Collection search - MacDonald, Mina - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

MacDonald, Mina - Interview

Item number (ISN):

379718

Series title:

[The Great War and Canadian Society]

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1974-06-14

Item number (ISN):

379718

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:

1974-06-14

Production company:

Opportunities for Youth

Production credit:

interviewer, Pauline Pytka

Description:

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Interview of Mina MacDonald, age 81, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1892 and came to Canada in 1913 when her parents died. She had an older sister who had already immigrated to Canada. She talk about: problems encountered by immigrants to Canada; a friend who tried to order a meal in a restaurant but people could not understand her thick accent; problems in adjusting to life in Canada, including getting used to different types of money and the exchange; her first factory job; her work in a paper factory when she was still in Scotland; having a hard time earning a living when she began working in Canada; working conditions; the outbreak of the First World War; excitement when the war broke out; working as a housemaid at the YWCA on Simcoe Street in Toronto during the war; lack of assistance such as welfare or unemployment insurance; hard times during the Depression; Toronto newspapers; the Queen’s Hotel on Front Street; working as a waitress; working in a munitions factory; shifts in the munitions factory; putting tops on the shells; unhealthy working conditions; the division of labour in the munitions factory, with men doing the heavy work and women doing lighter work such as making the top that screws onto the shell; better wages in the munitions factories than elsewhere; her marriage during the war; managing to save enough money to buy a home; injuring her finger at work; health care at the plant; going to the Temperance Club to play cards and socialize; meeting her husband; making sweaters and doing other piece-work; women’s suffrage; unions in Scotland; being too busy in the munitions job to think about unions; and a joke about an American going into a pub in England, complaining about stale beer and being told “no wonder it’s stale. It’s been waiting three years for you to come over”. She also talks about:conscription and her disapproval of it; war casualties; rationing; blackouts; and her husband’s work as a ship builder in Scotland and a painter in Canada.

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. Initial part of interview did not record.

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

436879

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

C01431

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

FROM LOANED MATERIAL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

737111

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

1975-0098/149

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CASSETTE

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

ORIG
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

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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