Military history collections

University of Victoria Special Collections houses many unique military history collections. One of the most important is the Canadian Military Oral History Collection which is composed of hundreds of taped and transcribed interviews of veterans; primarily of the two World Wars. Over 370 recordings done by Dr. Reginald H. Roy and his students are the largest holding in this collection. Dr. Roy also contributed tapes of lectures given to his classes on Canadian foreign affairs and military strategic studies. Historian Hal Lawrence also donated over 180 recordings that he did of Canadian naval personnel.

Dr. Roy, the first incumbent of the Chair of Military History at UVic, solicited maps from veterans of the two World Wars and then turned the resulting donations over to Special Collections. The Military Maps Collection totals 1,550 maps and 378 aerial photographs. The collection has been augmented from time to time by other donations and has been complimented by the map component of records such as those of the Canadian Scottish Regiment.

The holdings of the Canadian Scottish Regiment Collection comprise five metres of textual records dating from 1886-1984 and include war diaries and over 600 photographs. In May 2006, Special Collections were given another five metres of records from the Canadian Scottish (Princess Mary's) dating from 1914-1956.

There are also many other documents, manuals, maps, medals, photographs and posters available in the various collections.

Collections

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