LACs Long Road To Digitization of WW1 Records

On a number of occasions I have requested records of First World War Soldiers only to receive a reply that they are unable to provide copies of the records due to the fact that the particular records are pending digitization. Today, I went through many of the 1,291 causalities of Charlotte County NB and find a very interesting trend. It appears that only those soldiers that I requested in the last few years have been digitized and most of which I had to pay a cost to duplicate the records and have them mailed to me. To be clear, I am not complaining about the cost aspect but I am upset that only records are being requested, are they actually being digitized. A sort of "well, someone is already paying for these records to be placed on a copier so we might as well digitize them at the same time". Now, I am only half way through search through the list of Charlotte County causalities but it was such an interest trend that I needed to share.

I am anxious for LAC (Library and Archives of Canada) to complete this project but, as I have mentioned earlier, it couldn't have come at a worst time. Being told that records are not accessible due to digitization when you're completing a project to mark the 100th year anniversary of the war is a major disappointment. How many others are out there, who are only now researching a great-great-grandfather, are being told to "check back". And now, for me, to find out that their efforts are stalling out and that they are not even close to being half way completed is yet again another disappointment. We are at a great moment to celebrate these great men and what they did for our country, let's not lose this opportunity to remember.

On The Book Shelf...

For the last number of years, I have been researching Charlotte County's involvement in the First World War so imagine my delight when I was put on the trail of a memoir of a former Charlotte County resident retelling his days as a soldier in the war. So a special thanks to former Mayor of St. Andrews, John Craig, for putting this book on my radar and into my library.

"As It Was Then: Recollections 1896-1930" is a short, 106 page book written by Prof. Dr. Arthur O. Hickson, and besides telling an interesting story of his life, it provides details into life on Campobello in the early 1900s but more so, it offers insight into life as a solider in the First World War. The book was written in 1984 and published in 1988 by Acadia University.

Dr. Hickson was born on Campobello Island on 22 January, 1896, the son of Arthur Wellsley Hickson and Alice Blanche Taylor. In 1912 a young Arthur Hickson moved with his family to Saint John, as his father accepted a teaching position there. Prior to start of the First World War, Hickson joined the Militia in Saint John. Most of the book is focused on Dr. Hickson's war experience; from the training camps in Canada and England, to the front lines of Vimy and Passchendaele.

After the war, Arthur Hickson enrolled at Acadia University. After graduation, Hickson then onto teach at Brown, receiving his PhD there. Soon after he went on to teach at Duke Universi88ty, retiring in 1965. Dr. Hickson died on 14 October 1989 and is buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Durham, North Carolina, with his second wife.

As It Was Then: Recollections 1896-1930

Hickson, Arthur Owen. 1988, Acadia University Press. ISBN: 0-921476-01-9