Kudos!

> Message from President and CEO
> The Silver Spike Meant to Unite Canada
> War Museum Acquires Final “Valour Road” Victoria Cross
> A Remarkable Restoration
> Sponsors Help Tell the Stories of 1812

A Message from the President and CEO

These are very exciting times at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. On October 16, the government announced that the Museum will become the Canadian Museum of History. What will this mean for visitors and for our sponsors and donors?

Two words come to mind: Change and continuity.

First, the change. Over the next five years, culminating in 2017 when Canada celebrates 150 years of confederation, almost half of the Museum will be transformed. We will create a new 4,650 square metre (50,000 square feet) permanent hall to house Canada’s national treasures and to feature exhibitions that preserve the experiences and memories of the Canadian people. We’ll do this in the spaces now occupied by the Canada Hall, the Canadian Personalities Hall and the Canadian Postal Museum, and we’ll re-integrate many of the artifacts, collections and stories currently exhibited in these spaces. The new hall, the largest and most comprehensive museum exhibition on Canadian history ever, will also include an area for exhibitions from museums across the country.

Second, the continuity. The museum’s new mandate will allow us to sharpen what is already our main focus—showcasing and celebrating the seminal events, people and objects that have shaped Canada. The First Peoples Hall and the Grand Hall will continue to present the rich history of Canada’s First Peoples and their modern-day contributions to Canadian culture and society. (Of course, the stories of Canada’s First Peoples will also have their place in the new hall.) The Museum will continue to present exhibitions on history and culture from museums around the world. And the Canadian Children’s Museum will continue to engage and delight children and their families.

Our historians and researchers, in collaboration with scholars and content experts from across the country, will develop the new exhibition for the Canadian Museum of History. We’ll ask Canadians to help guide this work by telling us which stories, themes and events they feel have been most important in shaping Canada’s history.

Throughout the transition, the Museum will remain open. The new hall will be developed gradually to keep as much as possible of the museum accessible to visitors.

We are honoured to have been given this opportunity to take to a new level our commitment to preserving and presenting Canada’s shared history and identity, and we invite you to join us on this journey of discovery and celebration.

Mark O’Neill

The Silver Spike Meant to Unite Canada

Builder of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, international business tycoon, fine arts collector, artist, gentleman farmer, senior figure in high society—Sir William Cornelius Van Horne (1843–1915) was an extraordinary man. And he left to his descendants an extraordinary collection of documents and artifacts, the prize of which is the ceremonial silver “Last Spike” intended to complete the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Recently, heirs of Sir William chose to donate this collection—which also includes paintings, letters, books, photographs and items from Van Horne’s household—to the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

The ceremonial silver spike was a gift to Sir William from Canada’s Governor General, Lord Lansdowne, who had intended to hammer it into the completed track during the famous “last spike” ceremony at Craigellachie, British Columbia in 1885. But a snow storm prevented Lord Lansdowne from reaching Craigellachie, where a regular iron spike was hammered in by senior CPR director Donald Alexander Smith. Lord Lansdowne mounted the silver spike on a granite base and sent it to Van Horne as a token of his appreciation for Sir William’s essential role as general manager of the CPR. The Van Horne collection also includes a fascinating exchange of letters between Lord Lansdowne and Van Horne.

“The Canadian Museum of Civilization was the ideal home for the ceremonial spike, the letters about the spike and the other items in the Van Horne collection,” explains Sally Hannon, a member of the donor family. “Sir William’s legacy now becomes part of Canada’s national history collection, available to all Canadians in perpetuity.”

Born in Illinois, Sir William became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1914, a year before his death.

Honouring a Rich Family Legacy

“It’s hard to think of an object more symbolic of uniting Canada than the ceremonial last spike intended for the railway that linked the St. Lawrence–Great Lakes heartland and the developing West,” says Dr. David A. Morrison, Director of Archaeology and History at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. “By making this generous donation, Sir William’s heirs have ensured that this symbol of Sir William’s greatest achievement will have a permanent home in Canada’s national museum of history.”

