Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Elmer Phillips fonds
General material designation
- Graphic material
- Textual record
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Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on contents of the collection
Level of description
Collection
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
.01 m of textual records
ca. 400 col. photographs
ca. 800 negatives
Publisher's series area
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Elmer Phillips, a resident of Wilmot, Prince Edward Island, is a World War II veteran who served both in the war-time merchant marine and the Royal Canadian Navy (HMCS Alberni and HMCS Port Colborne). Following a trip to visit some World War II cemeteries with his friend Tanton McNeill, also a veteran of the war who served with the West Nova Scotia Regiment in Italy and northwestern Europe, the two men became interested in systematically locating and photographing the grave sites of Island soldiers killed in Europe. They returned to Europe in September 1986 to make an extensive tour of Canadian war cemeteries in Italy and northern Europe. On their return, snapshots of Island soldiers' gravestones were forwarded to surviving relatives. This generated new requests for photographs of Island headstones, many of them located in non-military or non-Canadian cemeteries, thus necessitating several more trips to war cemeteries in Europe. (SEE "That mark our place: Island war dead in Europe. Part one: The Second World War"/ compiled by Elmer Phillips and Tanton McNeill. In The Island magazine , #24, Fall/Winter 1988, p. 34-43)
Custodial history
Scope and content
The collection consists of two large binders of colour photographs (ca. 400) of the cemeteries and the individual headstones of Islanders who died overseas in the second world war. One binder is dedicated to the cemeteries in Italy while the other contains images from cemeteries in Belgium, France, Germany, and Holland. They are arranged by cemetery and are often preceded by a ground plan of the cemetery and the names of the Islanders who are buried there. The list occasionally contains a place of residence in PEI and/or the unit the soldier served with. There are also ca 800 identified negatives of the cemeteries and headstones which appear in the binders as well as many other cemeteries, including some in Great Britain. A few are of graves of soldiers in World War I and some are for graves of non-Islanders. Not all images which appear in the binders have corresponding negatives. Negative numbers appear on the verso of photos for which there are corresponding negatives. Similarly, negatives for which imagines appear in the binders are identified in the index to the graves. The fonds also contains a few textual items concerning errors in the "Island magazine" article, casualties, cemeteries in Normandy and the graves of war dead in Prince Edward Island.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
As it was important not to cut negative strips, it was impossible to group negatives by name, cemetery or even by country. Consequently sheets were numbered in sequence by date taken, i.e. October 1986 (Sheet 1-8), Jume 1987(Sheets 9-15), and June 1988 (Sheets 15-26). Some sheets have numbers missing from the film. Where possible these were kept in order by a poradic numbering system given to envelopes by the photographer. In several envelopes there were images extraneous to the numbering of the roll of film which did not fit the gaps in Sheets 1-25. These were removed and placed in separate sheets. Identifications were made where possible. A listing of images by sheet has been compiled and an alphabetical index printed by the name of the soldier which gives the country and name of the cemetery as well as the sheet and negative number if a negative exists. It also indicates whether the image appears in the binders. Only the images of the graves of individuals have been indexed.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
NO RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
PERMISSION FOR USE AND REPRODUCTION IS REQUIRED FROM THE PUBLIC ARCHIVES AND RECORDS OFFICE; QUESTIONS REGARDING COPYRIGHT ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE USER
Associated materials
Additional information concerning war cemeteries and individual casualties can be found on the Virtual Memorial website of Veterans Affairs Canada
Accruals
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Language of description
- English