Collection search - Johnston, O.D. - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

Johnston, O.D. - Interview

Item number (ISN):

379003

Series title:

[The Great War and Canadian Society]

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1974-06-03

Item number (ISN):

379003

Type of material:

Sound recordings

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

THE GREAT WAR AND CANADIAN SOCIETY PROJECT

Accession:

1975-0098

Media:

Sound

Part:

1 of 1

Production date:

1974-06-03

Production company:

Opportunities for Youth

Production credit:

interviewer, Bradley K. Adams

Description:

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Interview of Mr. O.D. Johnston of Toronto, age 79. He was born in Glengarry County, Ontario, in 1895. Subjects discussed include: his family background; life in the Ottawa Valley; his father’s work as a river driver in the lumber industry; his religious background; his father going out west and returning to the Ottawa Valley in 1899; O.D. Johnston’s secondary school education, rare for that time period; his joining the Department of Agriculture in 1913; farm life; subsistence farming; growing market produce for the Ottawa market; the isolation of rural life; his enlistment in 1915 out of a sense of duty, a belief that the war was "just", and his desire to get out of the civil service and see some adventure; temperance; his religious beliefs; missionary work; taking a course for officers while he was in the army; going overseas in 1917; convicts from the Kingston Penitentiary; experiences in the war; military training and how it did not prepare him for battle; not being aware of officers or the chaplain at the front; his admission that he wanted to survive and was ‘not a bit brave’; an account of being under attack at the Hindenburg Line; the work of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) at the front; Armistice Day; how his experience as a soldier between the time he joined at age 20 and was discharged at age 22 changed him; his dissatisfaction over how religion was handled in the army; his return to civilian life; his sense of alienation when he returned; his decision to get into chemical engineering because there was a future in that; his graduation from engineering studies in 1923; and his view of his life in three distinct eras, before, during and after the war.

Language:

English

Notes:

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1. The interviews took place in 1974 and resulted in the publication of a book entitled "The Great War and Canadian Society" edited by Daphne Read - copyright 1978 - New Hogtown Press, Toronto.~2. Release forms, data sheets, and summary analysis/transcripts are available in binders labelled Opportunities for Youth - War and Canadian Society in VSA's audio-visual section.~3. The interviewee signed an agreement giving consent for a recording of this interview to be placed in the Public Archives of Canada for the purposes of historical research and also signed a publication agreement allowing any transcribed portions of the interview to be used in the book under the condition that no full names, addresses or phone numbers would be published.~4. Subject description is based on information found in the fact sheet, deposit agreement, publication agreement and summary analysis.~5. There are some technical difficulties with the tape just after he talks about enlistment.~6. The handwriting of the notes in the summary analysis is barely legible.~7. This is part of a series of recorded interviews with elderly citizens who lived in Canada during the period of World War I. The interview material consists of their opinions and observations about the war, the war years, and the effect on Canadian society during and after WWI.

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

436270

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

C01352

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

FROM LOANED MATERIAL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

438131

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A1 2007-05-0015

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Duration:

79:28

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

438133

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A1 2007-05-0016

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Duration:

79:28

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

736923

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

1975-0098/020
1975-0098/021

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

2

Kind of sound:

CASSETTE

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

ORIG

Vault ISN:

1003779

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A4 2007-05-0015

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Made from:

C01352

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

1003780

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A4 2007-05-0016

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Made from:

C01352
C01353

Status:

MASTER
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Consultation copy number:

A1 2007-05-0015
A1 2007-05-0016

Restrictions on consultation:

No Restrictions / Pas de restrictions

Reproduction access:

With written permission of Copyright Owner / Avec la permission écrite du détenteur des droits d'auteur

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