Sally Hannon is a niece of Sir William’s grandson William (Bill) Van Horne, whose wife Margaret Van Horne maintained for many years Sir William’s residence in Montreal. “The collection was donated in Margaret’s name in recognition of our family’s gratitude for her stewardship of the collection for many years,” says Sally Hannon.

War Museum Acquires Final “Valour Road” Victoria Cross

Since its inception in 1856, the Victoria Cross, the highest military honour for British and Commonwealth forces, has been awarded to only 96 Canadians. Incredibly, three of those Victoria Crosses were awarded during the First World War to men from the same street—even the same block—in Winnipeg. With the recent acquisition, supported by the National Collection Fund, of the Frederick William Hall Victoria Cross, the Canadian War Museum is now in possession of all three of the Valour Road Victoria Crosses.

Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Shankland, Corporal Lionel B. (“Leo”) Clarke and Company Sergeant-Major Frederick William Hall all lived in the 700 block of Winnipeg’s Pine Street, which in 1925 was renamed in their honour Valour Road. The Victoria Cross is inscribed with the words “For Valour.”

“We are honoured to be the custodians of this extraordinary legacy of bravery and honour,” says Canadian War Museum Director General James Whitham. “The Victoria Cross is a rare honour. For three soldiers from the same street to receive a Victoria Cross is incredible. There is no equivalent anywhere in the world. This is a unique story of courage and sacrifice that Canadians need to know about and we’re grateful to every contributor to the National Collection Fund.” The trio of medals is now on permanent display in the Royal Canadian Legion Hall of Honour.

A Legacy for Future Generations

Two of the Valour Road Victoria Crosses were acquired with funds from the donor-supported National Collection Fund, which enables the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization to acquire artifacts that might otherwise be lost to Canadian national heritage.

Canadian Heroes

Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Shankland earned his Victoria Cross in Passchendaele, Belgium, on October 26, 1917. After leading a platoon of 40 men in capturing and holding a trench line defending the approach to Passchendaele, Shankland made his way alone through thick mud and enemy shelling to battalion headquarters to present plans for a counterattack with reinforcements. He returned to his platoon and led the counterattack.

Corporal Lionel B. (“Leo”) Clarke earned his Victoria Cross on the Somme Front on September 9, 1916. Clarke led a small group that captured a section of enemy trench in fighting so fierce that all of his comrades were killed or incapacitated by injuries. When 20 enemy soldiers counter-attacked, Clarke killed or captured all of his assailants armed only with a semi-automatic pistol.

Frederick William Hall was awarded the Victoria Cross on April 24, 1915 for giving up his life to save a wounded comrade during the Second Battle of Ypres. When the wounded man, laying 15 metres from the trench, called for help, Hall and two other soldiers tried to reach him despite heavy enemy gunfire. This first attempt failed when the two soldiers accompanying Hall were wounded. Hall then made a second attempt alone, and was fatally shot as he lifted up the wounded soldier.

The Frederick William Hall Victoria Cross was unveiled, in the company of the other Valour Road Victoria Crosses, in The Royal Canadian Legion Hall of Honour at the Canadian War Museum on November 5, 2012 the first day of Remembrance Week.

If you would like to support the National Collection Fund, please call the Development Department at 819-776-8625 or www.civilization.ca/donate and www.warmuseum.ca/donate. Your gift will ensure that our national treasures are preserved.

A Remarkable Restoration

The transformation is complete. The original was a rusted-out wreck, missing whole sections. The restored version looks almost as if it has rolled off the assembly line, although the M1917 “Six-Ton” Tank is nearly one hundred years old. Canadian War Museum visitors can see the restored M1917 in the LeBreton Gallery along with other military vehicles and artillery pieces from the 18th century up to the present.

The restoration was made possible through the contributions of an individual donor, Richard Iorweth Thorman, the Friends of the War Museum, other volunteers and DEW Engineering of Ottawa.

