Carla-Jean Stokes

It’s the aggressive use of your surname for me.

Howdy, RIGGS!

Abbé Thuliez holding Thanksgiving Service in Cambrai Cathedral, William Rider-Rider, Sunday, October 14, 1918. This print belongs to the Archives of Ontario.

Abbé Thuliez holding Thanksgiving Service in Cambrai Cathedral, William Rider-Rider, Sunday, October 14, 1918. This print belongs to the Archives of Ontario.

a man is sitting on a couch talking to a woman and says joey does n't share food . ALT: a man is sitting on a couch talking to a woman and says joey does n't share food .

Well, and pie (not shown). My sister asked if it was store bought.

Carla doesn’t buy pie.

Skipped the middle-man and made trays of sandwiches for Thanksgiving dinner.

On homemade focaccia, of course.

Great post John! Thanks for the tag @shonacookto.bsky.social 😊

A Canadian Battalion Go Over the Top, William Ivor Castle, October 1916, Archives of Ontario.

A Canadian Battalion Go Over the Top, William Ivor Castle, October 1916, Seaforth Highlanders Regimental Archives.

William Ivor Castle's series showing Canadians "going over the top" turns 109 this month!

I love seeing variants of this image in different collections. But what does that mean?

And, in that spirit of individuality of photographic prints, you might have noticed that someone has written "gravey train" on the Seaforth Highlanders print shown above 😊

Happy Friday everyone!

They have meant different things to those individuals who owned them.

It's easy, perhaps, for us to imagine a family photograph that holds meaning for us one day being donated to a museum and taking on a totally different meaning.

Such a shift is possible for all photographs.

From those doctored negatives, countless prints were made. Those prints ended up in private and public collections all over the world. And though they portray the same *image* they are all individual *objects* that have experienced unique lives.

Over the Top shown in the Illustrated War News, November 4, 1916.

(The canvas breech covers on their rifles were replaced with battle-ready rifles, and shell bursts were added to the background).

You can see those breech covers in this spread from the Illustrated War News (bottom photo, right).

Negatives created by Castle on the Western Front in 1916 were developed, sent to London, and (in the case of this particular series) were manipulated to make it look a though soldiers in training were soldiers in battle.

A Canadian Battalion Go Over the Top, William Ivor Castle, October 1916, Archives of Ontario.

A Canadian Battalion Go Over the Top, William Ivor Castle, October 1916, Seaforth Highlanders Regimental Archives.

William Ivor Castle's series showing Canadians "going over the top" turns 109 this month!

I love seeing variants of this image in different collections. But what does that mean?

Canadians entering Cambrai, October 9, 1918, William Rider-Rider, LAC MIKAN 3520999.

On October 11, 1918, Canadian official war photographer William Rider-Rider sent a telegram to the Canadian War Records Office in London. In it, he stated that he had just handed his negatives to the censor of photographs taken in the burning town of Cambrai.

This looks wonderful... 👇👀

1. R-R was right - these photos are iconic

2. Take your findings with a grain of salt and admit your limitations when necessary!

But that could perception of significance could also be a bias that is based on the availability of extant sources (even though I've sifted through thousands of documents relating to the Canadian War Records Office) so the morals of the story here are:

Brigadier General Draper with his staff in Cambrai, October 9, 1918, William Rider-Rider, LAC MIKAN 3522330.

Detachment of Canadians advancing through Cambrai, October 9, 1918, William
Rider-Rider, LAC MIKAN 3522332.

The fact that I've rarely seen a telegram accompany negatives that makes mention of their subject matter has always made me think R-R found these to be of particular significance.

It's quite unusual to find an extant note like this in the archives - where the photographer sends a few words along with his negatives.

Canadians passing through ruined Church in Cambrai, October 9, 1918, William Rider-Rider, LAC MIKAN 3403971.

Though they were sent on 11 October, the photographs were taken #onthisday on 9 October 1918.

Canadians entering Cambrai, October 9, 1918, William Rider-Rider, LAC MIKAN 3520999.

On October 11, 1918, Canadian official war photographer William Rider-Rider sent a telegram to the Canadian War Records Office in London. In it, he stated that he had just handed his negatives to the censor of photographs taken in the burning town of Cambrai.

Canadians looking at German trench mortar ammunition, William Rider-Rider, October 1918, Library and Archives Canada MIKAN 3397962.

I love reviewing Canadian official First World War photographs in real time. Fall is an especially great season for this.

👇Here's why.

My latest Legion Magazine article is an interview with military historian and educator-turned-children’s book author, Kelsey Lonie. Her debut tome, Whitey’s Journey, tells the true story of a Canadian dog mascot in WW II.

📸 Heritage House Publishing

legionmagazine.com/childrens-bo...

If you've toured the battlefields in person, this really comes across, IMO. It's so wild to see such beautiful sites (today) and know its the final resting place for people who endured terrible events.

As the Canadian Corps began liberating towns throughout France, Rider-Rider photographed tighter cityscapes.

Stay tuned for those!

I think that these wide landscapes (we actually see them right from August 8 and into October) are some of the most powerful (and beautiful, I said it) images of Canadians at war.

I love them more than I can really intelligibly articulate.

Canadians making practise attack with tanks, William Rider-Rider, October 1918, Library and Archives Canada MIKAN 3404586.

Three villages fired by the Germans before evacuating, William Rider-Rider, September 1918, Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN 3403966.