Collection search - Currey, A. - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

Currey, A. - Interview

Item number (ISN):

379022

Series title:

[The Great War and Canadian Society]

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1974-07-24

Item number (ISN):

379022

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:

1974-07-24

Production company:

Opportunities for Youth

Production credit:

interviewer, Bradley K. Adams

Description:

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Interview of A. Currey, who was born in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1896. Subjects discussed include: his family background; his opinions on pioneer experiences; his family pedigree and values; the history of Saint John; a fire in Saint John; the class structure in Saint John; descriptions of the educated class and the lower classes; his recognition when he was a child that he had class advantages; his education; his American mother’s liberal and democratic ideas; conflict between this and his father’s conservatism; his falling behind in school because the house was quarantined when his siblings came down with childhood diseases; his leaving school early and going to correspondence school; his law studies; becoming involved in the revolutionary movement and socialism; the lack of union activity at the time because people feared reprisals; working for Red Rose Tea in 1912; the working conditions; membership in a socialist club; his mother’s remarriage in 1915 to a labour organizer and her previous efforts to get a separation from Currey’s father; his mother’s involvement in politics; the "display of ostentatious patriotism" and sense of adventure when the First World War broke out; friends trying to convince him to enlist; the argument that the war would be over before they got there and that soldiers would come back heroes; pressure from women and society to enlist; other reasons why men enlisted, such as the desire to escape from humdrum jobs and married life, and a desire to help England and stop the Kaiser; a story about Sam Hughes; his being in the U.S. during part of the war and hardly noticing the war until the U.S. entered the war; U.S. students in military drills; his feeling that the U.S. commitment to the war was vulgar; the view that the war was about battling for the ruling class and to protect commerce; the view that the war would be short and that Britain was invincible; his experience in 1915 in the British merchant marine and an encounter with German ships; the sinking of the Lusitania; his work as a swimming instructor in the U.S.; British and Canadian recruiting stations in U.S. cities; his enlistment; being miserable after he enlisted and managing to get out of it due to medical reasons; Armistice celebrations; the readjustment of returned soldiers; the cost of the war; how a friend pretended to get out of the war by pretending to be shell shocked but the ruse failed; the social changes brought about by the war, such as the changed role of women, the effect of men being away, bringing in mechanization and how society had formerly been stodgy and conservative.

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.~6. The Summary Analysis sheets indicate that there are 4 pages but there are only 3, and page 3 misidentifies the interviewee as M. Currey, not A. Currey.
~7. The Deposit Agreement identifies him as W. Currey or W.A. Currey.

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

436279

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

C01361

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

FROM LOANED MATERIAL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

438456

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A1 2007-05-0036

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Duration:

79:28

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

438457

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A1 2007-05-0037

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Duration:

76:40

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

736942

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

1975-0098/047
1975-0098/048

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

2

Kind of sound:

CASSETTE

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

ORIG

Vault ISN:

737203

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

1975-0098/046

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CASSETTE

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

ORIG

Vault ISN:

1003800

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A4 2007-05-0036

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Made from:

C01360
C01361

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

1003801

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A4 2007-05-0037

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Made from:

C01361

Status:

MASTER
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Consultation copy number:

A1 2007-05-0036
A1 2007-05-0037

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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