The M1917 is an American-made version of the revolutionary Renault FT, designed during the First World War by famous French automobile manufacturer Louis Renault. It was the first tank with a fully rotating turret, rear-mounted engine and front-mounted driver’s compartment—features copied in most tank designs ever since.

The War Museum’s M1917, one of only two in Canada, was used to train Canada’s Second World War tank crews. Sold as surplus after the war, it was heavily modified to be used as a logging tractor near Bracebridge, Ontario. The Museum acquired it in 1997.

Most of the funds for the restoration came from Richard Iorweth Thorman, a long-time supporter of the Canadian War Museum and a member of the Friends of the Canadian War Museum, which covered the additional costs. DEW Engineering and volunteers from the Friends of the Canadian War Museum performed some 5,000 hours of restoration and reproduction work.

“I’m delighted to help bring back to life one of the first tanks used to train the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, which was founded in 1940,” says Mr. Thorman. “It’s a way to acknowledge and remember those who fought for Canada.”

Essential for Training

The War Museum’s M1917 was one of about 250 that the Canadian military bought in 1940 from the United States to use in training. The acquisition was driven by Colonel F.F. Worthington, the Canadian Armoured Corps’ first colonel-commandant. Although small, slow and unreliable, the M1917s were essential for training until newer tanks, including Canadian-made Rams, became available in late 1941.

For Richard Iorweth Thorman, this project had a personal connection. “At the University of Toronto, I shared many crowded classes with returning Second World War veterans,” he explains. “I had been too young to fight, but definitely old enough to never forget those who had fought for Canada.” This isn’t Mr. Thorman’s first contribution to the War Museum: he supported the “Passing the Torch” campaign, which raised $16.5 million to help build the new Canadian War Museum in 2005.

If you’d like to make a donation to or become a member of the Friends of the Canadian War Museum, please call 819-776-8618 or at www.friends-amis.org.

Sponsors Help Tell the Stories of 1812

An innovative Canadian War Museum exhibition about a war that shaped Canada’s history, but which many Canadians know little about—no wonder 1812 presented an ideal sponsorship opportunity for TD Bank Group, the exhibition’s National Presenting Sponsor.

One of the largest and most ambitious exhibitions ever mounted by the Canadian War Museum, 1812 explores the War of 1812 from the contrasting perspectives of the four main participants: Canadians (including Canadian First Peoples), Americans, the British and Native Americans. The theme of 1812 is that most events are experienced from multiple perspectives, which together provide a more nuanced understanding than any single perspective. Through remarkable artifacts, high-realism mannequins, models, works of art, audio-visuals, atmospheric lighting, sounds and interactive elements, the exhibition vividly conveys the motivations and aspirations of each participant, their experience of the war and its effect on their future.

Understanding history is the first step to understanding the present. TD Bank Group is proud to support organizations and institutions that bring historical events of national significance clearly to life. “As the National Presenting Sponsor, we are delighted to join with the Canadian War Museum to help ensure that Canadians learn about the many sides of this founding battle, which played such a key role in shaping our nation,” says John See, Executive Vice President, Wealth Management, TD Bank Group.

A National Reach

1812 was also a natural fit for the exhibition’s National Supporting Sponsor, Ancestry.ca—the company’s business is educating Canadians about their family histories. “People who are interested in military history are interested in genealogy, and vice versa,” says Robert Ryan, Executive Director of Development for the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation. “Knowing this, Ancestry.ca developed a special offer for visitors to 1812.”

While reaching their target audiences and expressing their corporate values in engaging ways, sponsors like TD Bank Group and Ancestry.ca also contribute to communities across Canada by helping the Museums make Canada’s rich history accessible to as many Canadians as possible. Virtual and travelling versions of 1812 will bring the perspectives and history of the War of 1812 to Canadians from coast to coast to coast. A companion catalogue, Four Wars of 1812 by Dr. Peter MacLeod, co-published with Douglas & McIntyre, is also available.

To learn more about sponsorship giving at the Museums, contact Jean-Charles D’Amours, Director, Major Gifts and Sponsorships at 819-776-8272.