THE FORTYNINER - Alberta Genealogy Research "The Recents"
THE FORTYNINER - Alberta Genealogy Research "The Recents"
THE FORTYNINER - Alberta Genealogy Research "The Recents"
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<strong>The</strong> Forty-Niner<br />
Learning more<br />
<strong>The</strong> three sons Angus, William and Stan<br />
It was in 2011 when <strong>The</strong> Edmonton Archives<br />
produced a Royal Visit Exhibit commemorating the<br />
marriage of Prince William and Kate and their visit<br />
to <strong>Alberta</strong> as part of a Canadian tour. <strong>The</strong> exhibit<br />
showcased some of the EA holdings on the Royal<br />
Family including books, magazines and certificates.<br />
I happened to see it when I was at the archives<br />
doing some genealogy research one afternoon.<br />
A particular item on display quickly caught my<br />
attention. It was a framed Certificate of Service ...<br />
and it looked exactly like the one my Aunt Hazel<br />
had, the only difference being that it had one<br />
photograph and information about one serviceman,<br />
versus three photographs/information about three<br />
servicemen like on her certificate for her brothers.<br />
Excitedly, I telephoned my aunt and invited her<br />
to lunch, telling her that following lunch I was<br />
taking her to see a display that she would be most<br />
interested in.<br />
It was within seconds of looking at one of the<br />
display cases that my Aunt spotted the Certificate<br />
of Service. We asked the City of Edmonton Archives<br />
if they could share any information in relation to<br />
the certificate. <strong>The</strong>y were able to tell us that the<br />
certificate was on loan from <strong>The</strong> Loyal Edmonton<br />
Regiment Military Museum. <strong>The</strong> museum was<br />
located on the main level of the same building<br />
51<br />
(Prince of Wales Heritage Centre) and they felt they<br />
would most likely be able to give us more specific<br />
information.<br />
At the Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum ...<br />
Heading down to the museum, we were welcomed<br />
by the staff. We met and spoke with archivist<br />
Kathleen Haggarty who was pleased to see our<br />
interest in the certificate that was part of their<br />
collection. We indicated that my Aunt Hazel had<br />
the exact Certificate of Service for her brothers and<br />
showed Kathleen a photograph of it. She suggested<br />
we contact <strong>The</strong> Canadian War Museum in Ottawa<br />
as she felt they would be able to provide us with<br />
further information.<br />
Canadian War Museum<br />
My first research step was to explore the wonderful<br />
website of <strong>The</strong> Canadian War Museum at www.<br />
warmuseum.ca. On the contact link, I learned that<br />
the museum’s Historian–Second World War was a<br />
gentleman by the name of Mr. Jeff Noakes, Ph.D. is<br />
His<br />
I e-mailed Mr. Noakes posing some questions<br />
and attached the photograph of the Campbell<br />
certificate. Mr. Noakes replied almost immediately<br />
and was able to provide some very factual<br />
information pertaining to these certificates. He<br />
liaised with Carol Reid, Collections Manager for <strong>The</strong><br />
Canadian War Museum to formulate a reply to me.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y were able to tell me that the Campbell<br />
certificate had been definitely privately<br />
manufactured by a printing firm. Printing firms<br />
produced certificates like this one and also other<br />
certificates during and after both World Wars (not<br />
just World War II) and then sold the certificates<br />
to photographers who personalized them by<br />
adding the photographs they had taken and adding<br />
personal information like names and enlistment<br />
dates etcetera. Photography studios would market<br />
these certificates to servicemen and servicewomen
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