Collection search - Macdonald, Adrian - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

Macdonald, Adrian - Interview

Item number (ISN):

379025

Series title:

[The Great War and Canadian Society]

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1974-06-03

Item number (ISN):

379025

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, Lori Rotenberg

Description:

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Interview of Adrian Macdonald, age 85, of Toronto, who was born in St. Thomas, Ontario in 1889. Subjects discussed: his family; his early life in London, Ontario; his elementary school education and high school education; school and church clubs; teaching telegraphy at a business school; his graduation in 1912 from Queen's University with a Master of Arts degree; life at Queen's; newspapers and magazines he read; movies and vaudeville; seeing the Marx Brothers perform live; the cost of the London street railway; his summer jobs; membership in the Missionary Society of Queen's University; his work as a minister; doing postgraduate work at Queen's University in 1913 and 1914; his decision to turn down the offer of a fellowship to Harvard University and to attend the College of Education in Toronto; how the outbreak of the First World War took everybody by surprise; an anecdote about how a crowd fell silent at the sight of soldiers in London, England and one old man cheered; the feeling of bewilderment when World War One was declared; the enlistment of his brothers; his military training with a university regiment in London, England; his not being sent overseas because of his health; the feeling that the war would not last long; military training in the summer of 1916; teaching in Toronto after studies at the College of Education; his living accommodations at the time; the enlistment of some university friends; his view that the war was senseless; war work such as women knitting socks; Bruce Bairnsfather’s cartoons about the war; women’s suffrage; the work done by women on farms and in factories; speeches by Emmeline Pankhurst and Nellie McClung; a mock parliament presented by suffragettes in Winnipeg; the lack of suffragettes at Queen’s University; how women were getting into higher education at this time; how life in Ontario was evolving in the period between 1895 and 1914; various teaching positions he held in Toronto and Peterborough; how the war did not change his work but converted factories to war work; how the war brought about a revolution in the status of women; postwar problems such as unemployment among war veterans and the housing shortage; the influenza epidemic; how he met his wife; the stupidity of the war; how newspapers ignored news of Canadian atrocities but reported German atrocities; the sense of recklessness that rose out of the war and influenced art; how the war contributed to the development of aircraft and radio; the introduction of income tax; the controversy over conscription; postwar labour unrest; his support for trade unions; unemployment and inflation in the early 1920s; attitudes toward immigrants in Toronto, notably German immigrants; entertainment in Toronto during World War One; recreation; general support for the government; patriotism; the view that people wanted to do their bit; and his disappointment at not being able to serve overseas.

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. Listed in the deposit agreement as Mr. M.A. Macdonald and Adrian Macdonald.~7. Contacted through a New Horizon project called Senior Scribes.
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Consultation copy number:

A1 2007-05-0040
A1 2007-05-0041

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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Date modified:: 2024-07-04