Rural life in Canada during the Second World War has been under-studied, says a student at Hamilton's McMaster University, and he is working to fill that gap.
'March 26th 1944, it was a nice day. We had corned beef for dinner, and we had a black out.'— Denise Arsenault's diary
Nick Longaphy is spending the summer on P.E.I., researching archives and interviewing Islanders for his PhD in history. Longaphy told CBC News Tuesday much of the historical work has focused on urban areas.
"They're looking in major centres in Canada because that's where archives and resources are," he said.
Denise Arsenault is one of 20 Islanders being interviewed by Longaphy. The 89-year-old has lived in the western P.E.I. community of Abram-Village all her life, except for a few years during the war, when she moved to Montreal to work in an artillery factory....
"Shells were passing on the belt, and I had to check if they look OK, if there were some were bad take them out," she said.
Longaphy said lots of research has been done by local communities, but it's fragmented and difficult to gather. Some records are missing all together. Diaries such as the one kept by Arsenault are invaluable.
Longaphy finishes his research this August. He hopes to one day expand his thesis into a history book.
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