Royal United Services Institute of
Vancouver Island (RUSI-VI)
Canadian Veterans Oral History Project
This project is designed to preserve the experiences of Canadian military veterans by creating a collection of primary sources for use by historians and students. The project will meet the highest professional standards of recording and preservation, to ensure the value of the collection for future generations of historians. Veterans of WWII, Korea, the Cold War, and “Peacekeeping” missions will be offered the opportunity to have their experiences recorded for retention in the University of Victoria Special Collection holdings.
This project will be managed by the University of Victoria (UVic) with the Royal United Services Institute of Vancouver Island (RUSI VI) acting as a co-ordinating agency for liaison with persons agreeing to be interviewed. Together, RUSI VI and UVic will assure that all personnel, whether or not members of a military association, will have the opportunity to be interviewed. Funds will also be used to support a semester course in the theory, methods and practical application of oral history.
Oral History Project Overview
If you want to support the Oral History Project, here is a pledge form you can print out, fill in and mail to UVic.
Oral History Essays From 2010-2011
- A Bird’s Eye View: Three Senior Officers’ Perspectives on the Cold War RCAF/AIRCOM
- Beyond the Call of Duty: The Canadian Navy and Humanitarianism
- Canadian Forces in Domestic Olympic Security Initiatives Past, Present and Future
- From Cold War to Arab Heat: NATO and The Changing Canadian Navy In The Gulf
- Nuclear Defence: An Explanation of Canada’s Cold War Civil Defence and National Survival Effort
- Oral History and the United Nations Force In Cyprus
- The Uses of Oral History: Some considerations with regard to the Canadian Experience in the former Yugoslavia
Annual Report to RUSI VI AGM: 9 March 2011
Annual Report to RUSI VI AGM: 10 March, 2010
Oral History Essays From 2009-2010
- For Each Dear Life of Sacrifice: Post-war Commemoration .PDF version
- Three Perspectives on Canadian Army Operations in Normandy during the Second World War .PDF version
- The Royal Canadian Navy and the Cuban Missile Crisis (this is .PDF only)
- God’s Gift to the Empire: Canadian Veterans and the Memory of the British Commonwealth Air Training Program .PDF version
- Soldiers Like Rules: An Examination of the Necessity and Desirability of ROE to Soldiers in the Field .PDF version
Oral History Essays from 2008-2009
- World War II: Army Operations on the Western Front .PDF version
- Training and Equipment: Canada’s Army during the Korean War .PDF version
- The Navy Speaks Out: A Reflection on Oral History Regarding the Canadian Forces Unification .PDF version
- The Silent Service: Understanding the Covert World of Canadian Submarine Operations During the Cold War .PDF version
- The Lives of Peacekeepers As Seen through Oral Histories .PDF version
Annual Report to RUSI VI AGM: 11 March, 2009
Annual Report to RUSI VI AGM: 12 March, 2008
Annual Report to RUSI VI AGM: 14 March, 2007
Oral History Essays
- RCAF Bomber Crews
- Challenges in Armoured Warfare
- Bats and Bananas
POW experiences in German, Russian and Japanese Prisoner of War Camps during WWII - Warriors Remember: Aboriginal Veterans & Oral History In Canada
- Experiences Flying in the Air Force: Oral Sources in Comparison with Secondary Sources
- The Royal Canadian Navy and the Battle of the Atlantic: An Oral History
History Mindedness
An extract from Carl G. Gustavson’s book A Preface to History, 1955.
From Memory to Artifact: The Recorded Interview
An extract from the Government of British Columbia historical archives manual “Oral History”
- To Record or not to Record
- Interview Types
- The Interviewer/Interviewee Relationship: Personality and Culture
- Research
- Selecting Interviewees
- The Preliminary Interview
- Question Sets
- Conducting the Interview
- Research and Preparation Checklist
Annual Report to RUSI VI AGM: 9 March, 2005
Some Related Links
History Department of the University of Victoria
web.uvic.ca/history/
Canadian Military Oral History Collections Guide
library.uvic.ca/site/spcoll/military/miloral.html
Canadian Military History Gateway
www.cmhg-phmc.gc.ca
