — or organizations such as the local chapters of The Imperial Order of the Daughters of Empire, which fundraised for the war effort, provided comforts to soldiers and supported the families left behind. To do this, he says they used widely available online sources, such as Veterans Affairs and Library and Archives Canada, and also worked locally with the Trent University archives, the Peterborough Museum and Archives and the Trent Valley Archives (TVA). Past Peterborough legion president Dave Edgerton and local TVA historian Don Down provided tours of the Citizen’s War Memorial, the Peterborough Armoury and Little Lake Cemetery. The interesting thing about Peterborough, Travers says, is that if students discovered an exact address where a soldier had lived, many times that home is still standing and the students could go take photos for the exhibit. Then students wrote reports of up to 2,000 words, which Travers edited. Eighteen exhibits have been uploaded and about 18 more are expected to be added later this month. Travers says he hopes this project will be ongoing for many years. “Peterborough has such strong connections to the First World War and there is a huge range of topics we could research,” he says. “There are hundreds of topics and hundreds of individuals.”