Collection SC369 - Florence M. Westman collection

The collection consists of a photograph album: "My Chronicle of the War," compiled by Florence Westman during and just after the First World War in Ottawa Ontario. The scrapbook contains: photographs; newspaper clippings; postcards; and items of ephemera, including, theater and concert programs, military forms, and menus. Many items relate to her family's involvement in charitable work. Others represent activities organized for the entertainment of the soldiers, including programs for sporting events, theatre and concert performances, and church services. In addition, the scrapbook contains items sent to Florence by soldiers stationed in England and at the Front, such as, photographs, tickets, and military forms, to name a few. The photographs depict soldiers, friends, and family-some formal portraits, and the rest, snapshots of picnics, skating, and additional casual scenes. Sources of news clippings are presumed to be Ottawa periodicals. Similarly, unless otherwise noted, the majority of the photographs were taken in and around Ottawa. Westman filled the scrapbook with personal annotations-often highlighting names in news articles and adding captions to photographs and other items. The Scrapbook pages follow roughly chronological order except for loose items, scans of which are shown after the attached scrapbook pages.

One soldier mentioned throughout the scrapbook is B. C. Hilliam. Bentley Collingwood Hilliam [b. 1890] a native of North Vancouver, took his theatre company on a tour throughout Canada to entertain the troops. An Ottawa news article, published in November 1916, describes him as, "official amusement director of the Canadian army." The scrapbook also includes several of his humorous cartoon sketches.