Materiality, Memory, and the Military

In the dark and wet conditions of the WWI trenches objects became imbued with memories and stories, taking on larger-than-life meanings and acting as a mediator between wartime and civil life.

After the First World War, student veterans returned to University of Toronto and responded to the trauma of war through the writing and staging of a memory play. The cast members and writers all contributed their uniforms, gear, and personal equipment to the production. The collective experience of war was illustrated through the material culture that was brought back and presented in the production.

This symposium discusses the use of war souvenirs, equipment, paraphernalia, museum pieces and curiosities to materialize memory and to make sense of an extraordinary historical moment. How did the war’s material objects impact the making of modernism? What role did objects that came out of the trenches and conflict have on nation-building and identity formation in post WWI Canada?

About the keynote:

Keynote Address, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., by Dr. Sarafina Pagnotta | From "From Somewhere in France" to Somewhere in the Collections: Recovering Soldier Art at the Canadian War Museum

Dr. Sarafina Pagnotta completed her PhD in Public History at Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, in September 2024. Her research focuses on ‘unofficial’ artworks made by Canadians (soldiers, civilians, and prisoners of war, among others) during the First and Second World Wars both on and behind the front lines. Her goals are: to find ways to engage with these works as war art, artifact and historical document, to recommend updates to the cataloging best practices of these works (especially when they appear in a textual archive, rather than in a war art collection), and to explain the important connections between national institutions such as archives, museums and art galleries and their impact on public/collective memory. She has been a contract research assistant at the Canadian War Museum since 2017 and does independent research consulting including family military histories and genealogical research.

With a lecture by Professor Alan Filewod

Supporting lecture, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., Prof. Alan Filewod: From Hart House to Vimy Ridge and Back: Student Vets Restage their War

About the speaker:

Alan Filewod is a Professor Emeritus of Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph, where he specializes in Canadian and political theatre history. He has published widely on Canadian theatre and drama, with a focus on political intervention theatre. His most recent book is Reliving the Trenches: Memory Plays by Veterans of the Great War (2021, Wilfrid Laurier UP).

Lunch 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., followed by the opening of the exhibit "Reliving the Trenches: Cultural Artifacts and the Embodiment of War Memories" in the Pratt Library Foyer

Hosted and organized by Prof. Cathie Sutton.