Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

First World War

Colton Map of British North America or Canada
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Source

Related Guides

Canadians return from trenches on the Somme.

This section will help you find material in Vancouver Public Library on Canada's role in the First World War as well as the war's effects on Canadian society. The First World War lasted from 1914 to 1918. Material on this subject can be found throughout the Central Library (350 West Georgia Street). Please ask the Information staff if you need help.

Useful Websites

Podcast from the Imperial War Museum about this important battle.

Online resource from the Canadian War Museum, including timeline, maps. photographs and lesson plans.

Booklist of nonfiction titles and novels set during the First World War from the Vancouver Public Library collection.

Text of poem with introduction from CBC's "Canada: A People's History".

Include service records, courts martial records, oral history and war diaries. Also includes online exhibit on Canadian nurses.

Outlines Canada's role in the war and includes a timeline, audio archives and lesson plans.

Personal stories, photographs and achievements of Indigenous World War veterans of Canada

Digital Library Resources
Culture and History Subject Icon

Brief biographies of notable Canadians from the years 1000 to 1930.

Access:
Everywhere for everyone
Culture and History Subject Icon

NOTE: this online resource will be discontinued as of December 31, 2024. A print copy is available at the Central library.

Online version of the 1999 resource that describes the nation’s 119 different ethnic groups: their process of migration, arrival and settlement, community life, intergroup relations, language and culture.

Access:
Everywhere for VPL cardholders
Newspapers and Magazines Subject Icon

Access the full image of the Globe and Mail newspaper from 1844 to 2018.

Access:
Everywhere for Vancouver residents
Culture and History Subject Icon

Includes the complete text of the Canadian Encyclopedia in English and French, interactive resources and timelines of Canadian and world events.

Access:
Everywhere for everyone

Recommended Titles

Canada in the First World War

See full list

Contact Us

Northwest History Index

This card index in Special Collection provides access to the Northwest History Collection, a heritage collection covering the early history and exploration of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.

The collection includes:

  • magazine and newspaper articles
  • pamphlets
  • books
  • chapters in books
  • many other resources

As of August 1998, no new material has been added to the Northwest History Index. It is continued by the British Columbia Index.