Language Advisory

Please note that the Democracy at War web module and search engine use a unique collection of newspaper articles compiled during the Second World War and shortly after. Most were assembled and catalogued by the Hamilton Spectator, an English-language daily, while others are from Le Devoir, a French-language daily. The individual items are historical documents. Those from the Hamilton Spectator collection were catalogued by the paper's employees and others, and acquired many years later by the Canadian War Museum as a research fonds. The Museum did not produce these documents, and the collections themselves originate from private institutions that are not subject to the Official Languages Act. While all interpretive material regarding the war and the collections themselves, and all instructions on how to use it, appear here in both official languages, the documents appear only in the language of their original composition, which is either English or French. No other similar indexes of wartime clippings are known to exist in Canada, in either official language, and no similar collections have been offered to the Museum as a potential acquisition. Complete runs of wartime newspapers are usually available on microfilm at major public libraries and archives, including Library and Archives Canada, or, in some cases, as digitized online databases. As a museum of military history, the Canadian War Museum does not collect civilian newspapers in this manner.

The articles in this database were written in the 1930s and 1940s, and may include contemporary language, attitudes, and beliefs that may offend readers in the present era.

Services at the Canadian War Museum are available in both official languages. Should you have any questions or comments related to Democracy at War and the Hamilton Spectator collection, they can be directed to: information@warmuseum.ca.