Letters from afar: First World War Christmas cards offer rare glimpse into the past
Several dozen Christmas cards from the First World War, circa 1914-1918, are located in The William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections in Mills Memorial Library. 'Greetings from the Western Front,' reads one of the cards from 1915. 'With best wishes for a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.'
Hamilton Spectator reporter Mark McNeil recently visited the archives in Mills Memorial Library, and surveyed a unique collection of Christmas cards from nearly a century ago.
Many of the cards, letters and photos were sent back to Canada and Great Britain from soldiers on the front lines during the First World War.
Read an excerpt from McNeil’s story below:
Archivist Renu Barrett says the McMaster collection is made up of British and Canadian cards, and most were acquired as part of larger collections of war correspondence or personal papers.
Curiously, there isn’t much handwriting on the cards. Usually there is just a name. Barrett says there may have been paper notes with some of the cards that have since gone missing.
But she says the pictures and the typography help capture the era from which they were created.
“And if you think about it, it’s remarkable for them to have survived all this time.”
Read the full story in The Hamilton Spectator.
