Collection search - Neil, Elsa - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

Neil, Elsa - Interview

Item number (ISN):

379016

Series title:

[The Great War and Canadian Society]

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1974-07-12

Item number (ISN):

379016

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:

1974-07-12

Production company:

Opportunities for Youth

Production credit:

interviewer, Bradley K. Adams

Description:

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Interview of Mrs. Elsa Neil, age 78, who was born in Parry Sound in 1896 to parents who immigrated from England in 1893. Subjects discussed include: her plans to go to Germany or Italy to study singing, plans changed by the outbreak of war in August 1914; getting a job as a singer in New York; being furious when U.S. newspapers gloated over Allied setbacks; her view that the Hearst newspapers were "yellow rags" and the worst of such newspapers; her return to Canada; joining the Red Cross; singing at camps around Toronto; working in a canteen at a munitions plant on night shift; resigning because the supervisor asked her to short change the workers while serving soup; knitting for the Red Cross; the feeling on the home front that everyone had to do something for the war effort; Havergal and Bishop Strachan schools; how by mid-war more people were working in factories; her upper class background; the lack of realization that she and her social circle were of the upper class; not having a chance to meet other people; interest in culture; sending boxes to the front and to the poor in Toronto; more on the work done by the Red Cross; the need to be resourceful; how people worked together in World War Two; how the loss of her father’s wealth was a good preparation for her; Red Cross work by the wives and mothers of soldiers; how some people questioned her mother’s background because she spoke with a Dutch accent; her job at a munitions plant, the "avenues and avenues of clanking machines"; being called Gypsy because of the bandana she wore; description of the work making shells; her feet being wet all the time; the work as an "endurance test"; too noisy to talk; bedlam in the rest room, where everybody talked to make up for the silence on the work floor; having nightmares while working as an inspector for fear that she would "pass" a faulty shell; fainting while operating machinery; munitions work as a job for the young and the Red Cross as a job for older people; knitting socks; her fascination with factory work because the workers were from all classes of society and it was an eye-opener for her; finding things in common with co-workers of other classes; the duty to work for the soldiers because they were sacrificing their lives; her founding Black Creek Pioneer Village; the war effort by young people in the Second World War; growing up fast in wartime; more on the working conditions in the munitions factory; how the workers’ feet were wet and cold but their bodies were hot because of the machinery; wearing her brother’s longjohns at work because her silk underwear was not warm enough and rotted from the damp; the good care people took of clothes; getting a job in the War Gratuities Office; meeting returned soldiers; how the war spoiled a lot of people; how some women went to extremes harassing slackers they thought should go and fight; reasons why men enlisted; the excitement caused by newspaper headlines; how casualty lists brought the seriousness of the war home; the funeral of a young officer; soldiers coming back amputees; singing at hospitals; soldiers blinded or mentally broken; readjustment problems faced by the soldiers; food shortages; growing vegetables; preserving food; picking peaches at Niagara-on-the-Lake; a farmer refusing to give food and lodging to fruit pickers; young women helping on farms; profiteering by middlemen; factory work by women; more on working conditions in the munitions factory; cafeteria food at the factory; how women learned responsibility and economy, a good preparation for marriage; learning to scale fish, although her mother did not want to her to learn; and her view that "I was a good Canadian and Mother never became one".

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. 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.
~4. 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.~5. Subject description is based on information found in the fact sheet, deposit agreement, publication agreement and summary analysis.

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

436276

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

C01358

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

FROM LOANED MATERIAL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

436277

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

C01359

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

FROM LOANED MATERIAL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

438382

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A1 2007-05-0031

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Duration:

79:28

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

438383

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A1 2007-05-0032

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Duration:

61:32

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

736936

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

1975-0098/038
1975-0098/039

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

2

Kind of sound:

CASSETTE

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

ORIG

Vault ISN:

1003795

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A4 2007-05-0031

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Made from:

C01357
C01358
C01359

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

1003796

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A4 2007-05-0032

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Made from:

C01358
C01359

Status:

MASTER
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Consultation copy number:

A1 2007-05-0031
A1 2007-05-0032

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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