Local Losses: Experiencing and Commemorating the First World War in Lacombe, Alberta, 1915-1938

Date
2019-09-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
During the interwar period, many Canadians sought ways to commemorate the experience of the First World War and to cope with the devastation caused by the deaths of soldiers. The ways in which these people made sense of what they had experienced has been widely explored by many scholars. However, others have pointed to the need for further study at the local level, focusing on how people’s understandings of the war developed and were influenced by their communities. This study attempts to begin to fill this gap by systematically examining the experience of and the commemoration of the First World War in the town of Lacombe, Alberta, between 1915 and 1938. Using the personnel records and the war diaries digitized by Library and Archives Canada and the local newspapers from Lacombe, this thesis explores a sampling of the war experience, followed by a detailed examination of the local cenotaph, Decoration Day, Armistice/Remembrance Day, and commemorations revolving around the battle of Vimy Ridge. Through this study, the importance of the local community and the centrality of coping with the grief caused by the deaths of local soldiers is emphasized.
Description
Keywords
Commemoration, Canada, First World War, Local History
Citation
Mansell, P. (2019). Local Losses: Experiencing and Commemorating the First World War in Lacombe, Alberta, 1915-1938 (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.