Material Traces of War

Material Traces of War: Stories of Canadian Women and Conflict, 1914–1945 looks at Canadian women’s experiences of, and contributions to, the world wars through objects, images, and archival documents.

The book tells the stories of women who served in the military, volunteered their time, worked as civilians, and grieved lost loved ones, through thematically organized vignettes. The authors place these personal narratives of individual women, and their related material, in the wider context of the world wars, while demonstrating that the experience of living through global conflict was as individual as a woman’s particular circumstances.

Drawing from the collections of the Canadian War Museum, the Canadian Museum of History, and other public and private collections in Canada, Material Traces of War brings largely unknown material to public view and draws attention to the untold stories of women and war.

Co-published by the Canadian Museum of History and the University of Ottawa Press.