author
Canadian War Records Office
Created during the First World War, this office set out to record Canada’s war effort through photographs, films, documents, and art. Its work helped shape how generations have remembered the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the battles it fought.
1 Audiobook
Thirty Canadian V.Cs., 23d April 1915 to 30th March 1918
by Canadian War Records Office, Military Historian Stuart Martin, Robin Richards, Theodore Goodridge Roberts
About the author
The Canadian War Records Office was established in early 1916 under the leadership of Sir Max Aitken, later Lord Beaverbrook. Working largely from Britain and backed by Beaverbrook’s drive and personal funding, it was created to publicize Canada’s role in the war and to preserve a lasting record of that service.
Its staff gathered and produced a wide range of material, including official photographs, films, printed records, war diaries, and commissioned art. The office is closely linked with the beginnings of Canada’s official war art program, and artists such as Richard Jack were commissioned to help document major moments of the conflict.
Today, the office’s legacy survives in major archival collections held by Library and Archives Canada and in the broader story of how Canada chose to document the First World War. Rather than being a single author in the usual sense, it was a record-making organization whose work became an important part of Canada’s military memory.